deer hunting ethics? minnesota dnr

Hey I’m posting this to get feed back on what others think. I bowhunt a woods that is about 100 acres and is hunted by about 10 people its just outside hanover minnesota and I’ve hunted it for about 15 years and before I started hunting it it was drove hard every year by 15-20 gun hunters which would get 10-15 deer at a time. (nothing against gun hunters I’m one myself I just dont agree will clear killing a woods) The woods seem to of never recovered there was at the beggining of the season about 5-10 deer in the woods according to all are trail cams. Now heres the dillema law states we can all shoot five deer so thats 50 deer how can a little woods like this ever recover? if all of us shoot 2-3 deer the woods is cleaned out. and also one of the guys shot 2 does already which left us other guys kinda steamed being there are so few to choose from and were trying to get the woods to come back so we have 3 fawns wandering around which wont make winter which we were hoping on to get the population back. This woods is also supporting a turkey population of about 30 birds which is overpopulated. Now I know deer are over populated in some areas aka housing developments were there being fed yes you will see overpopulation and car kill I have yet to see people sitting on there roofs shooting them. But in these little woods with few deer we cant support that many deer lossed in one year. Does anyone understand my concern? I just want there to be a future for everone. Also the minnesota dnr is horrible in there research. They need to have forced hunts in these urban areas. Otherwise no one will let you hunt there property clear killing the woods does nothing to car kill in urban areas. What do others think on this?

You should definitely let the population return, if you want a large population on “your” 100 acres then I wouldn’t hunt it at all for about 3-4 years and constantly feed them over that course of time. If you have 10 hunters on that property the pressure alone will drive the deer to neighboring areas that don’t recieve as much pressure. As far as the DNR is concerned I feel that they have done a tremendous job over all of managing the states deer herd. Never before in history has there been as many whitetails as there are now.

Bottom line is you seem to have too many hunters taking too many deer off a piece of property that is not big enough to substain the pressure. It’s no different than a small city lake. You get enough pressure with everyone keeping everything they catch soon enough the lake will be fished out.

You should definitely let the population return, if you want a large population on “your” 100 acres then I wouldn’t hunt it at all for about 3-4 years and constantly feed them over that course of time. If you have 10 hunters on that property the pressure alone will drive the deer to neighboring areas that don’t recieve as much pressure. As far as the DNR is concerned I feel that they have done a tremendous job over all of managing the states deer herd. Never before in history has there been as many whitetails as there are now.

Bottom line is you seem to have too many hunters taking too many deer off a piece of property that is not big enough to substain the pressure. It’s no different than a small city lake. You get enough pressure with everyone keeping everything they catch soon enough the lake will be fished out.

I agree with Bucky. I also question there only being 5 deer in there. I would suspect that this is farmland, and the deer move through the area as well. I think the DNR is doing a great job managing the herd. I know they cannot micro manage for each woods, but overall, the herds are up and ripe for the picking. This is also after some record setting harvests in recent years.

big g

I agree with Bucky. I also question there only being 5 deer in there. I would suspect that this is farmland, and the deer move through the area as well. I think the DNR is doing a great job managing the herd. I know they cannot micro manage for each woods, but overall, the herds are up and ripe for the picking. This is also after some record setting harvests in recent years.

big g

Don’t worry. With a small area of woods like that deer will stream back in there from areas all around it. In fact, it should create a good rut with less does so the bucks will have to travel more. If you are looking for a buck, they travel many miles during the rut so you’ll likely have bucks from neighboring land running through yours. You should talk with the other people that hunt your land and decide what is a feasible amount of deer to take each year. By working together you can help make it a better place to hunt.

Also, it would be a logistical nightmare for the DNR to try and micromanage lots of small areas that are overpopulated. I wish it were easy to do but no matter what some people just don’t shoot enough deer in certain areas. That’s the negative of urban sprawl. There will be more and more issues like this in the future as the world’s population increases.

