What's your perception of current and future deer hunting?

[MJY65]

I realize the population comes and goes due to weather, predators, etc. What I'm talking about is the combination of deer numbers with an ever dwindling area in which to hunt.

It seems like the opportunities for non-landowners are pretty much non-existent compared to a few decades ago. The price of land is so high that it is quite a stretch for a few weekends of hunting.

I've finally reached a point in my career where I could potentially devote a bit more time to hunting and get back into it, but it doesn't look like the hunting I remember exists anymore.

Is my perception accurate?

[goalie]

Are you in good enough shape to walk a ways and get a deer out from a mile away from a road?

If so, there is a lot of places to hunt that won't be too crowded. Well, other than the first 300 yards from the road.......

[JJ]

Are you in good enough shape to walk a ways and get a deer out from a mile away from a road?

If so, there is a lot of places to hunt that won't be too crowded. Well, other than the first 300 yards from the road.......

^this.

MN has a plethora of public lands. Most hunters don't trek further than 100yds off the main trail in the big woods, or show up before shooting light in the farmland zone.

I'm blessed to have land-owning family, but I have zero doubt i can be successful on public lands. With a lightweight climber stand, and a good pair of boots, I can get off the beaten path in the woods, or be on a tree an hour before shooting time in the farmland zone. We grew up hunting public grounds within 1.5hrs of the cities. We hiked further and were out the door before most were out of bed, and never had issues harvesting deer.

Either situation, at shooting light the deer come running right to you, when the blaze orange armada stumbles in at (or after) shooting light.

[Ghost]

I know several guys who hunt public and have great success harvesting nice bucks. They put in the time and the effort needed.

[MJY65]

Are you in good enough shape to walk a ways and get a deer out from a mile away from a road?

If so, there is a lot of places to hunt that won't be too crowded. Well, other than the first 300 yards from the road.......

Yes, but even that can pose some challenges since private land often needs to be crossed to get there. Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong places.

[goalie]

Are you in good enough shape to walk a ways and get a deer out from a mile away from a road?

If so, there is a lot of places to hunt that won't be too crowded. Well, other than the first 300 yards from the road.......

Yes, but even that can pose some challenges since private land often needs to be crossed to get there. Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong places.

Are you looking for excuses or deer?

[Holland&Holland]

Are you in good enough shape to walk a ways and get a deer out from a mile away from a road?

If so, there is a lot of places to hunt that won't be too crowded. Well, other than the first 300 yards from the road.......

Yes, but even that can pose some challenges since private land often needs to be crossed to get there. Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong places.

Look at the mn state forests.

[MJY65]

Are you looking for excuses or deer?

Opinions/experiences. I never said it was impossible, but your comments are confirming that it has changed significantly over the past several decades. Several areas of public land I hunted in past years are no longer accessible in any practical sense. I will need to focus my search in new areas.

[unfitmother]

Check out the DNR's Recreation Compass for a quick reference to pubic land. It's not exhaustive, but it's a good start. After I scanned this, I then went to county property records and got detailed maps of boundaries so I could get off the beaten path without worrying about trespassing. Best of luck!

[Holland&Holland]

I realize the population comes and goes due to weather, predators, etc. What I'm talking about is the combination of deer numbers with an ever dwindling area in which to hunt.

It seems like the opportunities for non-landowners are pretty much non-existent compared to a few decades ago. The price of land is so high that it is quite a stretch for a few weekends of hunting.

I've finally reached a point in my career where I could potentially devote a bit more time to hunting and get back into it, but it doesn't look like the hunting I remember exists anymore.

Is my perception accurate?

No, your perception is not accurate. Not certain which zone you are looking for so of course I can only speak to zones I have hunted in but from my perception here is where you are flat out wrong.

1) Deer numbers are much higher than they were several decades ago.
2) Public land is readily available and while it has it's challenges those challenges existed 20 years ago and still exist today. Pressure ebbs and flows in areas and the Saturday of the firearm opener is going to be the busiest but pressure can be used to your advantage as well. I hunted public land most of my hunting career and know how to successfully do so. Now I am in woods in lower zone 1. Deer are not trophy quality but I have taken several very nice 8 pointers on public land over the years. I always preferred river bottoms and the heart attacks and strokes that accompany pulling a big buck up a 300 yard long steep embankment, but I understand what is fun for some is not fun for all. I did lose a hunting buddy that way when my "ATV" to haul out dear consisted of a chain link fence post with a dear strung "Indian style". Tends to dig in to the shoulder after a mile or so.
3) The price of land has dropped significantly from where it was prior to 2008 and is really a bargain I think. I do now hunt my own because I have kids and I wanted to control the experience for them.

I had good times and bad times on public land. There are good people there and jerks but I knew how to deal with that. Always have, since the first time I walked into a piece of public woods after school to get into my stand for some bow hunting when I was about 14 and ran into a guy walking out with it. It was a crappy stand compared to todays, as it was the cheapest, heaviest portable I could afford from saving up my pocket gopher money. He did give it back with an excuse that in the public woods anything he finds he could have. From then on, my stand had a bike lock on it. Until the last season when a meth head stole my ATV from the parking lot of the hotel. That said, I would not trade my years hunting on those lands back in. The good times and great hunts far outweighed the bad.

[MJY65]

3) The price of land has dropped significantly from where it was prior to 2008 and is really a bargain I think.

That's something I haven't looked into recently. I got discouraged by the prices the last time, but it has been a few years. If the prices are more reasonable now, it could be a good option.

How many acres would you say is a desirable minimum in the wooded areas of the state?

[Holland&Holland]

3) The price of land has dropped significantly from where it was prior to 2008 and is really a bargain I think.

That's something I haven't looked into recently. I got discouraged by the prices the last time, but it has been a few years. If the prices are more reasonable now, it could be a good option.

How many acres would you say is a desirable minimum in the wooded areas of the state?

Depends on how it is situated and how many people you want hunting on it. I have 40 acres with farm to my north scrub and woods to my south and a slough to my west. Road on the east. It is all huntable heavy woods and tends to be a good highway between bedding areas (some of which are on my land) and feeding areas in the fields. We hunt it with 3 in stands I would say that is the max for our property.

[LarryP]

Just drive in the Burbs at night, Odds are you'll hit one

[UnaStamus]

I hunt by Fountain, MN on a ~500 acre farm field pockmarked by sinkholes with woods on the edge of it. I have not hunted deer in about 4 years, and until the numbers improve I really don't have a desire to. About 10 years ago, you couldn't throw a rock without hitting a deer. Now it's extremely difficult to even see one deer. I remember standing on the edge of the field looking at 17 deer (counted them), and picking which one I wanted to shoot. That was fun. Now I it's just sitting in a ground blind freezing my balls of and trying to stay awake at 0630 after working the night shift. I can make shots out to 200yds with my shotgun, but most deer we see now are at a long distance running past at a good clip. My dad and younger brother still hunt it, and they haven't gotten a deer since I stopped hunting. I'm taking that as a clue that I'm not missing anything.

Maybe I'll go to SD. When we go pheasant hunting, we scare up more deer than birds.