In January and February 2015, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources accepted comments from citizens on deer population goals across the northern part of the state. In Cook County, a public meeting was held on February 19 and comments were recorded on what should be done in the “Superior Uplands Arrowhead” region, block 1 of the proposal. Citizen Advisory Teams were established and surveys were conducted. The DNR now has advisory team recommendations and would like the public to once again weigh in on the final goals for deer populations in northeastern Minnesota.
Dave Ingebrigtsen, assistant wildlife manager, who works in the Grand Marais DNR office, encourages North Shore residents to give input to help the DNR make its decision for deer populations in this area. “Now is the time for people to get involved,” said Ingebrigtsen.
Cook County has two deer permit areas, No. 117 and No. 126. For deer permit area 117, which is primarily in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), the consensus of the advisory team was to leave things be, with no change in population.
Some of the reasons given were that deer were not historically found in this area, it is one area of the state not impacted by deer; this is primarily moose area; few people hunt in this area and those that do care more about a wilderness deer experience than higher deer density.
In deer permit area 126, the advisory team could not reach agreement. Ten team members preferred no change in population. Two team members wanted a population increase of 25 percent. One team member preferred a population increase of 50 percent and two team members abstained.
Seven team members expressed concern about vegetation, one stating, “Fencing trees is expensive” and another stating that deer population will come back up after a few mild winters, but vegetation recovery takes much longer.
Several others said the DNR should not increase deer population, but do more for moose. One team member suggested deferring to moose and establishing a separate hunting zone along the shoreline for deer.
Advisory team recommendations and public comment will then advance for consideration and approval by the commissioner of natural resources. Any adjustments made to team recommendations will be communicated to the team and public. Announcement of final population goals is anticipated by June 2015. Once goals are established, the DNR will announce those goals, and wildlife managers will implement harvest strategies to meet and maintain them. The DNR plans to have new goals in place for all Minnesota deer permit areas before the 2016 firearms deer season.
Information on the deer population goal process, historical harvest numbers, population modeling, survey results and more can be found on the DNR website: www.dnr.state.mn.us/mammals/deer/mgmt. html.
The webpage has an online survey. Comments may be emailed to deergoals. dnr@state.mn.us or mail written comments to: Deer Goals, Minnesota DNR, 500 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN 55155. Comments for the Arrowhead region should be annotated block 1.
Comments will be accepted through Wednesday, April 15, 2015.
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