Trails closed for hunt

• Antlerless Deer Season

Antlerless Deer Season

Talk about it

An early antlerless deer season will be held Saturday and Sunday in two permit areas that include a large swath of Lake County.

The areas are 182, which surrounds Duluth, and 180, which stretches from near Duluth to beyond Silver Bay and inland as far as Brimson and Murphy City.

Only antlerless deer may be taken in the hunt, and up to two permits may be used. The permits cost $6.50 each and may be purchased wherever hunting licenses are sold, or online. Hunters may not tag a deer with a regular firearms license, muzzleloader license or a bonus permit. All deer harvested must be tagged with an early season antlerless permit.

During the early antlerless deer hunt, the Superior Hiking Trail in St. Louis and Lake counties will be closed. There is no early firearms deer season in state parks, but other public lands are open to hunting. Also, landowners on private lands that the Superior Hiking Trail crosses might be hunting.

The closure affects the start of the trail at Fox Farm Road in St. Louis County and goes to Caribou River Wayside on Highway 61.

Rider restrictions

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reminds off-highway vehicle owners that restrictions on recreational riding in state forests will be in effect during part of the upcoming firearms deer hunting season that opens Nov. 6.

Some state forest trails and access routes will be closed to OHVs, a move to protect recreational riders from potentially unsafe riding conditions and reduce conflicts between deer hunters and recreational riders.

The trail closures specifically apply to the use of all-terrain vehicles, off-highway motorcycles, and off-road vehicles, such as jeeps and four-wheel drive trucks, by recreational riders on state forest trails or non-designated forest access routes.

Deer are moving

Fall is a time of movement and migration for many of Minnesota’s wildlife species. White-tailed deer, which maintain an annual home range of about one square mile, increase their daily movements and become more active during this time of year.

The shortening days of fall also trigger a whitetails’ reproductive cycle with the peak of breeding coming during the first two weeks of November. As bucks begin to search for receptive females, they may separate the male fawn of the year from its mother. Yearling bucks, participating in their first breeding season, may move many miles from their home range.

The DNR encourages motorists to increase their awareness of deer during the fall breeding season and offers these tips to decrease the odds of striking a deer:

- Be observant because a deer standing calmly in a field may suddenly jump into the road.

- When observing a deer crossing the road ahead, slow down, and scan for more deer.

- Slow down to avoid hitting a deer, but do not swerve because that can cause a person to lose control and strike another object.

- Deer are active during the morning and afternoon when moving between evening feeding areas and daytime bedding sites.

- Elevate deer awareness at locations with deer crossing signs, which indicate locations of frequent crossings.

Donate hides

The Two Harbors Drop Tine chapter of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association reminds hunters that they can drop off hides at several area locations for donation with the money going toward wildlife habitat restoration, land acquisition, youth education, and wildlife research.

Drop a hide off for Hides for Habitat during the hunting season at Holiday Station stores in Two Harbors and Tofte, Little Store in Two Harbors, or Dixie Bar up Highway 2.

- Minimize cutting the hide when skinning by pulling it off the carcass if possible.

- Head and limbs are considered household waste and can be thrown in with your garbage.

- Remove excess flesh and fat before rolling up the hide and placing into a paper bag or cardboard box. No plastic bags should be used.

- Deliver the hide to an official MDHA Hides for Habitat drop box.

Each year, the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, based in Grand Rapids, collects and sells 30,000 to 40,000 deer hides. Since 1985, MDHA’s Hides for Habitat Program has collected nearly 700,000 deer hides, generating more than $3.5 million.

Deer hides are worth about $5 to $9 each and become gloves, mittens and other products made by Minnesota busineses.

Tags: dnr, hunting, outdoors