Final results are in from Duluth's city bowhunt for 2008.
In all, 533 deer were taken in the hunt, down slightly from 567 in 2007 and 564 in 2006, according to Brian Borkholder, who keeps harvest records for the Arrowhead Bowhunters alliance.
Of the 533, 458 (86 percent) were antlerless and 75 (14 percent) were bucks. (One of the 458 antlerless deer turned out to be an adult buck that had already shed its antlers.) A total of 289 hunters were eligible to take part in the hunt, and of those, 228 were successful in taking at least one deer.
Preliminary results from early January had indicated that 508 deer had been taken, but that total increased after more hunters reported registering deer.
Hunters took an average of 17 deer per square mile in the hunt, which is much higher than most areas in Minnesota's statewide deer hunt.
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The Duluth bowhunt ran from Sept. 13 to Dec. 31.
Winter Severity Index reaches moderate level
Winter Severity Index readings across Northeastern Minnesota have reached something of a plateau over the past week as temperatures climbed above normal and snow depth diminished. But after below-normal temperatures in December and January, and with lots of snow early in the winter, WSI numbers remain high.
As of Feb. 1, the Cloquet index stood at 74, compared to just 41 last winter. International Falls' reading was 91, compared to 54 last year. Snowbank Lake near Ely was at 96, compared to 58 last year. Grand Rapids was at 72, compared to 33 last year.
Under the index, one point is accumulated each day the temperature falls below zero and each day the snow depth is above 15 inches.
A winter is considered mild if, by season's end, the total is less than 100, said Mark Lenarz, forest wildlife populations and research group leader for the Department of Natural Resources at Grand Rapids. A moderate winter totals 100 to 179 points, and a severe winter is 180 points or more.
'Chickadee checkoff' on tax form helps wildlife
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Nongame Wildlife Program urges Minnesotans to help wildlife this year by donating to the Wildlife Checkoff Fund on their tax forms, according to a DNR news release.
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Eighty percent of the funding for the Nongame Wildlife Program comes directly from donations, according to the news release.
The tax deductible, voluntary donations fund more than 80 conservation projects, including monitoring of wintering eagle roosts, surveys of wood turtles, ospreys and timber rattlesnakes, a new statewide dragonfly survey, frog and toad research, habitat restoration and protection and monitoring of heron rookeries.
The recovery of the bald eagle, trumpeter swan and other species such as the peregrine falcon was made possible in part by the donations of Minnesotans to the Nongame Wildlife Checkoff on state income and property tax forms.
Northeast moose population estimated at 7,600
Northeastern Minnesota's moose population remains similar to last year's at about 7,600 animals, according to a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources news release.
The DNR conducts an aerial survey each year during winter months to estimate the moose population. Despite the similar numbers, however, other factors suggest that the population is continuing to decline.
"The raw survey numbers were similar," said Mark Lenarz, the Minnesota DNR wildlife researcher overseeing moose research, in a prepared statement. "But a historically low calf survival rate, a steadily declining hunter-success ratio, and a higher than normal non-hunting mortality rate all continue to suggest a downward trend in the moose population."
Minnesota's 2008 non-hunting mortality moose rate was 17 percent, down 3 percent from the 20 percent average rate reported during the past seven years, according to the news release. Elsewhere in North America, between 8 and 12 percent of moose generally die from causes other than hunting.
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Moose remain abundant enough in the state to support a bulls-only hunt for a limited number of Minnesotans. But the percentage of hunters who successfully harvested a bull moose has steadily declined from 61 percent in 2001 to 45 percent in 2008.
The Fond du Lac band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the 1854 Treaty Authority contributed funding and provided personnel for the annual survey.
