Received a text from my buddy the other day. I was concerned about our deer numbers at his farm in NW Minnesota. He said he has been counting up to 50 deer at a time in one of our fields. Sounds like we might be ok. Now I just need to get up there and plant them some food.
DT
That is great news!! The last few weekends on my way to the farm near Fergus I have seen over 100 deer each trip between Sauk Center and just nort west of Alexandria in the fields off the highway.
My dad has been checking out the situation around where we hunt and word is that the deer are VERY bunched up just as you have observed.
The potential bad news is that VERY few fawns are being spotted among the groups. Has anyone else noticed this?
I’m concerned that the deep snow may have given the wolf and coyote packs the ideal conditions to prey on the fawns and there may be a “gap” coming if a 1-2 year class of fawns took the heavy hit this year.
I’m afraid what we are about to discover is that the DNR has waited too long to get the wolf numbers in check. Everybody knows that with the right combination of snow depth and other factors, the balance tips HEAVILY in favor of the wolves. I’m getting very worried that this past winter was one of those times.
We’ll see what the trail cams bring in, but I’m worried we’re in for trouble.
Grouse
We don’t have wolves yet at our farm, but yotes for sure. My trail cam pics are showing many does with 2 fawns. We didn’t get near the snow fall amounts that most places in MN got though.
Two and three years ago we had a lot of wolves in the area I deer hunt. Karlstad in NW MN. Last year the wolf numbers seemed down. At least I didnt hear them every morning walking to my stand. I will have to check with my buddy who lives up there to see about fawns.
DT
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