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Post by Sandbur on Apr 7, 2020 9:19:58 GMT -6
There is no shortage of hunters in my zone/zones. This past year I passed on buying a gun tag in Mn. But I like to take a spin around the county to see what is happening, and there were hunters everywhere. It is a long ways from impacting the overall numbers. One 80 acre public hunting area, had 6 cars and trucks parked at the gate. That doesn’t even sound like a safe place to hunt for me. I understand our differences of opinion.
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Post by badbrad on Apr 7, 2020 10:28:01 GMT -6
There is no shortage of hunters in my zone/zones. This past year I passed on buying a gun tag in Mn. But I like to take a spin around the county to see what is happening, and there were hunters everywhere. It is a long ways from impacting the overall numbers. One 80 acre public hunting area, had 6 cars and trucks parked at the gate. The last couple weekends we've been taking long drives on the gravel roads. I am constantly amazed at the number of enclosed blinds in this state. I swear there's 2-4 on every 40 acre chunk. How any buck survives to 3.5 is beyond me. Because people suck at hunting for the most part. Bad access. Don't sit long enough. Can't shoot. Not paying attention on the their phones. Sleeping. Hunters find a lot of ways to not kill deer.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Apr 7, 2020 14:11:37 GMT -6
The last couple weekends we've been taking long drives on the gravel roads. I am constantly amazed at the number of enclosed blinds in this state. I swear there's 2-4 on every 40 acre chunk. How any buck survives to 3.5 is beyond me. Because people suck at hunting for the most part. Bad access. Don't sit long enough. Can't shoot. Not paying attention on the their phones. Sleeping. Hunters find a lot of ways to not kill deer. I agree not every hunter is great, but Minnesota hunters are very efficient. I wish there was a formal study on the buck survival by age in MN. In my area of farm country we just don't see many bucks survive beyond 3 or 4 years.
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Post by Freeborn on Apr 7, 2020 14:47:55 GMT -6
Because people suck at hunting for the most part. Bad access. Don't sit long enough. Can't shoot. Not paying attention on the their phones. Sleeping. Hunters find a lot of ways to not kill deer. I agree not every hunter is great, but Minnesota hunters are very efficient. I wish there was a formal study on the buck survival by age in MN. In my area of farm country we just don't see many bucks survive beyond 3 or 4 years.
Hunting in farm country is not rocket science. If you stay out of your hunting land most of the year and then hunt during the rut you are going to see buck activity. Wooded land is so limited in farm country its not hard to cover the areas where the deer are. In my opinion one approach across different land types makes no sense. I can understand why big woods hunters want to hunt during the rut but there is no need for it in farm country.
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Post by batman on Apr 7, 2020 16:07:58 GMT -6
20 years ago you could drive through Iowa during their firearm season and watch herds of educated deer stand in high spots of plowed sections knowing they were out of gun range.
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Post by Sandbur on Apr 7, 2020 18:33:13 GMT -6
I think a big part of this discussion is that each of us (self included) thinks that what we see on our 40 or 400 or 4000 acres applies to the whole state. Things change drastically over a few miles.
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Post by caveman on Apr 8, 2020 6:41:28 GMT -6
I am all for moving the deer season start back. Move the start of bow and gun hunting to November 15th for a two day hunt, then a week off and a month of muzzleloader/archery hunting. Would be great hunting on opener for everyone, and plenty of time later in the season for those looking for a slower hunt. Too cold and snowy on November 15th for many hunters in that particular year.....GOOD....during long tough winters the deer need a break.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Apr 8, 2020 8:45:47 GMT -6
The season was later this year and nobody noticed or said much.
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Post by kooch on Apr 8, 2020 8:53:18 GMT -6
The season was later this year and nobody noticed or said much. True
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Post by smsmith on Apr 8, 2020 9:49:30 GMT -6
The season was later this year and nobody noticed or said much. Exactly...and I saw more rutting activity from both bucks and does than all the other archery seasons combined.
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Post by sd51555 on Apr 8, 2020 10:21:17 GMT -6
The season was later this year and nobody noticed or said much. Exactly...and I saw more rutting activity from both bucks and does than all the other archery seasons combined. I saw rutting activity this year too. Normally there is never a horn seen. This year we saw chasing a number of times, including Omaha Steve almost passing out over what he saw.
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Post by smsmith on Apr 8, 2020 10:27:30 GMT -6
Exactly...and I saw more rutting activity from both bucks and does than all the other archery seasons combined. I saw rutting activity this year too. Normally there is never a horn seen. This year we saw chasing a number of times, including Omaha Steve almost passing out over what he saw. This year showed me the type of rutting activity that I should be experiencing here. Too bad it may be years until I see it again.
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