After the opening weekend of the Minnesota firearms deer-hunting season, a Cook County High School ninth-grade student leads Buck’s Big Buck Contest.
Kole Anderson, Grand Marais, weighed in a field dressed buck that tipped the scales at 235.4 pounds.
Maybe it was the record cold, but Buck’s staff reported only seven deer were weighed during the first weekend of Minnesota firearms deer hunting season.
As for the most massive antler spread, Kelli Lawrence, Schroeder, holds the early lead by registering a set of antlers that have a 21½ – inch span between them.
There is still one week to go, so these results could very well change.
What are the prizes in the contest?
The winner of the heaviest (largest dressed weight) buck will receive a new rifle. Half of the entry money will go to the hunter who brought in the deer with the most significant antler spread, and the other half of the money will go to the winner of the drawing, which is pulled from the pool of applicants who paid $10 each to enter. This year there were 390 entries.
The contest wraps up on Sunday, November 24, the last day of the Minnesota firearms season.
Opening weekend
According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) deer reports and statistics, nearly 500,000 folks purchased licenses to hunt deer for the 2019 fall firearms season.
As of Monday night, Nov. 11, the report for Cook County (Zone 126) was that 10 does, 72 bucks, and four male juveniles had been harvested. Zone 241 in Becker and Ottertail County recorded 3,644 deer taken during that same time.
The data on hunting is generated from the DNR’s electronic licensing and registration system and may contain some errors. It also does not include deer harvested during special hunts and is updated every one or two business days.
Minnesota firearms hunters registered 81,172 deer over the first three days of the season, which has started with record cold temperatures and some stiff winds that keep hunters moving or staying home, at least in the far northland.
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