Don’t worry. With a small area of woods like that deer will stream back in there from areas all around it. In fact, it should create a good rut with less does so the bucks will have to travel more. If you are looking for a buck, they travel many miles during the rut so you’ll likely have bucks from neighboring land running through yours. You should talk with the other people that hunt your land and decide what is a feasible amount of deer to take each year. By working together you can help make it a better place to hunt.

Also, it would be a logistical nightmare for the DNR to try and micromanage lots of small areas that are overpopulated. I wish it were easy to do but no matter what some people just don’t shoot enough deer in certain areas. That’s the negative of urban sprawl. There will be more and more issues like this in the future as the world’s population increases.

I agree with all you guy’s on this but me not being the land owner cant do anything and the problem is there is nowhere to hunt now days. We all know this feeling and if you go to a refuge there isnt sign of life anywhere not even song birds. So hunters get all bunched up where there able to recieve permission. Its kind of a losing battle. my family owns 40 acres of the woods were only 2 bowhunters are and one gun but the abutting woods is just caked with brown is down kind of hunting. I have harvested 3 deer out of there in 15 years and I feel 2 to many. I got a nice buck last year out of it. us on our land arent shooting anything but trophies to try to help. but when you pass a doe and 2 fawns up and see it dead the next day you have a dilema. On the dnr do you realize the money were giving them in liscences each year I think they can afford fly overs in various areas and send out flyers to know which parcels are actually hunted. its hard to manage anything not being in the field. The conservation officers cant do everything!!!! there workload is ridiculous. Ever been on a ride along. I encourage to do so its very interesting. This is happening alot of places around the farmland I personally think driving deer in farmland is devastating the woods population.

I agree with all you guy’s on this but me not being the land owner cant do anything and the problem is there is nowhere to hunt now days. We all know this feeling and if you go to a refuge there isnt sign of life anywhere not even song birds. So hunters get all bunched up where there able to recieve permission. Its kind of a losing battle. my family owns 40 acres of the woods were only 2 bowhunters are and one gun but the abutting woods is just caked with brown is down kind of hunting. I have harvested 3 deer out of there in 15 years and I feel 2 to many. I got a nice buck last year out of it. us on our land arent shooting anything but trophies to try to help. but when you pass a doe and 2 fawns up and see it dead the next day you have a dilema. On the dnr do you realize the money were giving them in liscences each year I think they can afford fly overs in various areas and send out flyers to know which parcels are actually hunted. its hard to manage anything not being in the field. The conservation officers cant do everything!!!! there workload is ridiculous. Ever been on a ride along. I encourage to do so its very interesting. This is happening alot of places around the farmland I personally think driving deer in farmland is devastating the woods population.

I wouldn’t be overly concerned about the population of deer in the 100 acre woods unless it is far removed from other cover or has high fences around it. I don’t know anything about the MDNR’s deer management but I’d imagine that they have the situation under control if they are anything like Iowa’s DNR. Urban deer are a problem. I know that here in Dubuque there has been in-city bow hunting allowed for several years now with great success. Some years it seems that the deer herd has been over trimmed but come late summer they start showing up all over town eating out of people’s gardens and such. Deer have an uncanny ability to reproduce. The first year a doe has one fawn. Her second year a doe almost always has twins. Six mature does can produce 12 new deer. Deer have no natural preditors around these parts outside of man, cars and trucks so it doesn’t take them long to replennish their population. I guess the Iowa DNR has said that there is a small population of cougars in the state so maybe the deer do have one preditor besides man.

Eyehunter

I wouldn’t be overly concerned about the population of deer in the 100 acre woods unless it is far removed from other cover or has high fences around it. I don’t know anything about the MDNR’s deer management but I’d imagine that they have the situation under control if they are anything like Iowa’s DNR. Urban deer are a problem. I know that here in Dubuque there has been in-city bow hunting allowed for several years now with great success. Some years it seems that the deer herd has been over trimmed but come late summer they start showing up all over town eating out of people’s gardens and such. Deer have an uncanny ability to reproduce. The first year a doe has one fawn. Her second year a doe almost always has twins. Six mature does can produce 12 new deer. Deer have no natural preditors around these parts outside of man, cars and trucks so it doesn’t take them long to replennish their population. I guess the Iowa DNR has said that there is a small population of cougars in the state so maybe the deer do have one preditor besides man.

