Hunters register 54,000 deer opening weekend

Pete S wrote:

@rrr – if you’re adamant about being able to hunt during the rut, why not let people fish the inland lakes year round?

…APPLES AND ORANGES…

fishthumper said:

fishthumper wrote:

Making bucks harder to hunt and thus forcing those who want to shoot a deer to shoot a doe will result in up to 3 less deer next season. Its rater simple.

unfortunately, it’s not that simple, I wish it were.

river rat randy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Pete S wrote:</div>
@rrr – if you’re adamant about being able to hunt during the rut, why not let people fish the inland lakes year round?

…APPLES AND ORANGES…

please explain, I don’t understand?? Why does the dnr close the seasons periodically throughout the year?

fishthumper said:

“
fishthumper wrote:

Making bucks harder to hunt and thus forcing those who want to shoot a deer to shoot a doe will result in up to 3 less deer next season. Its rater simple.

unfortunately, it’s not that simple, I wish it were.

So are you saying that taking a buck out of the herd has the same impact as taking a doe on the overall deer population? It really is rather simple. If you leave more doe’s and harvest more Bucks the deer population will go up faster than if you leave more bucks and harvest more doe’s – please explain why that is not simple

For one thing, no one is FORCED to shoot anything. Bucks are always hard to hunt… even during the rut.

Secondly… The only people that want more deer are hunters, MOST other entities are pushing for less deer. Not even all hunters want more deer because more deer doesn’t necessarily equate to a healthier herd and more big bucks.

fishthumper’s premise is correct but deer management is NEVER simple. Too many variables. Its not even simple on a single parcel of land…. let alone for an entire state.

fishthumper wrote:

Making bucks harder to hunt and thus forcing those who want to shoot a deer to shoot a doe will result in up to 3 less deer next season. Its rater simple.
unfortunately, it’s not that simple, I wish it were.

Part of this is dependent on what zone you hunt. Those of us that hunt zone 1 may not have an opportunity to take a doe regardless of when they hold the season. Over the years its flip-flopped from restricting the harvest to opening up the harvest back to restricting the harvest. I suspect that’s why they’ve never imposed a point system on bucks because any given winter can change the game. A large portion of zone 1 this year was bucks only for youth, archery, firearms & muzzleloader. Other 100s had a limited number of antlerless permits. I would be skeptical the rut plays into these specific management decisions. I’d be inclined to believe it all comes down to herd size.

Tegg

Like you, we also hunt in a area that was draw for doe permits this season. My party went 0-6 for a permits. leaving us as Bucks only. The past few winters + the wolf population in our area has drove the overall deer #’s the lowest I’ve seen in my 35 years of hunting. My point is for those of us in what are for the most part Buck only area’s. If they moved the season out of the rut time, our chances of harvesting any deer would become real tough to say the least. It make far more sense to me for recovery of the deer herd to either make it Bucks only for a few years or at least keep the # of doe permits to a real low #. Now for those who hunt for the sole purpose of shooting big racked deer. I see where they do not favor this approach.

I noticed people wanted to bring up Iowa’s hunting season as a comparison to Minn’s. There’s two things Iowa doesn’t have: Wolves & the same potential for winter severity. I’ve only hunted Zone 1 so I can’t vouch for the other areas of the state. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb in saying there are more than a few deer hunters that have steaks, chops, sausage, etc in mind when they hit the woods. There may be better opportunities to balance the competing hunting interests in the southern part of the state. It gets a little more complicated in the northern part. With the greater potential for restricted harvests it makes sense to me the State allows hunting during the rut to help increase hunting success.

just read threw this post.. very interesting and not really too surprising on the differeces of opinions..

so I thought I would just put my 2cents in..

Im a bow hunter and love our long season. most of my family and many friends are gun hunters and have been forever.. as long as I remember the gun season has been in the first couple weeks of november. Its been this way for a long time.. Lots of people like it this way.

I say leave it alone.. It works.. we do have good deer in Minnesota. as a matter of fact we probly have the best deer herd of any state that has the hunter numbers we do.. Dont compair MN to Iowa the herd there has little to do with there gun season not being in the rut.. The reason Y is there simply arnt the hunter numbers in Iowa and they keep it that way!

I love our state we can buy a tag over the counter hunt every year there are good quality deer out there..

so let the gun hunters have there fun they are entitled to it.. just as us bow hunters get to have ours.. we get the first weeks in sept. that to me are far better than the rut anyway. (my opinion)

ok thats my 2 cents

I hope all of you shoot a monster… good hunting