"If you know from past experience that hunters are hitting, say, Hay Creek, and hammering it for deer, figure out the (deer) escape route from the area and set up on it," he explained.

The way to find a deer escape route is to seek out a low-lying area or places where plenty of cover provides security for the deer.

For example, Michels pointed out, "To a deer, 4 feet high is all (the cover it needs) because he only stands 3 feet (tall). If there's a ditch or irrigation canal, a buck will walk down it because all he sees on either side is dirt."

Most hunters understand that the escape routes deer use are especially easy to find after a fresh snowfall. Michels said hunters who are lucky enough to hunt in that condition need to take full advantage of it.

"Even if you aren't hunting, when you get that snowfall get out there and look around, because those areas are used throughout the season. Knowing where they are is important," he explained.

Entering the woods quietly is another adjustment most hunters can afford to make so they see more deer.

"I have sat out in the field on opening morning watching hunters drive half a mile across a corn field," Michels said. "What they don't realize is, at that time, the deer are up there feeding, and (the deer) leave the area with that sort of pressure."

The deer might escape the area along a low slope that leads into a wood lot half a mile away, Michels said. A friend of his who hunts just such a place at Hay Creek just sits there and waits for the deer to go running by. He then takes his shot.

"It's that predictable," Michels added, "but most hunters only think about where they've seen deer going in the past."

Another critical element to improving your odds for taking a deer this season is to get as far away from the road as you can, or access it from a more remote location.

"Get permission to go through the private land on the other side of the area you hunt, and then walk in as best you can," Michels explained. ATVs are great tools, he added, but they make too much noise at 4 in the morning. Even something as subtle as a human walking is louder than normal noise levels in an otherwise undisturbed deer woods.

Two years ago, many Minnesota deer hunters complained they didn't see many deer. On the other hand, complaints about the weather were few because balmy weather reached across much of the state throughout the deer season. Michels said when the weather is hot, the deer are going to move at night; when it's cool, they'll move during the day.

"Deer are not all that unlike humans, because they will do what they can to adjust to the (weather) conditions. If it's hot out, they are going to sit around during the day waiting for it to cool off before running around," he explained. "If it's cold out, they are going to keep moving, unless it's to sit in a sunny location to warm up."

New Opportunities
The Minnesota deer-hunting regulations are a bit thicker than they were a mere decade ago, but the good news is that for the average hunter very little really has changed among the rules. For hunters looking to mix things up a bit, the number of special hunts and special opportunities for shooting a deer seems to improve every year.

This year is no exception. Cornicelli said the MDNR is greatly expanding the early antlerless firearms season that was first introduced last year.

"We are going from eight to 22 permit areas with the early season. A good chunk of those permit areas (stretch) from the northwestern corner (of the state) down to the metro," he pointed out. "We were given some direction to raise deer populations in the southwest and lower them in the 'transition' (zone) and parts of the southeast."