Eyehunter

I know everyone atributes the record deer harvests to the dnr mgmt but it isnt the case if you research a little its mainly private people like us that feed and maintain herds and high numbers of deer are due to 10 years of very mild winters it will go back down when we have a real winter again with a normal # of winterkill.

I know everyone atributes the record deer harvests to the dnr mgmt but it isnt the case if you research a little its mainly private people like us that feed and maintain herds and high numbers of deer are due to 10 years of very mild winters it will go back down when we have a real winter again with a normal # of winterkill.

You are all missing the big picture. What other State in the heart of america has a gun season at the beginning of the rut? All midwestern states allow the genetics to be spread before the havoc starts. When is the last time you watched a hunting show where tthe host went to Minnesota to hunt a trophy. Year after year the numbers of quality B & C and P & Y bucks diminish. Part of this is due to private land but the majority is robbing from te gene pool.

When I was living in MN, it was so frustrating to know that the bow season really only lasted from mid sept to Nov. 3. After that, the deer are so skitish that it’s impossible to get them in range.

You are all missing the big picture. What other State in the heart of america has a gun season at the beginning of the rut? All midwestern states allow the genetics to be spread before the havoc starts. When is the last time you watched a hunting show where tthe host went to Minnesota to hunt a trophy. Year after year the numbers of quality B & C and P & Y bucks diminish. Part of this is due to private land but the majority is robbing from te gene pool.

When I was living in MN, it was so frustrating to know that the bow season really only lasted from mid sept to Nov. 3. After that, the deer are so skitish that it’s impossible to get them in range.

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When is the last time you watched a hunting show where tthe host went to Minnesota to hunt a trophy

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Well I guess MN doesn’t have a lot of game farms to pay for a trophy. Thats why its a trophy, buck of a lifetime you have to work at it. weather its your camp and the neighbors agreeing on what to harvest. you have to take some personal responsiblity for it. If you kill every 120″ class 8 pter that walks by not to mention anything with horns you’ll never get B/C or P/Y

We have an agreement in our section (combination of everyone that owns land in the 600 arces) Which took the better part of 10 years to get everyone on the same page

We all agreed to not shooting a buck unless you put it on the wall- what the point of shooting a buck if your not going to put it on the wall…..- doesn’t mean a full mount but usually saving the horns for a fabric mount or something. shoot a doe or a fawn if you want meat. it much better.

again just like fishing, you have to let the little ones go to catch a big one. Prime example is muskie fishing.

OOPS I didn’t notice but looks like someone is trying to stir the pot a little

Quote:

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When is the last time you watched a hunting show where tthe host went to Minnesota to hunt a trophy

---

Well I guess MN doesn’t have a lot of game farms to pay for a trophy. Thats why its a trophy, buck of a lifetime you have to work at it. weather its your camp and the neighbors agreeing on what to harvest. you have to take some personal responsiblity for it. If you kill every 120″ class 8 pter that walks by not to mention anything with horns you’ll never get B/C or P/Y

We have an agreement in our section (combination of everyone that owns land in the 600 arces) Which took the better part of 10 years to get everyone on the same page

We all agreed to not shooting a buck unless you put it on the wall- what the point of shooting a buck if your not going to put it on the wall…..- doesn’t mean a full mount but usually saving the horns for a fabric mount or something. shoot a doe or a fawn if you want meat. it much better.

again just like fishing, you have to let the little ones go to catch a big one. Prime example is muskie fishing.

OOPS I didn’t notice but looks like someone is trying to stir the pot a little

I think if you thinned out some of the hunters you would be amazed at how many deer are really in that 100 acres. Don’t be fooled, just because you aren’t seeing them or they aren’t getting caught on you trail-cams doesn’t mean they are not there. Deer are amazingly adept at the hide-n-seek game when there is significant hunting pressure. And, as someone already mentioned, deer will migrate thru the area from other areas. Western Hennepin county, the deer are definately there, you just aren’t seeing them yet! As for those fawns, don’t feel sorry for them. They don’t need a mother to get thru the winter…she has already taught them what they need to know about where to look for food, how to avoid and escape danger…they will be fine!

