On Sunday I went for a long hike on the Kekekabic Trail. It had been about 36 hours since fresh snow (our first snow) and I wanted to see if there was any evidence of deer or moose. Not long ago the upper Gunflint Trail had a thriving deer heard. Now they are virtually gone. I figured I'd see a few fresh tracks, but nothing. I live on the edge of a giant piece of public land that appears void of life at times. I find this frustrating. Why doesn't the area support more game? There is a lot of wolf predation but the wolves have always been here. Personally I think the wolf population in northeast MN is peaked and will decline soon. By not managing the wolves, or the wolves prey we have arguably done them a disservice. Is there an increase in other sources of predation? Not many people trap anymore. Trappers are a dying breed plus the fur market is down. Between wolves, bears, lynx, bobcat, coyotes, and fishers a deer fawn hardly has a chance in the Boundary Waters. I don't think lynx or bobcat would go after a moose calf but bears and wolves sure do. Personally I think the state of MN does a decent job with fish management, but a terrible job with game management. The state seems to lack a good holistic game management plan that looks at habitat, predators, and prey. The federal gov't has arguable overstepped their boundaries at times but MN has failed to fight back like many western states do. Does anybody else feel this way or have I been reading Bugle Magazine for too many years?

I think the DNR is doing what they can. More than managing game, they also have to deal with managing groups of people with conflicting interests.

Science suggests that if you want a healthy moose herd, you need a low deer population. Deer spread disease and ticks, and before all the logging that occurred between 100 to 50 years ago, they didn’t even exist in north east Minnesota. The climate is marginal for their winter survival there anyway.

Moose need more territory for their survival, so there will never be as dense a population as there can be with deer. Maybe with what you are reporting about the deer herd will give the moose a chance to rebound.

While I have never hunted out west I have taken quite an interest recently. I've started applying for points in several states and listen to a lot of western big game podcast.

This is just an opinion as I don't live in the arrowhead, I only visit there a few times a year. My observation as a lifelong south central MN farmland guy is that the DNR is in the business of pleasing people and not managing the resource to maximize potential.

quote DeanL: "While I have never hunted out west I have taken quite an interest recently. I've started applying for points in several states and listen to a lot of western big game podcast. "

I've been fortunate enough to hunt in Alaska, Wyoming, and Montana. All 3 of those states provide some great public land hunting opportunities. Cow tags are a great option for elk hunting. The they tend to be less expensive, easier to draw, and can provide some hunting opportunities outside of the general season. Plus elk hunting is a blast and the meat is fantastic.

When it comes to managing the deer herd in MN the DNR has an incredibly tough job. They need to balance input from hunters, farmers, insurance companies, and law makers. All of these groups have much different ideas of what should be done with the deer herd. Add in wolves that can't be managed at this point and the needs of a moose population that is in danger, and also the varying terrain found in the state and the wide swings in weather year to year and you've got one difficult equation to figure out.

Overall I think they do an ok job but are in my opinion to slow to react sometimes. I thought they didn't react quick enough after a few severe winters recently which has really hurt the herd overall.

As far as the arrowhead goes deer populations have typically always been low there. Its a tough place for them to survive based on geography and weather alone but then add in the additional predators that are abundant in the area and its down right inhospitable to white tail.

Its hard to take a lot of meaning about the lack of tracks seen on one single trip into the woods. I've spent plenty of days hunting and not seen a deer or discovered any tracks in the snow. Could be the deer just weren't moving much at that time or that they were simply in a different area and had no reason to trek through the area you were in. Now if you went out day after day and hiked different areas each day and still continued to see no sign then you would start to pay attention to the trend.

The arrowhead with its long winters is a tough place for deer to survive. Winter is just to long in half of the winters.

That said in recent years the Mn DNR has issued too many doe permits and extra license. Why? Forestry in the last 10 years has got the upper hand in advisory groups etc. A retired Mn DNR Wildlife Supervisor told me to watch out-Forestry is going to start controlling what the DNR sets as deer population goals. They are way too low now if you ask any Wildlife Manager who has spent time in the field and especially retired. Forestry rules now along with some who are naturalists and think deer are notpart of the ecosystem. There is a tug of war within the DNR recently.

About 6 years ago like the Tomahawk road area the goal was 2 deer per sq. mile. Might of been zero. That said the winters of 2012-13 and 2013-14 was too tough for almost all deer. When you still have snow May 1 in 2014.

The wolf population In north central Minnesota peaked I believe in about 2013 with recent years a lot of mange etc. killing wolves and less prey available. Still the wolf population is like 2500-3000. At least 100% higher than the long term goal was of 1250 wolves. It is time to manage it at the state level. As the United States Dept. of Interior-wildlife section said" the wolf is no longer endangered,it is time to delist the wolf".

Good info Pinetree, thanks.