Hunters to see more deer

[Lee Borgersen]

     DNR: Hunters should see more deer this fall.
 
Oct 31, 2015








  .......

Deer hunters are likely to see more deer this fall, according to Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wildlife officials. But that doesn’t mean they’ll be able to shoot a lot more deer.

  ......
A milder winter in 2014-15 allowed more deer to survive and increased fawn production this past spring. Still, DNR wildlife managers are trying to rebuild the deer herd by being conservative in the number of antlerless permits issued during Minnesota’s firearms deer season, which opens Saturday.


Just seeing more deer is likely to raise the hopes of hunters, said Craig Engwall, executive director of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association.

“I think there’s more optimism,” Engwall said. “I think that with the good — meaning mild — winter we had and the deer we’ve seen, it’s encouraging. I’ve seen so many more does with twins than I did the previous year. It’s really encouraging.”


Those does will remain off-limits in many units across Northeastern Minnesota where bucks-only hunting remains in effect, but that’s as it should be, Engwall said.

“We’re pleased that it’s still bucks-only in a lot of the northern zones that took a real hit in the winter of 2013-14,” he said.

Bucks-only regulations are important to increase the deer population in areas hit hard by winter, said Steve Merchant, wildlife populations and regulations program manager with the DNR.

“This year, (hunters) may see deer they can’t shoot, but this helps provide more opportunity in the future,” Merchant said. “We are continuing to build the deer population across much of the state, and we do that by harvesting fewer antlerless deer.”


For the 2015 season, one-deer limits remain in most of the state. This season will mark the second year of a management approach to rebuild deer populations based on goal-setting and listening sessions that indicated a desire for more deer in many areas.

After essentially a bucks-only hunting season in Northeastern Minnesota last fall, this fall’s firearms deer season will see several permit areas designated “lottery” units, where hunters could apply (by Sept. 10) for permits to shoot an antlerless deer.

Where’s buck sign?

Some hunters have said they’re not seeing much sign of buck activity — rubs and scrapes — so far this fall. That doesn’t surprise Tom Rusch, DNR area wildlife manager at Tower.


“When you have low deer densities, which we definitely have,” Rusch said, “you don’t have the competition between bucks because they’re so spread apart. Rubs and scrapes are their billboards. But they don’t have to make the rubs and scrapes because there’s no competition.”

Hunters should have one thing going for them, as they do nearly every year in Minnesota’s firearms deer hunt — the rut, or the peak of deer breeding activity.

“Buck movement should be good early in the season, as it coincides with the chasing phase of the rut,” Rusch said. “Breeding activity should peak during mid-season as the annual rutting transitions into the reproductive phase.”

Engwall, like most deer hunters, remains optimistic. It takes only one buck showing up to change a hunter’s whole season.

“Last year, I hunted the first five days of the season, and I didn’t see a deer,” Engwall said. “I saw a lot of wolf sign but no deer. With what I’m seeing now in the woods, it’ll be very exciting to have a couple does walk by. That will be plenty of excitement, even if a buck doesn’t come by, but maybe one will.”

Last fall, when Minnesota firearms hunters killed 140,000 deer, the success rate for hunters was 25 percent, according to the DNR.



There goes one now! .....To be continued


[attachment deleted by admin]

[glenn57]

I know I seen a whole lot more driving up to the cabin Friday nite then I've seen in 4 years combined. seen 32 deer going up!