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Post by Sandbur on Mar 26, 2017 15:24:37 GMT -6
As dismal as the prospect may be, I think the best chance of changing the age structure and herd quality in local areas is to educate hunters on being able to control their own destiny as far as the quality of their hunts goes. I don't bow hunt, but my boys do. I stick to rifle and muzzy seasons. I enjoy the rut hunt very much, but the key to a quality herd is selective harvest, much like it is for fishing. The DNR seems far more willing to institute special regulations and limit changes for fishing, but I wouldn't count on them to do the same for deer hunting. At our MDHA banquet I get to say my two cents and I try to promote responsibility. It's the deer you choose NOT to shoot this year that determines what you can shoot next year.
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Post by smsmith on Mar 26, 2017 17:27:45 GMT -6
As dismal as the prospect may be, I think the best chance of changing the age structure and herd quality in local areas is to educate hunters on being able to control their own destiny as far as the quality of their hunts goes. I don't bow hunt, but my boys do. I stick to rifle and muzzy seasons. I enjoy the rut hunt very much, but the key to a quality herd is selective harvest, much like it is for fishing. The DNR seems far more willing to institute special regulations and limit changes for fishing, but I wouldn't count on them to do the same for deer hunting. I agree. Problem is, I don't see that happening anytime soon. Latest issue of ODN, every Goddamn group in MN (besides MBI) is supporting the DNR's proposed license fee increase.
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Post by batman on Mar 26, 2017 17:46:06 GMT -6
They never asked MBI for a stance. MDHA has apparently agreed to support the $4 fee increase if DNR recodes its work. Its not going to get better.
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Post by sd51555 on Mar 26, 2017 17:53:55 GMT -6
It's too bad we didn't get one more bad winter to drive things into the ground. It got really bad and then recovered with two mild winters. I can see 172 going HC this year, and that means the fawns are going to get stacked up with family tags. The neighborhood herd (50 deer) is grouped up in the hay field across from us, and every dipshit that drives by is going to see that and think there are 350 deer per square mile and they can shoot with extreme prejudice and not harm the herd.
You can drive ten miles in any other direction and not see a deer. Could it have something to do with the fact that this is the only alfalfa field in northern Cass County and the bitches ain't got to battling for fawn rearing turf yet?
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Post by smsmith on Mar 26, 2017 18:12:54 GMT -6
They never asked MBI for a stance. MDHA has apparently agreed to support the $4 fee increase if DNR recodes its work. Its not going to get better. Once they agreed to support the increase, they agreed to support the increase. Any such language about coding is pure B.S. We all know that. MDHA is saying that so they can retain some integrity among those members who don't have a clue about how things really work (in other words, 99.9% of the members).
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Post by sd51555 on Mar 26, 2017 19:48:57 GMT -6
They never asked MBI for a stance. You're not on the approved list of lap dogs. The outdoors isn't supposed to get controversial. We're just supposed to be ok with subpar everything and enjoy the chickadees.
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Post by Sandbur on Mar 27, 2017 6:20:20 GMT -6
They never asked MBI for a stance. MDHA has apparently agreed to support the $4 fee increase if DNR recodes its work. Its not going to get better. I wish they would hold off on a license increase for a year and see if there is some way to fight the recoding of work. I just cannot quite figure out how to do this. Another concern is that CWD could take all of the deer hunters license dollars marked for management. Tomorrow the deer planning team is meeting in Sauk Rapids. I plan on attending as an observer. I do know 4 people on the team and one is our chapter VP.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Mar 27, 2017 10:25:08 GMT -6
Signed the petition, I believe it would be the most significant change in MN deer hunting history. Within 2 years the number of bucks would increase. Age structure would go up. I can see first hand how the late gun season helps in Iowa. I mean it is like night and day. My oldest boy and his friend had so much fun, we had a blast. Compare this two day pic, to my sheds in MN (2 total, one spike)
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Post by smsmith on Mar 27, 2017 10:32:25 GMT -6
Even if (again, it'll never happen) the season here started 2 weeks later, MN would never come close to the age structure of IA or MO. 500K hunters hit the woods in early November, or they hit the woods in mid November. The results would be pretty much the same. I do think a small percentage of bucks would have a better chance of surviving another year, but that percentage wouldn't be significant IMHO.
It's conceivable that even more bucks would be shot. It would likely be colder and snowier. Bucks wouldn't be moving as much due to the rut being done or close. Result could be that more hunters leave their heated shacks and actually move around the woods, bumping more bucks - resulting in more of them being dead.
For MN to ever have a deer herd like MO, IA, or even WI it will require a cultural change among the hunters.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Mar 27, 2017 10:40:13 GMT -6
Yeah I do not think MN could be like Iowa or even Missouri but I think it would help, and some pockets of areas, like big management guys in Todd, OTC, Stearns, Douglas, Becker, Morrison....SE MN, could have some consistent big buck action that would rival those states.
I mean driving back from Iowa, a good part of the state is corn and soybeans with little cover. Iowa is only good in the rugged hill country of and areas with river bottoms.
2 weeks later in MN would be the best Christmas present ever to landowners who want more bucks to survive.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Mar 27, 2017 10:46:11 GMT -6
A simple way to end this rifle vs. bow argument, would be to have a 5 year trial period. Since the rifle hunters have had the rut since 1970's (40+ years) move the season back to November 20 or close, then survey all hunters in 5 years, how did it go, seeing more bucks/fewer bucks...does too--remember does move more during the early stages of the rut too.
If the results do not speak for themselves, then go back to another 5 year trial at November 8 or close...simple and fair.
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Post by biglakebass on Mar 27, 2017 12:33:28 GMT -6
There is ample things to try to make hunting better from a regulation standpoint.
But until the DNR steps up to the plate and values deer as an asset to the state and manages it as an asset, nothing much will change it. And the route we are on, the DNR will not value deer for a very long time to come I am afraid.
Good neighborhood is the only viable option available.
Jerry, I talked to that guy that has the land north of you. He is a mile or so south of 210. I saw pics with my own eyes Saturday. His wife shot a 199 a few years ago. His son shot a 152 this year. He shot a 163 last year. And many other nice ones over the years. He said opening day he saw 10 different bucks and passed on a 140ish. He said south of him there is a couple thousand acres managed for good deer hunting. There are spotty properties that shootem all, but he said there are so many deer in general he just hopes they fill their tags and move on out for the year. He knows where our farm is and said its surprising we dont do better in that landscape...
Neighborhood, neighborhood, neighborhood.....
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Post by biglakebass on Mar 27, 2017 12:37:27 GMT -6
I was just looking at an aerial north of where Jerry and Kurts land is. Found this. Quite the shooting lanes. Attachments:
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Post by Bwoods11 on Mar 27, 2017 12:50:53 GMT -6
Wow---seriously wide shooting lanes?? That area of OTC has several blocks of cover that range in size from 400-4000 acres (nothing but cover, no roads, no fields, a few food plots only) crazy.
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Post by smsmith on Mar 27, 2017 13:22:57 GMT -6
Neighborhood, neighborhood, neighborhood..... While we have more obstacles to overcome than many states, the neighborhood issue holds true in a lot of places I'm sure. There's shitty hunting all over WI too, thanks in large part to at least some of the same reasons we have here (BiD nieghbors, large chunks of public land, too many antlerless tags issued by the DNR, etc.)
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