The early antlerless season in eight permit areas and special regulations in seven state parks are part of a study on the impact of early antlerless seasons, earn-a-buck programs and antler-point restrictions. The ultimate intent of these regulation changes is to increase the antlerless deer harvest.

Earn-a-buck programs require hunters to shoot a doe before they can shoot a buck. Antler-point restrictions are an expanded version of what is already on the books. Instead of only requiring 4 inches of visible antler, an antler-point restriction may require that hunters only be allowed to shoot bucks that have at least 3 antler points on one side of their rack. These regulations will not affect the majority of hunters, only those who participate in special state park hunts -- St. Croix in Pine County east of Hinckley, Wild River in Chisago County east of North Branch, Great River Bluffs in Winona County southeast of Winona, and Maplewood in Otter Tail County north of Fergus Falls.

The antler-point restrictions will be in place in Savanna Portage State Park in Aitkin County where a buck must have 3 points to be legal, Forestville State Park in Fillmore County where a buck must have 4 points to be legal and Itasca State Park in Clearwater County where a buck must have at least 3 points on one antler. This is a special exception because this hunt does not require an application. Go to the DNR's Web site (www.dnr.state.mn.us) or regulations booklet for more information.

Cornicelli said that state parks are great places to test these regulations because they feature special hunts that require hunters to apply, thus meaning they are smaller, more manageable and easier to measure. It is also hoped that these new opportunities will help increase the antlerless harvest in these state parks. "This is a unique opportunity to evaluate regulations from a research perspective," said Marrett Grund, DNR farmland deer research. "It will provide a basis of data that we can use to evaluate future deer regulations,"

The earn-a-buck program is a great idea, said Gindorff, but he worries about hunters taking advantage of the system. "There is too much of a gray area, and I think there's some evaluation of the system that needs to go on before it is expanded," he said.

2004 DEER HARVEST BY LICENSE TYPE AND ZONE
Zone	Hunters	Bucks	Antlerless	Total	Success Rate
1	148,303	35,672	36,169	71,841	48.4%
2	111,708	27,039	40,546	67,585	60.5%
3A	17,992	5,008	1,316	6,324	35.1%
3B	22,135	3,067	7,853	10,920	49.3%
4A	73,474	11,996	16,973	28,969	39.4%
4B	37,049	4,620	12,139	16,759	45.2%
Multi-Zone Buck	32,359	9,169	0	9,169	28.3%
Free Landowner	4,196	0	1,317	1,317	31.4%
All-Season Deer	46,008	12,743	13,597	26,340	57.3%
Muzzleloader	10,512	480	3,663	4,143	39.4%
Archery	51,745	5,815	11,422	17,237	33.3%
Totals	526,298	115,609	144,995	260,604	49.5%

The gray area Gindorff is referring to is the possibility of a hunter taking a doe, registering it and getting a buck tag, only to have another hunter remove the doe tag and registering the same doe so he or she can get a buck tag, even though it would be illegal and unethical.

"I think it's a great plan with a lot of potential, and I think that most everybody is going to do it, but as a regulation, it's not black and white, which is not enough for it to be a great management tool," he said.

Something that is impacting a lot of hunters is the early antlerless firearms deer season during the weekend of Oct. 15-16 in eight permit areas -- 225, 227 and 236 in the north metro, and 209, 210, 401, 405 and 406 in northwestern Minnesota. Regular licensing requirements exist, and hunters can purchase up to two early antlerless deer permits for the special season, and would be in addition to the statewide bag limit of five.

For it to work, there needs to be considerable cooperation from landowners since a significant portion of these permit areas are privately owned. "Ultimately it is up to the landowner to decide if their deer population is high enough to warrant allowing additional firearms hunters on their property, but it is meant to be a tool to help landowners manage deer populations," Cornicelli said.

All these changes are experimental, so it will be interesting to see how many hunters take advantage of the new possibilities. This is a debate that will no doubt take place at more than a few deer camps this year.