Metro Bowhunters Resource Base Year Statistics




Ramsey County Update:

Ramsey County Parks and Recreation Department
2007 Deer Hunt Summary

Ramsey County Parks and Recreation Department's 8th year of special permit archery hunts have ended for 2007. Between September 21 and December 2, 2007, there was 42 days of hunting, with multiple hunts on most days. Ten different county sites and one Maplewood site were included in this year's program. Six different municipalities partnered with Ramsey County.

A total of 128 deer were harvested, of those were 24 antlered. This was a increase from 2006. The antlerless harvest rate was 81%. The antlerless rate was higher than 2006, the same as 2005, and above the state average for archery. The overall success rate for the special hunts was 51%; state average for archery is 20%.

Minnesota Bowhunters Resource Base (MBRB) was used to provide archers. We used 252 archers for this year's hunts. MBRB also provided 13 volunteer hunt coordinators who did an excellent job running the hunts.

No Safety problems were reported during any of the hunts. Some park users continued to use the park trails during the hunts, even with "park closed" signage. This is an annual occurrence and archers have adapted to the potential of having hikers in the hunt areas. There were no reports of deliberate hunter harassment.

Ramsey County Parks and Recreation Department
2006 Deer Hunt Summary

Ramsey County Parks and Recreation Department's special permit archery hunts have ended for 2006. Between September 22 and December 3, 2006, there was 42 days of hunting, with multiple hunts on most days. Eight different county sites and one Maplewood sites were included in this year's program. Five different municipalities partnered with Ramsey County.

A total of 107 deer were harvested, of those were 31 antlered. This was a decrease from 2005. The antlerless harvest rate was 70%. The antlerless rate was low compared to 2005, but still above the state average for archery. The reason for the changes is that in late 2005 a sharpshooter was brought in to significantly reduce the deer herd in the Highwood/South Maplewood area. He removed 200 deer, many of which came out of Battle Creek and Fish Creek. The harvest in these sites did not have an antlerless restriction, because the majority of the deer were males. The lower deer densities also reduced the harvest at these two sites. The overall success rate for the special hunts was 55%; state average for archery is 20%.

Minnesota Bowhunters Resource Base (MBRB) was used to provide archers. We used 185 archers for this year's hunts. MBRB also provided 9 volunteer hunt coordinators who did an excellent job running the hunts.

No Safety problems were reported during any of the hunts. Some park users continued to use the park trails during the hunts, even with "park closed" signage. This is an annual occurrence and archers have adapted to the potential of having hikers in the hunt areas. There were no reports of deliberate hunter harassment.

This year archers were able to donate their deer to food shelves, thanks to donations for the Cities of Maplewood and Shoreview, and White Bear Township. Six deer were donated to the program.

Ramsey County Parks and Recreation Department
2005 Deer Hunt Summary

Ramsey County Parks and Recreation Department's special permit archery hunts have ended for 2005. Between September 23 and December 11 2004, there was 56 days of hunting, with multiple hunts on most days. Nine different county sites and two Maplewood sites were included in this year's program. This was the most hunts in one year since the start of the program. Five different municipalities partnered with Ramsey County.

A total of 150 deer were harvested, of those were 27 antlered. This was an slight decrease from 2004. The antlerless harvest rate was 82%. This high rate shows that the archers were helping in population control by removing a high proportion of does. The metro average for antlerless deer in 2003 was 67% and the state average was 65%. The overall success rate for the special hunts was 55%; state average for archery is 20%.

Minnesota Bowhunters Resource Base (MBRB) was used to provide archers. We used 280 archers for this year's hunts. MBRB also provided 9 volunteer hunt coordinators who did an excellent job running the hunts.

No Safety problems were reported during any of the hunts. Some park users continued to use the park trails during the hunts, even with "park closed" signage. Some park users were upset that their favorite trails were closed. There were always other trails available in the same park or adjacent parks.

Hunters reported a couple of incidents of potential harassment, but nothing was organized or traceable. The incidents did not appear to negatively impact the special archery hunts.

This year archers were able to donate their deer to food shelves, thanks to donations for the Cities of Maplewood and Shoreview, and White Bear Township. Twelve deer were donated to the program.

A special deer removal program was conducted in the South Maplewood/Highwood area after the archery season. A contracted sharpshooter took 200 additional deer.

****************************************************************************************

Ramsey County Parks and Recreation Department
2004 Deer Hunt Summary

Ramsey County Parks and Recreation Department’s special permit archery hunts have ended for 2004. Between September 18 and December 12 2004, there was 56 days of hunting, with multiple hunts on most days. Eight different county sites and two Maplewood sites were included in this year’s program. This was the most hunts in one year since the start of the program. Five different municipalities partnered with Ramsey County.

A total of 159 deer were harvested, of those were 28 antlered. This was an increase of 68 deer over 2003. This large increase was due to the addition of Battle Creek and Vadnais Lake Regional Parks, which accounted for 84 of the deer harvested. The antlerless harvest rate was 82%. This high rate shows that the archers were helping in population control by removing a high proportion of does. The metro average for antlerless deer in 2003 was 67% and the state average was 65%. The overall success rate for the special hunts was over 70%; state average for archery is 20%.

Minnesota Bowhunters Resource Base (MBRB) was used to provide archers. We used 225 archers for this year’s hunts. MBRB also provided 9 volunteer hunt coordinators who did an excellent job running the hunts.

Special permit archery hunt participants participated in MNDNR Chronic Wasting Disease testing. Over 25 samples were collected in Battle Creek hunt alone.