Sept. 13, 2012

By JESSE WHITE


TOWER - Fall officially arrives on Saturday, Sept. 15.

Come sunrise that day licensed Minnesota hunters will be able to chase small game, grouse and deer (with a bow) for the better part of the rest of the year.

Many hunters will be after the state's favorite game bird - grouse.

And many hunters may find the going a little slow this year as Department of Natural Resources officials say the bird is on the downside of its 10-year population cycle.

The best hunting usually occurs at the peak of the cycle and for a couple of years on either side of it.

According to Tom Rusch, DNR Wildlife Manager in Tower, spring drumming counts indicate the population is in the declining phase of the cycle. Officials try to get a handle on the population each year by counting the number of male birds heard drumming on established routes around the state.

This year counts were the lowest they had been in four years, down 24 to 60 percent in northeastern Minnesota.

According to Rusch there were 1.9 drums per stop in 2011 and only 1.1 in 2012.

A second concern this year is reproduction. June was extremely wet Rusch said and that is the prime time for nesting and that could have an effect on the population.

According to the DNR, on average, 115,000 hunters harvest 545,000 ruffed grouse in Minnesota each year. The grouse season runs through Jan. 1, 2013, and includes a daily limit of five and a possession limit of 10 birds.

Archery deer season

Hunters can expect deer populations throughout much of northern Minnesota to be at levels similar to the late 1990's and early 2000's, said Tom Rusch, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Manager in Tower.

A combination of three out of five harsh to severe winters combined with an aggressive management plan to thin herds after record harvests in the late 2000's, has lead to most deer permit areas being at or below population goals set by citizen-lead roundtables several years ago.

At that time, the public - including many land owners and hunters - wanted to see lower population densities and so the DNR offered more liberal permit options starting in 2003 to reach desired goals.

This past spring there were similar roundtables throughout the state but this time it was to discuss increasing deer populations.

"We've come full circle, basically," Rusch said. "The first time it was to reduce the population by 25 percent and now we're leaning the opposite way - that there aren't enough deer. There's going to be some fine tuning."

On the positive side the historically mild winter of 2011-2012 led to a strong fawn crop throughout the Tower work area, Rusch said, and much of northern Minnesota saw the best fawn production since 2006.

A resident archery license is $26. There are several options for hunters depending on what Permit Area they are in including: Lottery (one deer, antlerless permit required to shoot an antlerless deer);  Hunter's Choice (one deer, either-sex); Managed (two deer limit); and Intensive (five deer).

See the 2012 Deer Map on this website for more information.

The archery deer season runs through Dec. 31.

There is a one buck limit statewide regardless of the season.