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Michaela Buchheit, 15, of Grand Marais, got this nice nine-point buck on Sunday morning, November 15, hunting with her dad, Jon Buchheit. The buck was 170 pounds. It is Michaela’s first deer.
Deer rifle season closes Sunday, November 22, but at press time hunting was still going strong.
Buck’s Hardware in Grand Marais had registered 279 deer. Paul Swearingen of Buffalo, MN, was still in the lead in the Buck’s Big Buck Contest—in two categories, with a buck weighing 233 pounds and with an antler spread of 21.5-inches.
At Lockport General Store in Lutsen, 167 deer were registered.
At Mike’s Holiday in Tofte, 130 deer have been registered to date.
On the Gunflint Trail at Windigo Lodge, there has been no change. Four deer have been registered at Windigo.
Sandy Updyke at the Hovland Post Office, the county’s east end reporting station, reports that she has registered five does and 32 bucks.
According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Minnesota deer hunters have harvested about 96,000 deer since the firearms season opened last Saturday.
Julie Nelson of Grand Marais with her first-ever deer, shot just 45 minutes into the season. The six-point, 175- pound buck was shot a few miles out of Grand Marais on the Gunflint Trail.
This number is consistent with expectations from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which predicted the harvest would be down from last year as a result of a slightly smaller deer herd and fewer opportunities for hunters to take a deer of either sex.
The statewide antlerless harvest is down 14 percent from last year and the buck harvest down 2 percent.
Minnesota hunters harvested about 222,000 deer last year. Thepeak harvest was 290,000 deer in 2003.
Muzzleloader deer season begins November 28 and ends December 13. Archery season started in September and continues until December 31, 2009.
Congratulations to all our successful hunters, and to those still hunting, be safe!
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