Antler Restrictions in force-Zone 3

[kragevalley]

As a SE MN hunter myself, i couldnt be happier with the APR. However, one more addition that i think would really solidify future heard welfare would be putting the gun season back another week at least. Too many mid-sized (at best) bucks get killed in our area because the bucks are rutting during the middle of gun season. And in response to nromn, i find that interesting... my experiences are identical to mnmaverick. Our area of the state has great habitat for deer but i still only see yearlings with fork horns... interesting...

[mnmaverick]

kragevalley, welcome to the forum! Where do you hunt in SE MN? I hunt down near Chatfield. I couldn't agree more regarding the timing of gun season. I don't know why we can't follow Iowa and Illinois, but APR is a start. Hope you have a great season!

[kragevalley]

And good luck to you as well! i hunt on our family "farm" on the border of winona and houston counties. My point exactly, illinois and iowa have really set the bar for managing bucks. I do see the challange in that iowa and illinois have consistent habitat statewide, whereas minnesota is very diverse. I see the apr and any future "buck" initiatives really only being practical in zone 3. Which is fine by me...

[njsimonson]

I am new to SWMN, but have passed on 1.5-year-old bucks this year with 6-point racks while bowhunting this year, and took an 8-point 1.5-year-old last season just after moving on the only firearm day I could hunt. There's a lot more nutrition available in farm country, and those young deer living in the SW corner of the state are better able to support a set of antlers when they're well fed, than say the NE, where there's less ag supplementing their diets and a lot of spike deer are taken each year. Though I am unfamiliar with the zones of the state where APR is in effect, it's pretty obvious that 1.5-year-olds in one area might sport spikes or forks, while others have an eight-point basket due to a variety of conditions.

Because the state is so large, and so varied in habitat and weather from top to bottom, statewide APR/QDM is going to be a difficult task for the DNR. Throw genes into this mix, and you've opened up a world of variables that change from section-to-section, as opposed to unit or region. While I'd like to see monster 10-pointers everywhere, there's not a "one-size-fits-all" regulation that can do that for MN, and I think APR will be better suited for only certain areas.

[nromn]

njsimonson,
 
Thanks for backing up my assertions to a degree. Where do you hunt in SW MN? I hunt some public land around the ruthton (near pipestone or marshall) area.
 
I haven't done a whole lot of scouting actual deer, but just have picked out some spots that I hope would be winners, but my dad saw a couple yearlings with huge mature buck the other night. One was a 4pt and one was a spike. So I guess my claim about the large majority being 6pts or more was probably more a problem of sample size.
 
Maybe it was just a bad year last winter for deer? I don't have any facts to back it up, although I could look it up I suppose, but I can't imagine the deer harvest was any good last year, or at least way lower than normal because it seemed about 75% of the corn was still in last year during the season.
 
So maybe way more deer=worse nutrition during the winter months? Just a guess. I am no expert by any means.

[mnmaverick]

Should be a good year you would think with the low harvest last year and mild winter,but if you do have an overpopulation I suppose it could affect food sources and antler growth by default! Hope you get that big guy your Dad saw!

[bowman12]

I sure am jealous of you guys in the SE! [:D]

I'm in the NW part of the state. I was bowhunting the other night near a winterwheat field and when I pulled up there were about 10 deer on the field, does, fawns, two spike bucks, and a forkhorn. I had one deer come by me that night and it was a 6 point yearling and I let him walk.

It sure would be awesome to know that hunters aren't allowed to take those yearling bucks and they'd all be safe with APR's in place. I'd guess that at least half of them would make it through the winter and avoid the wolves we have. If that six point makes it through the next two weeks of rifle season it'd be a miracle.

[BWarner66]

Many 1.5 year old bucks have racks that range in the number of points. I hunt in SE Minnesota in the APR zone and 3 of the deer I had taken when I was younger were 1.5 year old deer having racks that ranged from 4 to 7 points. The buck I took last year I estimate to be a 3.5 year old deer, it is worth letting them grow for a few years. If you do some reading you will find articles based on whether or not culling deer works, and if a 1.5 year old fork horn buck will have a much smaller rack than a 1.5 year old 8 point deer when they reach maturity. Some of the reading I have done has said that if given time to mature these deer will end up with similar sized racks, with the slight variances coming from genetics. The same article essentially said that some deer will start with smaller racks and then have rapid growth after a couple of years, while others start with larger racks and have more of a steady growth. Whether this is completely true or not I can't say, I was not one of the biologists doing the study, or reviewing it. What I can say is that allowing a young buck to walk is the only way of allowing it to grow into a dream deer.

[rjohannsen]

I agree!  And it sounds like the APR is working....28% fewer bucks taken in SE MN during first weekend of gun opener.  Some hunters even did the right thing and turned in bucks they accidently shot with less than 4 points on one side.  I think SE MN has a great future and continued big bucks for the coming years!