New Minnesota Hunting Regulation

I am originally from La Crescent Minnesota, which is located in the southeastern corner. In the last year, the DNR has implemented a regulation now that prevents hunters from shooting a buck unless it has four score-able points on one side and that you are not allowed to shoot a buck for someone else. Kids that are between the ages of 14 to 16 are allowed to shoot any size buck regardless the number of points. This means that if the deer was a four pointer and doesn’t have the four points on one side, it is not legal to shoot. The reasoning behind this new regulation is to promote ethical hunting, to increase the antler size in the area, to make this region a trophy buck area, promote shooting of does or what is considered an “antlerless deer”, and help protect the younger bucks from getting shot. Not to mention that this would promote healthy genetics in the deer herd. The regulation that doesn’t allow a hunter to shoot or fill another hunter’s buck tag is supposed to help out the buck numbers by increasing the odds that a buck doesn’t get shot. Many people refer to this style of hunting as party hunting. This new regulation does not mean that someone can’t fill another hunters tag with an antlerless deer though. The DNR plans to run this regulation for five years, look at the results, and post a survey/hearing to the public to see if this regulation should be put in place for another five years and also to see if this regulation should be implemented to other areas in the state.

The reason why I brought up this topic is because right now it is a pretty hot subject in the southeastern corner of Minnesota. When I first heard of the new regulation, I was kind of upset because I am not an antler or points hunter. I hunt for food and need to put meat in the freezer for my family and if a young buck walks in front of me, my instinct is to shoot it and not let it pass. Many hunters are upset with this new regulation and think that it just a way for the Minnesota DNR to make themselves look good. I know for a fact that many hunters around the area shot illegal bucks and just took the back-straps and hind quarters out of the young buck and left the rest lay to waste. This upsets me greatly because these hunters are upset that new regulations that are put into place and think that these regulations will never work. These hunters make it impossible for the new regulations to work if they don’t follow them and they make hunters all over the area look bad.

I do understand that hunting now days consists of hunters that hunt for the bone on top of a deer. By this I mean that hunters hunt for the big bucks. Party hunting is a big thing where I live as well, and with the new regulation that you cannot fill another hunters buck tag, kind of upset a lot of hunters. I feel that many hunters are or were upset right away, mainly because it is the first year this regulation has been implemented and they are not used to change. But I feel that most if not all of these hunters will come around and see potentially that the deer will get bigger and healthier; provided that hunters follow the rules and regulations. I personally came around to accepting the rule because I feel that with this regulation, it makes you sit longer which allows you to see more deer. I saw more deer the first year the new regulation was put into place than I have any other year. To me that just proved that the DNR are on the right track and should be taken seriously.