Discussion continues on northwest deer management options (2005-02-15)

Deer hunters who attended one of three public meetings recently held in northwest Minnesota generally agreed they want to see more mature bucks. Discussion continues, however, on the best strategy to achieve that goal.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources conducted the meetings, the second phase of a public input process to discuss quality deer management (QDM) regulations in northwest Minnesota. Last year's telephone survey of 300 firearms deer hunters also showed a desire for more mature bucks with a similar mix of opinions on how to achieve that goal.

"Hunters want to increase the number of mature bucks in the deer population," said Lou Cornicelli, DNR big game program coordinator. "Clearly, discussions on how best to achieve that goal will need to continue."

About 56 percent of hunters supported the idea of a regulation that would increase the proportion of antlered deer. More than half (55 percent) supported eliminating the two-buck regulation that is unique to northwest Minnesota. Although no regulation received majority support, nearly half (47 percent) of the hunters surveyed showed some support for antler-point restriction regulations.

The meeting agenda included a presentation of last year's telephone survey results, advantages and disadvantages of QDM strategies, and a population model demonstrating deer response to antler point restrictions. At the conclusion of the presentation and public comment period, hunters answered the same questions posed in last year's telephone survey.

"We were pleased with the dialogue that occurred," Cornicelli said. "Deer hunting is a passionate issue and a lot of those emotions really come to the surface when you go out and ask people how they feel about change."

Regulations that were opposed by a majority of hunters included:

- ending buck party hunting (60 percent opposed)

- establishing a lottery for buck permits (62 percent opposed)

- "earn-a-buck" restrictions that require hunters to kill an antlerless deer before harvesting an antlered deer (68 percent opposed)

- moving the firearms season outside the rut (69 percent opposed)

- reducing the number of days hunters could hunt bucks (81 percent opposed).

Seventy-one percent of the hunters indicated that they would participate in an antlerless-only season in addition to the regular firearm season.

The next step in the process will be to conduct a larger public survey that will be more detailed than the surveys that have been used previously.

"Basically, we'll design the survey so that it is more than just yes/no," Cornicelli said. "We'll be looking at more of a choice-based survey. We'll ask which of the suite of regulations could hunters support under certain conditions."

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