Early-season deer harvest down significantly in Northeastern Minnesota

Down again.

Minnesota's firearms deer harvest was down almost 20 percent across the Northeastern part of the state through the first three days of the season. And the 2012 harvest was down about 6 percent compared to 2011 for the same period.

Minnesota's firearms deer harvest was down almost 20 percent across the Northeastern part of the state through the first three days of the season. And the 2012 harvest was down about 6 percent compared to 2011 for the same period.

The buck harvest for the first three days of this fall's season was down

14 percent across the northeast, and the antlerless harvest was down

28 percent, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The DNR had issued fewer antlerless permits to hunters this fall in hopes of increasing the deer population in the future.

Minnesota's firearms deer season opened Saturday and continues through Nov. 24.

Statewide, the deer harvest is down 8 percent for the first three days of the season, said Leslie McInenly, DNR big game program leader. Hunters had taken just more than 77,000 deer.

Mark Johnson, executive director of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, said he wasn't surprised by the decline in Northeastern Minnesota's deer harvest so far.

"We did have a tough winter last year," Johnson said. "We've had lots of wolves across the whole region. We saw that the harvest was low last year, and I haven't anticipated we'd see any increase in harvest."

Angela Aarhus-Ward, DNR assistant regional wildlife manager in Grand Rapids, said multiple factors may be causing this year's harvest decline in the northeast.

"Obviously, it's hard to say exactly what's going on," she said. "We would expect the harvest would be going down because we have a conservative harvest strategy. In a lot of areas we're slightly below or approaching (population) goals. We can expect we're not going to be taking as many deer in those areas, so the population can grow."

The weather, wet and breezy on Saturday's opener and cold in the following days, could have been a factor. When the weather is tough, hunters spend less time in the woods, and their chances of shooting a deer

decrease.

"It's been bone-chilling, downright ugly sitting on a deer stand," said Tom Rusch, DNR area wildlife manager at Tower. "Saturday was humid with wind. Once you're wet, you're (finished)."

Rusch and many hunters believe that deer were heavily in rut (mating season) over the first three days of the season, and some nice bucks were taken.

MDHA's Johnson thinks the DNR will have to take a look at its population goals with an eye toward raising them.

"Otherwise, the DNR is going to notice a hit in their revenues," Johnson said. "They're not going to sell as many licenses as in previous years."

So far, license sales have been on pace with recent years. The DNR had sold 445,385 firearms deer licenses as of Monday, about 1,000 fewer than last year but roughly 10,000 more than in 2011.

Johnson and many hunters believe gray wolves are affecting the deer population.

"I hope the wolf hunters take their quota. That'll help a little bit," Johnson said.

Minnesota's early wolf hunting season opened Saturday and continues through Nov. 24 in Series 100 deer units. As of Wednesday, wolf hunters had taken 54 wolves. The overall target wolf harvest, for early and late seasons is 220.