Minnesota DNR predicting good luck for deer hunters - TwinCities.com

Deer hunting is expected to be good throughout much of Minnesota this weekend.

Thanks to a mild winter that allowed many adult and young deer to survive, the state's deer population is strong, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Last year, stiff winds across the state kept many deer bedded down. Weather forecasts for this weekend predict more typical weather, which will have deer moving at sunrise and sunset and occasionally throughout the day.

That doesn't mean hunters will kill more deer than last year, however. In response to hunter sentiment, Minnesota is managing the hunt to grow the population. The result is many zones offer fewer licenses to shoot antlerless deer, and many zones where two deer could be shot in past years are now under a one-deer limit.

Lou Cornicelli, the DNR's former big game coordinator, predicts this year's harvest will be lower than last year, when Minnesota hunters killed 192,000 deer. Also:

-- As of Tuesday, more than 243,000 deer tags had been sold, the second highest sales figure at this point in the season since 2005, the DNR said.

Last year, nearly 512,000 tags were sold by the end of the season, the most since 2005.

-- Deer hunting can be a valid excuse to vote absentee on Election Day, which is Tuesday, Nov. 6.

"If you're away from your precinct on Election Day, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., you can vote absentee," said Pat Turgeon, spokeswoman for the Minnesota secretary of state's office.

"For many people, being gone deer hunting is being away from your precinct."

Source: http://www.twincities.com/outdoors/ci_21898554/deer-hunting-success-expected-be-good?source=rss

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