tom-ruschs-dnr-blog

For northern forest whitetails, the going this winter has gotten tougher

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 17:36:26 +0100

The winter of 2012-13 has abruptly changed since the last Winter Severity Index report in early February. Over 30 inches of snow has fallen in the last month in Northern St Louis County, with three storms in the 6-inch-plus category.

For northern forest whitetails, the going has gotten tougher. All snow measurement stations are currently over the 15 inch threshold.

(Editors note: The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources measures the Winter Severity Index (WSI) by applying a point for everyday the temperature is below zero and applying a point for every day the snow is 15-inches or deeper. A typical Minnesota winter scores a WSI of about 120. Once the WSI begins to rise above that point, a winter is considered harsh, particularly if it reaches the 140 or 150 range.)

Winter severity, specifically snow depth and duration of snow cover, is the most critical factor affecting white-tailed deer survival in the northern forest. Deer movement is now heavily restricted, especially up in the border country. Deer are in heavy conifer cover. With restricted mobility, wolf predation will increase as the tables have now turned against deer. Until mid-February, deer had excellent mobility, and wolves were at a disadvantage, in all but the northern most parts of St Louis County.

At this point, the WSI is still below average for our area (northern Minnesota). Because December and January were very open, with snow depths less than 6 inches (except north of Orr) winter’s effect on deer is still minimal at this juncture. This winter is going to end up a bit below average (WSI=120) in the Tower area and milder on the Iron Range. With longer days and higher sun angle, south aspects will soon begin to open up and provide improved mobility and forage.

If winter and snow pack fade in late March, the 2013 fawn crop should still be a good one in most of northern St. Louis County. And, last year’s (2012) fawns, the most vulnerable segment of the herd, should come through okay. Time will tell, but the prospects for this winter appear to be short, with warming temperatures and longer days on the horizon as March progresses into April.

By April 1 we will have a firm grasp the effects of this winter on our white-tailed deer population. Antlerless permit area designation for the 2013 deer season will be made in mid-April.

A wildlife manager's perspective of Minnesota's first gray wolf hunting season

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 22:10:24 +0100

With the inaugural 2012 Minnesota wolf season now closed in the Northeast, I thought I would give you my impression of how it went, from the wildlife manager’s perspective.

Although the season has been surrounded with emotion, controversy and rhetoric on all sides, it has been much more routine in “the trenches.” The Tower Area wildlife staff has registered and done necropsies on about 25 wolves over the past month, pretty much without fanfare.

We have registered thousands of furbearers annually, for years: Fisher, marten, otter and bobcat. With wolves, it’s just a few per week by appointment. Hunters and trappers come in, generally very low key. They are treating the season like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to harvest a unique big game animal. There has been little animosity or disdain that I typically hear during deer seasons.

No back slapping and trash talking, either. Just hunters that are thankful for the opportunity to hunt and trap wolves. They are proud of their accomplishment, but modest, like most successful hunters.

We did not expect the high success rates we are seeing in the northeast. Personally, I thought 50% of the quota would be filled, max. Both early (deer) season and now late season hunters and trappers have harvested the full quota of 59 wolves in the northeast zone.

The “fun” part has been the necropsies. All successful hunters and trappers must bring in the carcass of their wolf. We take “biological” samples including a kidney, liver and muscle sample. In addition, we pull a tooth (to get the age) and the reproductive tract from all females to assess the reproductive history.

Again, this is nothing new. We take biological samples from deer and moose, bobcat, fisher and marten each year. But, none of these have compared to wolves in one aspect--the stench! Wildlife managers develop a pretty strong tolerance for diving elbow deep into dead stuff. Blood and guts and the different smells that go with dead animals are all in a day’s work, until you open up a wolf. Whew! They are the raunchiest smelling critter I’ve worked on, hands down.

Wolf hunters, trappers and taxidermists I’ve talked to all agree, wolves are in a league all their own, stink-wise. They are a challenge to hunt and a challenge to the nostrils.

It was an interesting season we all enjoyed. We found out that wolf hunting has a lot in common with fishing. Dead wolves don’t stop getting bigger! We didn’t weigh the wolves as they came in already skinned out and typically had been dead for several days.

