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Friday, November 13, 2009

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Another wild deer-hunting opener

By BRIAN S. PETERSON

Outdoors Editor

There's the story about the hunter who got lost over the deer hunting opener, then, once found, hit a deer on the drive home.

And the one about the hunter who downed a deer, left the 10-point buck to retrieve tools to process the animal, and returned to find the head and antlers gone.

And the hunter who shot a deer decoy - twice - on private agricultural land.

Ho-hum, just another firearms deer hunting opener in Minnesota.

DNR conservation officer Tyler Quant held the confiscated deer rack from a trophy buck illegally shot by bow Oct. 31 in Goodhue County. The rack was reported to be the biggest eight-pointer ever measured in Minnesota.

Yes, the opener had it all - and more.

And less, too. Gary Drotts, DNR wildlife manager in Brainerd, said the number of deer harvested over the first three days of the season in the Brainerd lakes area again was down from the previous year - by about 5 to 6 percent.

That surprised Drotts, who predicted a slight increase in deer harvest numbers in the area this year. But, he said, that number is a bit misleading.

"All the permit areas around Brainerd are up a little bit except for (Permit Area) 172 that runs from Outing to Pine River to Remer - big woods country," he said. "That's where the decrease is coming. It's bringing everything else down."

So, too, is the baiting issue. There have been reports of illegal deer baiting reaching record highs in parts of the state, but several area DNR conservation officers said, the numbers in their territories are about what they've seen in recent years.

Jim Guida, a CO out of Brainerd, said he didn't issue any tickets for baiting opening weekend, and the only baiting case he investigated had a not-so-typical ending.

"It was probably in the minority in that I had a baiting investigation that turned out to be just a feeder deal," Guida said. "A (hunting) stand overlooked concealed bait under a tree that someone had stumbled upon and called us. We observed it the day before and checked the hunter. It was a 15-year-old boy who had no knowledge of the bait. We interviewed landowners on both sides, and the hunter didn't own the property. There was no intent. We just had them remove the bait (that the landowner was using to feed deer)."

Guida interviewed the landowner while the man was grilling up supper.

"The landowner didn't hunt, but he was having venison for supper," Guida said with a laugh.

Guida also assisted in a short search for a lost hunter.

"The misplaced hunter had fortunate luck, only walking some miles for over an hour before finding his way back home," Guida wrote in his CO report. "Unfortunately, the same lost hunter later in the evening also hit a deer with his pickup driving into town."

Most area conservation officers' reports included some form of baiting issues. And the usual assortment of the unusual:

• CO Gary Sommers of Walker "received a complaint that a hunter had shot and wounded a 10-point buck on Saturday, which he was able to locate on Sunday. The hunter left the deer to retrieve tools to process the animal. While he was gone, someone had removed the head and antlers from the deer."

• CO Dan Perron of Onamia "had a hunter stop and shoot the deer decoy (twice) on private agricultural land. When CO Perron pulled up behind the pickup, the shooter told Perron that he was shooting at an injured deer. Perron asked where the deer had come from and the shooter pointed and said, 'It came from over there.' The shooter was telling Perron for the third time that he was shooting at an injured deer when Perron pointed at the decoy and the shooter realized what he had shot at."

• CO Greg Verkuilen of Garrison "reports that in the last three weeks, three eight-point bucks have been hit on the same six-mile stretch of (Minnesota) Highway 18. It appears that the deer are moving around a lot in the area."

On baiting, COs Karl Hadrits of Crosby and Bob Mlyner of Aitkin were busy. In Mlyner's report, "One hunter, who earlier was charged with hunting over bait on private property, was seen parked at a public land hunting area. The law requires a 10-day waiting period once the bait is removed before the area can be hunted."

According to Hadrits' report, "Several complaints of baiting deer were investigated. In one of the cases three individuals face fines in excess of $1,200 and confiscation of firearms for hunting over bait."

Younger hunters added to the fodder for both COs.

"Another matter investigated involved a truck that was accidentally shot in the engine area and disabled by a first-time youth hunter as he shot his first deer," Hadrits said in his report.

"One (enforcement) contact began with the officer thinking that a hunter lying on the ground had taken a fall," Mlyner said in his report. "However, it proved to be a young hunter who was too tired to stay awake an hour into legal shooting time."

But Guida said he saw a lot of positives with young hunters.

"I saw a lot of first-time deer (being taken) and first-time hunters," he said.

"There was quite a bit of shooting on Saturday morning, then it looked like the deer started bedding down and stopped moving," he added of deer harvest numbers during opening weekend. "Registrations were down Saturday but they're starting to come up. The mild weather keeps the hunters in the woods."

Said CO Tim Collette of the Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area: "From what I saw opening morning it was good, but since then it's been slow. There have been scattered pockets of people doing all right. But I've been talking to a lot of hunters who aren't seeing anything."

Collette busted two hunters for baiting in last year's opener.

"It's as prevalent as ever," he said. "I don't think it's necessarily any worse than years before. People are getting fed up with it."

And not just baiting. And not just during the firearms season. On Thursday, the DNR reported that it had seized a record deer rack and filed charges against a Cannon Falls man after he poached the eight-point buck by bow Oct. 31 near Cannon Falls in southeastern Minnesota. The DNR said it was the biggest eight-point rack ever measured in Minnesota.

Anyone witnessing wildlife violations is encouraged to contact the nearest conservation officer, law enforcement agency or the toll-free Turn-In-Poacher hotline at (800) 652-9093 or #TIP for most cell phone users in Minnesota.

BRIAN S. PETERSON may be reached at brian.peterson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5864.

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