Cook County should see a 25 percent increase in its deer population in the next three to five years under new guidelines for deer management set by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on Tuesday, June 9.
“These new goals will result in management to increase deer numbers in relation to last year’s levels in most of the 40 permit areas,” said Steve Merchant, DNR wildlife population manager. “The new goals largely reflect the desires shared by stakeholders who participated in the deer goal-setting process and generally reflect public feedback we’ve heard during the past few years.”
To achieve increased deer numbers, fewer hunting permits will be issued this fall, said Merchant.
Cook County is just one of 40 deer permit areas in which the DNR has set goals to manage the deer population in 2015. Wildlife managers established goals for 34 permit areas in the last two years, with 54 locations still to be decided.
Of those places selected, 26 will be managed for densities higher than previously established by the DNR’s previous goals; eight will be managed at similar rates and six will be managed for densities below former goals. The state has a total of 128 areas managed for deer.
The push to increase the state’s deer herd has come largely from the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association (MDHA).
Last year hunters took 139,500 deer, a steep drop from the record 290,000 harvested in 2003. Back-to-back harsh winters and fewer permits are part of the reason for the decreased harvest. It’s against this backdrop that the MDHA has been working with the DNR to reestablish deer numbers in Minnesota.
MDHA Executive Director Craig Engwall said he was disappointed DNR goals to expand the state’s deer population weren’t higher, and he was also disappointed that the DNR didn’t accept four advisory team recommendations.
On May 5 Engwall sent a letter to DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr asking for the program to be delayed until the Legislative Auditor’s evaluation is complete in January 2016.
In his letter, Engwall noted that the Legislative Audit Commission had approved several topics for evaluation in April. He said the Commission identified the following areas of concern: How does the DNR estimate and monitor Minnesota’s deer population? How does the DNR establish the state’s deer population goals, and how does this compare with methods used by other states? And to what extent do DNR’s deer population goals reflect an appropriate balance among stakeholder interests?
Those questions will still have to be answered, but until then the DNR has begun a more modest plan to increase deer population in this part of the state.
While the new goals affect much of north central and northeastern Minnesota, the DNR postponed goal setting for the remaining 54 deer permit areas until the January 2016 legislative audit of the state’s deer population management program is complete.
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