Does anybody hunt unlimited antlerless zones? Specifically, does anybody hunt zone 601 in Minnesota? If you do, how many does to you shoot a year? I got plenty of family to feed so the more deer meat the better. I recently moved and now I am much closer to the 601 zone and if I can get permission somewhere in the zone, I think it would be fun to shoot a handful does. I'm going to some scouting on google earth and go knock on some doors this weekend.
I hunt in Maryland and most of the state is unlimited does with a bow. Its nice to be able to fill the freezer with enough meat to feed me and the family for the whole year. I take about 3-4 does and maybe 1-2 bucks a year. I don't go out and shoot every doe I see and be picky on which ones might be the "tastiest". Once and a while I may have a fellow club member looking for a deer and was unable to get one, so I will take another and give it to him. As a hunter you still need to be reasonable on how many you shoot even though its unlimited. It may not be that way for ever. I feel lucky to be able to hunt this way, I feel for you guys on here that can only shoot 1 deer a year!
I don't want to shoot all the deer by any means but growing up, my dad and I fed a family of five with venison. We haven't been able to do that in a while with the new tag restrictions. When it was intensive harvest, we would put a lot of meat in the freezer. It would be nice to tag a couple extra does if possible.
Here in Maine, it's 1 deer and bucks only. Being able to shoot more than 1 deer and put more meat in the freezer sounds like a dream.
I'm here in MD with Holt. I usually will take 6-8 does every year off two properties, and will still see a dozen or so every sit.
It might be a good option for you! You could always get a group of family members or friends together and make a long weekend try to fill as many doe tags as you can just to fill the freezer.
used to be great to shoot 5 a year in MN. up untill about 10 years ago, it was fairly common to have 10-30 deer come by each sit. but now, thev'e felt the $$ those doe tags brought in and that, along with the horrible amount of wolves have turned us into a vast wasteland. i know of a group that hunts up by the canadian border (16 guys) and they only seen ONE deer last season where they used to do very well. one day, hopefully MN will get a deer manager thats decent but for now..............
You're more than Welcome to come to Ga, you can kill 10 does....and it's your kind of weather. 60s or 70s in October
I hunt 601 and take just 1 or 2 does a year. Most of my hunts the last few years have been focused on targeting big bucks. If I wanted to I could probably shoot 4 or 5 does but the people close to me aren't big on venison. I'd invite you along but our property is hunted heavily by extended family and everyone's got a buddy or two on the side that are squeezed in when possible. I think it'll be hard for you to find a spot but definitely try. It may take 50 door knocks but sooner or later you might get lucky. Use county GIS websites to identify landowners borders and who has woods than go knock on their door. Offer to share some meat with them. Tell them you'll use a safety harness, be ethical, always close the gate, save their gardens and shrubs, prevent spread of limes disease, prevent car accidents, hunt when they want you to on their land, help with yard work, sign a liability waiver, etc etc. whatever it takes to set you apart from the rest of the many people that ask them. If they won't allow you ask them to take your # and give it to someone if they think of someone later who may allow you to.
Just because the you could buy 5 tags doesn't mean you had to kill 5 does. It is each hunters or parties responsibility to know approximately how many deer are on his or her property and to hunt/manage accordingly. You are right about the wolves but that is out of the MNDNRs hands now too. We are the deer managers and even with our terrible and growing number of wolves we as hunters still have the biggest impact on deer and deer numbers!
You could check out Metro Bowhunter's Resource Base - mbrb.org - as an option for hunting in zone 601
Depends where you are in Maine, I can shoot an unlimited amount of does 15 miles from my house, and an extra buck.
About 10 years ago they were giving 4-5 doe tags away with your gun license in the area I hunt. One year in particular, we did really well, harvesting 8-9 does in opening weekend. The next year we definitely felt it. Only harvested 1 deer out of our party.
If you don't mind, part of the 601 zone do you hunt? You don't have to share specifics if you don't want, just curious of the general area you are in. I'd be looking in the south central to south west part of the zone.
