Special Report: Where’d the deer go? Hunter frustration grows in Minnesota Northwoods

Know a few people who live up there and the wolves have wiped them out completely and hunters finished off the rest. It's sad.
 
Northern Wisconsin gun deer kill numbers were way down as well this year.

I drove north/south across the Upper Penninsula if Michigan yesterday during low-light/dark, I saw x4 deer the entire drive. Craziness.
 
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I was curious how the UP stacked up this year, so I did some quick napkin excel math for all UP deer management units. Obviously compliance with mandatory reporting is not perfect (certainly not up there), but pretty interesting to see. I only did firearms season because that's when the majority get killed + 2023 muzzleloader hasn't happened yet. Similar trends all through the region it seems. Keep in mind that 2022 wasn't exactly great either
 
I grew up deer hunting in Northern MN with my family in the early 2000s and last in 2011. We hunted a pretty popular and large public area. Plenty of space for everyone to hunt without seeing someone else. I can recall driving to the trail head or parking spot we'd hike in on and the road would be filled with vehicles and hunters getting ready to head into the woods. Usually our party of 8-12 guys would tag 4-8 deer, with more some guys passing small bucks or does, and usually everyone would at least see a deer or two. It was always a fairly successful hunt. I've moved away, but my dad still goes annually with the same group of guys. Nowadays they're maybe tagging 2 deer if they're lucky.
I don't want to put it all on wolves, but they are well over the population objective that was set long ago, and with no hunting or trapping, the populations keep growing. The area we hunted also had OTC doe tags that didn't help the deer population at all.
Also, the logging operations have slowed in the area/region and that has altered the habitat. It's for sure a combination of issues that have brought deer numbers down.
Hopefully they can bounce back and provide more opportunity. Delisting of wolves would be a big help, in my opinion.
 
I'm a pretty big fence rider when it comes to this issue. I see no problem with a wolf/hunting trapping season, but all the false bravado I see from the "smoke a pack day" crowd makes me feel okay with never having a wolf season.
 
Treeshark said:
Northern Wisconsin gun deer kill numbers were way down as well this year.

I drove north/south across the Upper Penninsula if Michigan yesterday during low-light/dark, I saw x4 deer the entire drive. Craziness.
Click to expand...
A buddy of mine has a cabin near Seney and we see a lot of wolf tracks in that area when we are up there hunting, fishing and trapping. Definetely having an impact on deer numbers
 
Nicoli7153 said:
A buddy of mine has a cabin near Seney and we see a lot of wolf tracks in that area when we are up there hunting, fishing and trapping. Definetely having an impact on deer numbers
Click to expand...
I've spent quite a bit of time hunting the Seney refuge and I have never had a more desolate deer hunting experience anywhere - and I've hunted in 8 different counties in the UP in the past 10 years. A shadow of its former self, if you listen to the people who truly knew it in the 90s and earlier. I have been reading quite a bit of the literature on how wolves are more effective hunting off of roads and trails lately (I think inspired by another thread here), and that has 100% been corroborated by my experiences in the upper Midwest, but especially on the refuge. Wolves run the dyke roads that separate the pools while they split up and play the wind, and they can cover the entire 95,000 acre refuge in a matter of a few hours - if that. The roads are perfectly designed for efficient wolf travel, and they take advantage of it.
 
It’s a perfect storm situation. Compounding tough recent winters, excessive tag availability, wolves, and growing vehicle traffic.

Last winter was especially hard on wildlife, even as far south as the twin cities. The year prior was harder than we’d seen in at least a few years.

Where I hunt, a bit northeast of the twin cities, I have 12 deer tags available to me between MN & WI (I live right on the border). That’s too many. Lucky for the deer, I have enough trouble filling one or two.

Wolves are certainly growing their populations and extending their ranges. I have access to 160 acres near Red Lake that hasn’t had a deer on it in 10 years. Dozens of wolves on camera daily in that time frame. That’s quite a ways north though. The last two years we’ve dealt with hound/wolf interactions on a weekly basis while running bears in WI just 50 miles northeast of St. Paul. Often resulting in fairly severe injuries. I don’t bring my bird dogs there anymore.

People also like to blame coyotes around here. There are tons around but I’ve personally seen a lone doe or pair of Sandhills chase off multiple coyotes, several times. I feel like they change deer patterns more than they affect populations.

I see at least three new vehicle kills, sometimes 10, per week within three miles of my house, and have for several years. Also see tons of deer on golf courses and in suburban subdivisions as I drive the kids to school. They’ve found a safer place to live around here.
 
NR_Hunter said:
I'm a pretty big fence rider when it comes to this issue. I see no problem with a wolf/hunting trapping season, but all the false bravado I see from the "smoke a pack day" crowd makes me feel okay with never having a wolf season.
Click to expand...
I hear you. Every time I hear whining about wolves, see a Cheeser thread, or listen to people spout off about “SSS” it makes me more content with just leaving them alone.
 
rogerthat said:
Just blowhards. Have you ever tried to smoke a pack a day? Not anything to worry about
Click to expand...
Idk about a pack a day but when Wisconsin opened season they sure wiped the floor with the wolves fast. No way the amount that were killed was even close to what was reported. I agree mostly blowhards but just sayin.
 
Last edited:
Nicoli7153 said:
A buddy of mine has a cabin near Seney and we see a lot of wolf tracks in that area when we are up there hunting, fishing and trapping. Definetely having an impact on deer numbers
Click to expand...
Southern WI was down as much as the north. Maybe the warm weather? Can’t blame wolves for everything.
 
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