Posted: 12/6/05
Local deer harvest up 18 percent
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
Extra antlerless deer tags this year brought a greater deer harvest in permit areas 346-349 in Houston County.
The first shotgun season, which went from November 5-11, had a harvest of just over 4,600 animals, about 700 more than last yearís total of 3,900.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife habitat specialist Don Ramsden said that that 18 percent increase was due to more either-sex tags and bonus tags. This was the first year the DNR has allowed a person to take a second deer in the 3A season.
Buck numbers are basically the same as last year, Ramsden added.
More people are hunting deer with archery and muzzleloaders, he said. Those seasons are still going on. Muzzleloading ends on December 10 and archery on December 31. ìIt is influencing our harvest,î Ramsden said. ìThereíll still be some deer shot here in December.î
Ramsden said he is still working on a couple special hunts in the 3B season, which went from November 19-27, ìbut basically weíre running identical to last year.î Last year, second season hunters shot over 6,300 deer. The numbers are now at 6,100, but the two special hunts have each shot 100 deer, so Ramsden thinks the numbers will come close to being identical to last year.
Asked if he was happy with the harvest, Ramsden paused for a few seconds.
ìWeíve got about the same number of hunters and the guys are only going to shoot a certain number of deer,î he then replied. ìThe hunters are only going to utilize so many.î
He knows there are local pockets that have too many deer, but hunters donít have access to them because of landowners not allowing hunting there.
ìTo me those are unmanageable areas,î Ramsden said. ìItís privately owned. If they donít want to allow hunting, they donít have to.î
Neighbors to those areas complain of crop damage, Ramsden said. Hunters are willing to shoot deer to help landowners control numbers when they are allowed to, he added. Some places like the Winona suburbs have deer in city limits, and people canít even grow flowers, he said.
Tom Wiebke of Wiebke Fur in Eitzen said the shotgun deer season went well. Heís seen a lot of big bucks and does.
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