I'm very happy to report.... MN finally woke up and is now offering a STATE WIDE youth deer hunt! MN had a youth season, but it was only in the NW and SE part of the sate.
Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm not at all trying to say this happened because of my constant bitching to the DNR. I was not on the committee. Just respectfully voiced my concerns and comments to them.
Maybe some of you remember me posting about this a few years ago. The lack of a decent youth deer season here in MN is what led me to take our kids to other more youth friendly states to hunt. SD and WI have great programs for kids. I have had phone calls, conference calls, and emails for 2 years to various members of the MNDNR, MDHA, and 2 differnt MN Big Game Program Leaders, voicing and writing several letters and essays with my concerns, comments, and general bitching. The most important one of all...they were getting hit in the pocket book by neighboring states with great youth programs.
MN DNR put together a Deer Committee to work on the MN Deer Management Plan for the next 10 years. One of the big things tackled by the committee was the youth deer hunt. I talked with Adam Murkowski at the beginning a few years ago and Barb Keller this winter. They were both very willing to listen, and talk to me about it. 2 years ago, Adam Murkowski scheduled time to for an actual phone call after we emailed back and forth about 5 times. He and I talked about it for almost 1.5 hours.
The sad thing is, the biggest "kick back" was from fellow hunters. The "good old boys club" of hunters that would say "we had to wait until deer season when we were kids, so do they." Piss poor attitude and irritating.
The studies finally showed how minimal a early youth season actually was to the deer population and not taking any of "their" deer away.
Since I've done my fair share and probably more than my fair share of whining and bitching to and about the MN DNR, I'll give them the "atta boy" for getting something right as well.
