Some of the state's best deer hunting will be found close to home

Nov. 4—WILLMAR — More than 400,000 hunters were expected to take to the woods and fields of Minnesota during the 2022 deer firearm season, which gets underway Saturday.

Odds are, some of the most successful among them will be found right here in west central Minnesota.

The corn is harvested, the temperatures are back to a cool normal, and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has expanded harvest opportunities in most of the deer permit areas throughout the southern portion of the state.

"I'm pretty upbeat," said Dave Trauba, regional wildlife manager for the southern region with the Minnesota DNR.

"Our deer numbers are strong," said Trauba. Deer numbers in the majority of deer permit areas in the southern counties are at or above the goals set for them, he explained.

One permit area stands out among the many in the southern shotgun zone. Deer Permit Area 277, covering 1,000 square miles from Willmar and northwest into Pope County offers a three-deer harvest potential due to good deer numbers.

It is historically among the top 10 or 12 permit areas in the state in terms of its harvest and success rates and this year should be no different.

Hunters in the zone harvested 5,084 deer in the zone last year, making it one of the best in terms of hunter success in the entire shotgun zone. "Not many places you can go and have higher odds of harvesting a deer than right here at home," said Cory Netland, wildlife manager with the DNR in New London, speaking earlier this week on KWLM Radio's Open Mic program.

Netland told the Tribune that deer population numbers in the permit area remain equal to if not better than last year. Hunters willing to put in the effort have every opportunity to harvest a deer, he pointed out.

The statewide deer harvest leading up to the start of the firearm season has been behind last year's pace. Trauba said the harvest got off to a good start, but this year's harvest during the early anterless season was lower than was the case last year. He believes warm weather likely kept deer from moving and reduced the opportunities for hunters.

Statewide, Trauba said the DNR is anticipating an overall harvest roughly similar to last year, in which more than 184,000 deer were taken through the archery, firearm and special seasons.

Many would like the DNR to manage the state herd for an annual harvest of 200,000. Trauba said this year's harvest is likely to fall short of that goal due to reduced deer numbers in the northern portions of the state, particularly the northeast.

The northern herd has experienced losses due to a string of harsh winters and last winter was among the worst. The northern permit areas also see larger deer losses due to higher predator pressure. Many of the northeast permit areas are bucks only.

In contrast, southern Minnesota's deer herd has been growing thanks to two consecutive mild winters. Does coming into the spring are healthy and fawn production has been very good, said Trauba.

Fawn survival has been good too, better than many have realized. Trauba said the DNR's Madelia research center has been conducting a fawn survival study during the past two years. It's the first assessment of fawn survival in the southern region in 20 years. It was launched to see how changes in the landscape and the increase in coyotes are impacting survival.

He said the study has shown higher fawn survival rates than many had anticipated. In the first year, the impact of coyotes was not strong, but it was higher than in the past. Yet overall, it's clear that fawn survival rates are doing well.

The good deer numbers, mild winters and study results are all factors in leading the DNR to adopt more liberal harvest opportunities. Trauba said in some permit areas, there might be more opportunity than there are hunters.

With that said, the wildlife director also noted that hunter success can vary greatly within the deer permit areas. It's all about habitat. Areas with good habitat, be they lands enrolled in conservation or river corridors, hold the most deer.

Public lands in southern Minnesota host many of the hunters and play a very big role in our overall harvest, Trauba pointed out. In some of the intensively farmed counties, state wildlife management areas and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Waterfowl Production areas provide almost the only true deer habitat.

The importance of public lands and access for hunters was brought home to Trauba recently. A survey of hunters using Walk In Access lands found that deer hunting was the number one use, even more than pheasant hunting.