Lou, I recieved a letter from the DNR yesterday about the TB zone talking about wanting hunter participation. In reading the letter it says the more deer the hunters shoot means less that the sharpshooters will have to shoot. What happen to what you said earlier that the sharpshooters would not be back this winter unless hunter harvested deer showed signs of TB? Can you please clarify for me please?

I'm pretty sure I didn't say sharpshooters wouldn't be used. In any event, we did have 2 tb-positive deer last year anyway.

"Future sharpshooting will depend on what's found this fall from hunter-harvested surveillance"

This was your response to my question last time. I took it as they would only be back if TB was found in hunter harvested deer. Also I thought only 1 5-1/2 year old male deer was found positive last year. I geuss I am just confused and hoping you can clear it up for me.

link to previous post, bottom of page 2.
http://www.fishingminnesota.com/forum/ub...ing#Post1976274

You got me there! We found one during hunting season and another during sharp shooting. Both were 5.5 or older. Sorry about that, my brain is frazzled with deer season on Saturday.

You and me both!! Can't wait! Are the sharpshooters going to be back this winter or is it still undecided? Also are you going to be up here this year personally in Skime?

They will likely be back but the number they take is dependent on fall surveillance. I'm not going to Skime, I'll be in Thief River Sat. for the Gov opener and Middle River Sunday/Monday to help pull samples. With any luck I'll be back Tuesday to report harvest data for the media.

Good luck this weekend!

Thanks. Have fun at the Govener's opener. Maybe next year the Gov should do his final opener in Skime area, TB zone. Maybe you can point him that direction. He can see what tough hunting is like and show support for the area going through all of this.

What will be the detemining factor that the DNR will say we no longer need to bring in sharpshooters to reduce the deer herd?
As a hunter this is getting rather old. I do understand though.

I wish I can answer that question, but I can't. Long term, it's dependent on finding positive deer. Trust me, it's getting old for all of us. The good thing is history tells us it's pretty easy to grow deer. We went from very low in 1996 to record highs in 2003. By backing of (or eliminating) antlerless harvest for a couple of years, you'll be amazed at how fast deer rebound.

We do have a lot of information posted on our website, here: Bovine TB information.

Thanks for answering all my questions. Have a good weekend this coming weekend.