Agreed. Do you agree that Gissert is gey?

Any lottery we have should have one main rule. If you have a doe tag you must tag a doe. If you have a buck tag you must tag a buck. Make a choice and deal with it.
The doe lottery system needs to be overhauled. If you draw a doe tag their should not be cross tagging of bucks. I hunt near Montevideo and four areas come together right in the town itself. Of all the doe permits issued I'd be willing to bet 85% of the tags are used on bucks. We registered about 200 deer and more than 160 were bucks. What's the point of a doe lottery if this is the end result? Doe lottery doesn't make sense. I'd be down with a buck lottery.

How about this. You can buy A) a buck tag, or B) a doe tag. No cross tagging. You make a choice and deal with it. It won't happen because of, you guessed it, MONEY.

Last I checked, the DNR isnt hoarding money. They were making more cuts or budget adjustments, in comparison to them lining their pockets and growing.

I'd like to have some proof of your claims of the DNR's ability to making money off all this. Or is it just a gut feel?

The doe tag thing really bothers me as well! I just dont understand how the DNR can accurately predict a doe harvest or have any handle on it when the antlerless tags, which people apply for, dont have to be used on does? ......... and then the muzzleloader can come in and shoot either..... I just dont understand what kind of sense that makes?

Wouldnt it make more sense if antlerless tags were used on antlerless deer?!?

Agreed and not that there is anything wrong with that!!!

There is some great input here but, In Duluth MN we have a city bow hunt to reduce the deer herd. I am on the same page as you guy's, But we could buy are deer license witch is a buck or doe and you could buy 4 more doe tags just like the rest of the state and then you could buy the 2 more doe tags for the early doe hunt for that weekend. Well what I do not get is we are a heard management hunt to reduce the deer heard in the city hunt well Buck tag $28.00 Doe Tags $14.00 x 6 = $112.00 well that is a lot of coin per hunter and there is 285 guys in this hunt so $31,920.00 just in tag-es to reduce a deer hear out of control. They should be like WI, $2.00 for unlimited doe tag-es on heard management areas. The price I listed is MN, residents price not non resident tag-es are $150.00 for a ether sex tag and $75.00 for bonus tag-es now that is a lot of money and where is it going. I am not really come planning on where it is going but it would be nice to see what they are doing with it and the price I listed was for 285 guy's. Do not get me wrong I will pay for a chance to shoot a monster buck in the city hunt and help reduce the doe and fawn population.

Just wanted to share that with you all and vent and give my 2 cents worth. Well keep up the good topics guys and have a great day.

I really wonder about the doe tags as well. I honestly don't even know of anyone that even applies for a doe tag anymore back home. They just buy an over the counter buck tag and whack the first basket buck they see.

I've hunted both SW MN and Eastern SD for years now and I see a night and day difference between the two when it comes to quality bucks. It's funny how a 150 class buck shot back home in MN draws huge attention. You can listen to everyone talking about that deer in gas stations, cafes, and the local tavern. A 150 class buck shot in eastern SD is really no big deal. Most of my buddies here in SD already have 4 or 5 150+ bucks on their wall.

What I like about SD is that they manage deer county by county. They don't blanket an entire section of the state. Every county is different. Different habitat, different terrain, more or less CRP, etc.

Each year the SD GFP will analyze the deer herd in every county and then decide how many bucks and does should be harvested. In essence, SD manages their bucks and overall deer population at the same time. Seems like MN just manages deer.

The counties I hunt in MN and SD are so similar. They both have rough terrain, plenty of CRP, lot's of sloughs, etc... I just can't figure out why the deer are so different. Hmmm??

So, you are all saying that a doe tag holder cannot shoot the buck of a lifetime if they see one (limited buck tags would be meaningless without banning party hunting). Or, if there is a lottery area and the folks that don't draw buck tags or doe tags for that area will have to stay home or find somewhere else to hunt. I don't want to see people pushed out of the sport so that some can shoot bigger antlers.

Hello? The dnr isn't going to do anything that will lower license sales.

Yep, in SD if you don't have a buck tag and you see the buck of your dreams, you let him walk. It's been this way for years in SoDak and nobody has quit the sport because of it. In fact, I'd bet deer hunting is SD richest tradition! I usually draw a buck tag every other year. When I don't draw a buck tag, I still go out and shoot my doe. I go to deer camp to enjoy the company of my fellow hunters. I'd gladly sacrifice an every other year buck tag to dramatically increase my odds of shooting a monster.

This model would help even if they still allowed party hunting! Think about it... If you have 100 hunters in a specific MN county that all have buck tags, they potentially can shoot 100 bucks. Now, what if only 50 of them can shoot a buck? That leaves a potential 50 left to survive (and grow)..

Also, I can't argue that this should be implemented across the entire state of MN. I've only hunted SW MN. Therefore, I can't comment on what I believe is best for other parts of the state.

I am not a deer management expert either. I can only tell you how I see things. I will still spend my $$ to come home and enjoy deer hunting time with my family. I have just learned not to have very high expectations of coming home with a taxidermist bill.

I did see a Q&A session with Lou in which he stated earn a buck is on the horizon for zone 3....

It has always seemed completely @$$-backward to me that if you have a doe tag, you can shoot a buck. It is basically an any deer tag, so why not call it that. Also I dont understand why you have to apply to shoot a doe, but you can buy a buck tag over the counter. It really confuses me, I am very happy with how we do it here in SD, and very happy with the deer herd every year here.

The places in MN where you have to draw for a doe tag have low deer numbers or the deer numbers have finally gotten to where they should be. Its about population control. The area where my family hunts, in the last 3 years a group of 9 guys have shot a total of 2 deer. In areas like this where numbers are subpar you can't give everyone the option to shoot a doe. From what im hearing a lot of western MN is like this.