New Head of Deer, Moose and Elk in Minnesota

My gut reaction is to question how someone with such little experience can such a sought after position.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/177519731.html

To tell you the truth I’m not sure how I am really feeling. I’m feeling a little more optimistic after they announced 157,221,222,225,227 & 236 will be hunters choice this fall. Can’t complain with the conservation minded approach.

I was pessimitic last night, but as I wake up this AM. I’m hopeful she will have some fresh ideas and stir things up a bit. Obviously, the deer herd needs help.

I had a chance to listen to her on The Ticket Outdoors last night. Well, in between moving the campers so I did miss a lot.

She had the answers to the questions and didn’t stumble.

Since I’m not a hunter any longer, it doesn’t take much to impress me.
I’m planning on listening to her complete interview this Sunday on The Tickets Outdoors pod cast.

Based on my quick assessment, Leslie appears to bring a great deal of biological plana background to the party, but what does she know about the “X’s and O’s” of big game herd management? Outside of a brief stint with some elk in Alberta, there’s not much meat there. Time will tell I guess.

They should have included wolves in her purview…since they are intimately related to our big game herds.

I’ll continue to pass on hunting big game in MN for now…my money is better spent pursuing big game in other states.

kooty wrote:

My gut reaction is to question how someone with such little experience can such a sought after position.

Probably because no one with any decent experience wants to deal with the hosing they would get from hunters, the public, and politicians for every move they made. Its a joyless job with A LOT of extra headaches.

We do need a breath of fresh air, hopefully she is the one to do it. I tried to do a little digging on her and read one of her pubs in the Journal of Wildlife Management, regarding improvement of elk surveying techniques. It wasn’t too bad, all and all. I’d be curious to hear why her? From a strictly wildlife perspective, I know there probably are better applicants but then I guess you have to think about the whole people management aspect, which I’m sure is huge.

I’m going to guess and say you hit the nail Ben.

The people below her collect the data and could make the decisions. The leader would need to handle the “hosing”, or public relations.

Ya, no doubt it’s a no win situation managing a deer herd in a state this size. I just want the state to admit wolves, higher numbers of black bears and ridiculous amounts of antler tags are a factor in the state of the state.

I hate to make the analogy but it’s kind of like the Mille Lacs situation…with a plus size. There isn’t the legal politics associated, they can actually address some of the real problems. No doubts, there will be some unhappy campers….

Ben Brettingen wrote:

To tell you the truth I’m not sure how I am really feeling. I’m feeling a little more optimistic after they announced 157,221,222,225,227 & 236 will be hunters choice this fall. Can’t complain with the conservation minded approach.

Where did you find this announcement? The 2013 regs are still on the DNR site.
DT