Fish & Wildlife Today: Minnesota DNR

Deer hunters, here’s some bad news: Those deer on the covers of deer hunting periodicals aren’t real. At least not in terms of what most hunters will ever see in their lifetime. The truth is that relatively few hunters actually shoot a trophy buck each fall, despite the wall of antlers festooning magazine racks.

Minnesota DNR biologists estimate that fewer than one buck harvested in one hundred has what most hunters consider a trophy rack--with at least four 7-inch-long tines on each main beam.

Why so few big bucks? In a nutshell, most bucks can’t live long enough to reach that size, says DNR wildlife research biologist Mark Lenarz.

“With more than 500,000 deer hunters out each fall, it’s pretty tough for a buck to escape that intense hunting pressure and live for more than one or two,” says Lenarz, who leads the forest wildlife populations and research station at Grand Rapids.

For hunters hoping to tip the odds and put a trophy buck in their sights, Lenarz and other DNR deer biologists recommend focusing on spots that contain these three components:

1. lots of nutritious food

2. plenty of woods or other hiding places, and,

3. a lack of hunting pressure.

“Anywhere deer can eat well and escape hunting pressure for three to five years, you’ll have trophy bucks,” says Lenarz.

Where do hunters find such places? Almost anywhere. According to the Minnesota Deer Classic Record Book, published by the Wildlife Heritage Association, trophy bucks have come from every county except Ramsey.

“Areas that consistently provide trophy bucks have two things in common,” said Lenarz. “One, the deer tend to be older than the statewide average. And two, high protein food is available all year long.”

The transition region--which starts at the state’s southeast corner and extends diagonally to the northwest--provides more of that combination than the forested region or the farmland region.

“Three-fourths of Wisconsin looks like our transition zone,” says Dave Schad, DNR regional wildlife supervisor at Brainerd. “That’s why their state produces so many deer.”

According to the Minnesota Deer Classic Record Book, Winona County has produced more record book bucks per square mile than any other county in Minnesota. Washington County, located just west of the Twin Cities, ranks number two. Houston County, the state’s southeastern-most county, comes up third.

Nick Gulden, DNR area wildlife manager at Winona, says trophy bucks may be more prevalent in the state’s southeastern corner for three reasons: high-quality food, mild winters, and land ownership patterns.

“Deer never go hungry down here,” says Gulden. “Food is available all winter long. Southeast Minnesota deer put on good weight and good growth because they start spring in better condition than northern deer. Our winters are shorter. Our winters are milder.”

Gulden adds that the food available to southeastern deer is more nutritious than the woody browse or the other low- protein foods that deer eat during winter in the far north.

Land ownership in Winona County is also slightly different than that in other southern counties. Gulden says several large blocks of land are either closed or severely restricted to hunting, thus providing safe areas for deer.

For example, roughly 2,500 acres of the 27,000-acre Whitewater Wildlife Management Area are closed to buck hunting. Similarly, several thousand acres of private land near Winona is managed for trophy deer. These private parcels contain upwards of 60 deer per square mile, but the harvest is limited to only a few bucks each year.

“Large antlers are often the result of age rather than genetics,” said Gulden. “If a buck has a safe place to grow old, it can produce some impressive antlers.”

Deer in southern Minnesota grow antlers at a faster rate than they do in northern Minnesota. It’s common for eight-point bucks--even 10-point bucks--to be only one and a half years old in the state’s southern half. Deer of that same age in the north are usually spikes or forkhorns.

Deer grow faster down south, but they rarely get a chance to live as long as deer do in the dense northern forests. In southwestern Minnesota, for example, large blocks of forest land are rare, making deer more vulnerable because they don’t have ideal escape cover from hunters.

This exposure is why most deer in southwestern Minnesota are harvested during their first or second year of life.

“It’s tough to bag a buck with big antlers in southwestern Minnesota because the majority of deer are harvested when they are fawns or yearlings,” says Lenarz. “A deer that doesn’t reach middle or old age generally can’t produce record-book antlers.”

Conversely, bucks in the forests of northeastern Minnesota have plenty of escape cover. As a result, it is not unusual for bucks to reach 5 or 7 years old. However, that region lacks enough nutritional food such as corn, soybeans, and acorns that help grow big-antlered deer.

To find big bucks, trophy-buck hunter Bill Lewno, of Forest Lake, recommends focusing on areas that have these two features: plenty of cover and limited hunting pressure. Lewno, who hunts with a bow, has taken several monstrous whitetails in Anoka County, part of the seven county Twin Cities metro area. Such semi-rural areas often harbor huge deer because local shooting ordinances or trespass restrictions limit hunting opportunities. Here, the hunter’s first, and often biggest, challenge is to gain permission to hunt a prime parcel of woods.

Regardless of where Minnesota hunters choose to hunt, Lenarz points out that a trophy deer doesn’t necessarily have to be a big one or one with a huge rack.

“I’ve seen a lot of does and spike bucks that have been trophies in the eyes of young and old hunters alike,” he says.

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