I think if you thinned out some of the hunters you would be amazed at how many deer are really in that 100 acres. Don’t be fooled, just because you aren’t seeing them or they aren’t getting caught on you trail-cams doesn’t mean they are not there. Deer are amazingly adept at the hide-n-seek game when there is significant hunting pressure. And, as someone already mentioned, deer will migrate thru the area from other areas. Western Hennepin county, the deer are definately there, you just aren’t seeing them yet! As for those fawns, don’t feel sorry for them. They don’t need a mother to get thru the winter…she has already taught them what they need to know about where to look for food, how to avoid and escape danger…they will be fine!

String Gun, there are no Pope and Young deer in Minnesota cause Myles Keller killed em all!

On a serious note, going back in my memory bank of deer I’ve killed with a bow, I actually have killed MORE deer after the gun season. I don’t believe the deer stay skittish very long at all after gun season. They become focused on one thing….FOOD! They rarely notice the camo blob hidden in the brush with his back to a tree, namely me, until it’s too late.

String Gun, there are no Pope and Young deer in Minnesota cause Myles Keller killed em all!

On a serious note, going back in my memory bank of deer I’ve killed with a bow, I actually have killed MORE deer after the gun season. I don’t believe the deer stay skittish very long at all after gun season. They become focused on one thing….FOOD! They rarely notice the camo blob hidden in the brush with his back to a tree, namely me, until it’s too late.

benji, I was not completely attributing the deer herd to the DNR management practices, although they do more with controlling the number of permits issued in any given area. The fact that people can harvest 5 deer in an area, is evidence, the population is exploding in areas. This is attributed to many factors, including weather, hunting success of years past, the human factor (feeding, car kills) and predators. The thing the DNR is doing, is trying to best manage the number of deer taken, which in respect to does, how many are reproduced, with their quotas. I just think the DNR is doing a good job in most areas. The areas I feel they are not, is the areas where 5 deer are being allowed to be taken per hunter. Obviously, these areas are overrun with deer, or probably more accurate, overrun with urban sprawl, and the hunting pressure as well as predator pressure is diminished, and the deer have been allowed to flourish, or are forced into tighter groups. IMO.

big g

benji, I was not completely attributing the deer herd to the DNR management practices, although they do more with controlling the number of permits issued in any given area. The fact that people can harvest 5 deer in an area, is evidence, the population is exploding in areas. This is attributed to many factors, including weather, hunting success of years past, the human factor (feeding, car kills) and predators. The thing the DNR is doing, is trying to best manage the number of deer taken, which in respect to does, how many are reproduced, with their quotas. I just think the DNR is doing a good job in most areas. The areas I feel they are not, is the areas where 5 deer are being allowed to be taken per hunter. Obviously, these areas are overrun with deer, or probably more accurate, overrun with urban sprawl, and the hunting pressure as well as predator pressure is diminished, and the deer have been allowed to flourish, or are forced into tighter groups. IMO.

big g

Wow, 10 guys on 100 acres? Man, my Dad and I hunt our 100 and sometimes I think 2 guys on that little acreage is too much. Depends on what the 100 is made up of, I suppose. Bottom line to me, you have too many guys on too little acreage. I would think 5 would be absolute max.

Wow, 10 guys on 100 acres? Man, my Dad and I hunt our 100 and sometimes I think 2 guys on that little acreage is too much. Depends on what the 100 is made up of, I suppose. Bottom line to me, you have too many guys on too little acreage. I would think 5 would be absolute max.

well said Big G I agree. My party is 2 guys other people have recieved permision from other land owners have no control. there are 3 bowhunters and the rest are gun hunters on ajoining land.

well said Big G I agree. My party is 2 guys other people have recieved permision from other land owners have no control. there are 3 bowhunters and the rest are gun hunters on ajoining land.