But, most likely weighed 50-90 pounds. That’s quite a bit less than some of the wolves making the rounds on the internet since the season opened in November.

It has been an excellent fall for hunters so far; numbers are up everywhere and signs point to ...

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 15:25:51 +0100

An excellent Fall continues to go by way too fast! Bear and moose seasons are now finished. Bear harvest was up over 2011 in the Tower area. Moose harvest was down a bit, but so were permit numbers. Those lucky moose hunting parties who were selected in the lottery enjoyed a high quality hunt and shot some really nice bulls.

The duck hunting continues to be good. Most hunters are saying it’s the best around here in many years. The weather has been ideal, thus far, for moving ducks south and providing good duck hunting conditions. Big Rice Lake, one of our most popular duck hunting lakes, has had some very good reports. The combination of decent wild rice and the Little Rice refuge seems to be drawing them in and holding them around. Time will tell if this management strategy continues to work.

Grouse hunting has also surprised many people. Spring drumming reports showed a decline in our local Ruff breeding males and monsoon June rains were not kind to brood production in our area. Nonetheless, hunters are finding birds in good numbers in northern St Louis and northern Lake Counties! The majority of field reports I am hearing are positive to impressive. You can’t beat that for a “down” year. It shows that, with excellent grouse habitat, this area can still hold its’ own during the low part of the ruffed grouse population cycle.

The deer have absolutely come out of the woodwork. After all the gnashing of teeth and negative reports from the 2011 firearms season, it is great to see deer all over the Tower Area. They are really hitting the fields, roads-sides, cutovers and other forest opening- now. The short, mild winter of 2011-12 and long, warm growing season combined to produce a bumper crop of fawns in most of our deer permit areas.

Permit areas 176, 177 and 178 are the most productive deer habitat in my work area and it shows in years like this. Twin fawns seem to be everywhere. Roadkills are way up.

This fawn crop is the answer to the recovery of our local population after tough winters in three of the last five years. Permit areas along the Canadian border (108, 119, 118, 117 and 127) do not recover as fast. The heavily forested habitat does not produce the fawns that the mixed forest and fields do. Field reports are of mostly singles with a few twins. This is still the best fawn crop for these permit areas in 5 or 6 years.

I think the 2012 deer season, will be much like the 2010 season and way better than the 2011 season. Hunters who are out there are starting to see the buck sign show up. Antler production is excellent. With this growing season, we will see some really nice bucks on the pole this year.

Take a ride the first hour or the last hour of the day. You will see the recovery for yourself. If you are not getting out there, you are missing one of the best Falls in recent memory.

Don't let this time of year pass you by - get out there and enjoy the seasons while you can

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 15:34:35 +0100

It’s that time of the year! If you are not getting out there you are missing the boat! The big boys are starting to rub. The bulls are rutting hard and on the move in search of receptive cows. The grouse hunting is way better than predicted. The bears are getting ready to go down and they have the feedbag on. Fall color is absolutely fabulous and it is now coming down.
Find a way to get out there. Even if it is just for an hour. Go! Skip out of your commitments early. Apologize in advance. Take a kid with you. But, get out there. This time of year is so fleeting you have to make time before it is gone. You never get it back.
October - you can smell it in the air. You can see it in your mind’s eye. It is that time of year when you day dream about the fall flights of ‘bills coming down on the northwester ahead of the cold front, scouting and setting up your traditional trap line, matching wits with another old swamp buck, missing that gimme shot... Go!
You can see October all around you. The woods look as fine as they will all year. The underbrush is opening up. There is a bumper acorn crop. Everything is feeding. The woodcock are coming down. The partridge broods are splitting up. The teal are still here. Quit making excuses. An old friend is waiting for your call.
Take a quick trip to the cabin. There is wood to cut. Trails to brush back. Stands need attention. Blinds need work. The shack needs to be opened. You gotta scout for sign and sets. You need a reason? It’s October. Put the shotgun in the trunk…
And make some time go!

Finding a place to hunt in northern Minnesota is easier than ever with the internet at your ...

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 21:22:10 +0100

The smell of Fall is in the air! Fall colors are turning fast up on the Canadian Shield. We had our first hard frost this week and overnight temps in the 30s have been common throughout September. With bear, goose, archery deer and ruffed grouse seasons open, hunters are heading out to their familiar haunts. A common question I often hear is “where can I find a good place to hunt?”

With the internet exploding with new information every year, the answer to that question is literally at your finger tips. If you want to find prime hunting spots in northeast Minnesota, the resources out there to do so are more available than ever.

The old fashion way, maps, have not taken a back seat on the information highway. They are available on a number of excellent websites so you can literally scout for great hunting spots from home, office or camp. Topographic (www.mytopo.com) and aerial photos (dnr.state.mn.us/airphotos/index.html) are still the two best tools for finding, and learning, new hunting ground in a short amount of time. If you have not checked out Google Earth (www.google .com/earth) you are missing out. The photo quality is awesome, the photos are typically very recent, and they are free.

If you want to stay a step ahead of the competition, virtual scouting is a great way to do it. You can see new timber harvesting from the last couple years to help locate prime food sources for bear, deer and moose, a mixed timber age classes for finding the best ruffed grouse coverts, remote new beaver ponds for duck hunting and trapping or a low profile access route.

The Department of Natural Resources web page (www.dnr.state.mn.us/index.html) is another tool many savvy hunters use regularly, but most have never seen. They are missing the boat! Why? Let’s say you want to find some new grouse hunting spots. The DNR has a “Hunter Walking Trail” (www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/hwt/index.html) page where you can find dozens of mowed hunter walking trails in St Louis County. Each trail is high-lighted on an air photo that you can print and then hit the woods with confidence.

How about “Wildlife Management Areas?" There are 1.4 million acres of WMA’s (www.dnr.state.mn.us/wmas/index.html) managed by DNR wildlife managers specifically for ducks, pheasants, grouse, bear, and deer. A quick scouting mission, on-line, can tell you just about everything you want to know about a specific WMA--before you go. How big is it? Big game? Small game? Cover types? Air photos? Parking? Wildlife manager’s phone number? Yep, all there. Free . Before you hit the woods.

Take the time to do a little virtual scouting before your next hunting trip. It will save you time and money and put more wild game in your freezer. That’s money you can take to the bank, cabin, or the taxidermist.

Welcome to the Wildlife Manager's Corner

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 02:34:53 +0100

In this first edition, I would like to just familiarize you with our neck of the woods and give you an idea of what a Department of Natural Resources wildlife manager does in northeast Minnesota.

As summer transitions to fall and the hunting seasons, we are working on a wide variety of wildlife management tasks and field activities up here on the Canadian border, such as:

Mowing 85 miles of hunter walking trails for ruffed grouse hunting.
Preparing a newly acquired 750 acre Wildlife Management Area (WMA) for hunting.
Preparing nine other WMA’s for fall hunting, trapping and wildlife observation.
Posting the newly dedicated waterfowl refuge on Little Rice Lake.
Field checking 85 wild rice lakes for ricing and hunting prospects.
Field checking natural bear foods.
Setting up 23 bear/deer/moose registration stations scattered throughout our area.
Working with three local farmers with deer crop depredation.
Handling dozens of nuisance bear complaints (worst in 10 years).
Conducting seven furbearer scent post surveys to gauge annual productivity of fisher, marten, fox, coyote, and wolf.
Fielding hundreds of phone calls from hunters, trappers and landowners regarding bear, deer, moose, duck, wolf, and grouse seasons.
Preparing for the new wolf trapping and hunting season.
Monitoring waterfowl use of Big and Little Rice Lakes.
Spraying noxious weeds.

And reviewing annual timber cutting plans to make recommendations to foresters to improve habitat for all big game species in the Tower Area.

The Canadian shield is bone dry again, as we speak. We have gone from severe drought this spring, to flood stage throughout June and now back to drought in September. We have three small wildfires burning in the Ely vicinity as field conditions are again bone dry.

The Tower Area wildlife staff is looking forward to the fall. Collectively, my staff hunts bear, grouse, deer (bow, gun and muzzleloader), traps fox, coyote, marten, fisher, beaver and rats.

And we are all in the lottery for the inaugural wolf season!

Until next time, good luck and shoot straight.