Minnesota deer hunters want to be heard more often

Two Minnesota deer-hunting groups are pushing at the State Capitol for deer hunters to be surveyed year after year by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) — a demand the agency says would diminish opinion-gathering in the management of other game species.

But Brooks Johnson, president of Minnesota Bowhunters Inc., said that if the DNR had been keeping annual, statewide tabs on deer hunters' experiences and attitudes, game managers could have made earlier adjustments to stem the decline of whitetail numbers. Survey work is too sparse under the current system, he said.

"When you don't survey the public, it is not possible to gauge successes and failures," Johnson said.

The bowhunters' group, in tandem with the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association (MDHA), is lobbying for a law change that would require the DNR to annually collect information from deer hunters via scientific surveys.

The proposed mandate is part of the same deer management accountability campaign that triggered an audit last year of how the DNR estimates deer populations and sets goals. That review by the Office of the Legislative Auditor was expected earlier this year and is now due for completion and release sometime this month.

Minnesota is home to about 1 million whitetails and nearly half a million deer hunters. The DNR's Division of Fish and Wildlife is responsible for managing the herd by estimating population trends, setting population goals and regulating the harvest for each of the state's 128 deer permit areas.

From 1970 through 2000, the DNR successfully increased Minnesota's deer population. But in response to crop depredation and other negative fallout from that growth, the agency sought to reduce populations in places. The deer harvest statewide hit 290,525 in 2003 before tumbling to a low of 139,442 in 2014.

Since 2012, the DNR has been required by the Legislature to administer hunter satisfaction surveys of all kinds, with no pre-determined schedule. But a House bill authored this year by Rep. Joe Schomacker, R-Luverne, would mandate deer hunter surveys every year.

"Deer hunters don't believe their voices have been heard," said Craig Engwall, executive director of MDHA. "We are highly supportive of the bill."

DNR Wildlife Research Manager Lou Cornicelli said the agency surveys a wide variety of hunters to better understand game populations and manage hunting seasons. The agency has surveyed 20,000 deer hunters since mid-2014 and more will be surveyed this year. As the social science data is distilled, reports are written and published on the DNR's website.

"If we are bound to do deer hunter surveys every year, that ignores all the other surveys we manage,'' Cornicelli said. It would take a funding increase to do it all, he said.

Rep. Jim Newberger, R-Becker, a co-author of Schomacker's bill, said annual deer hunter surveys are justified because of the cultural importance of Minnesota's whitetail seasons.

"Deer hunting is the largest hunting sport that we have," Newberger said. "I mean, the whole state shuts down for deer hunting."

Newberger was uncertain of the bill's future in the 2016 Legislature, but said he hasn't received any negative feedback.

The most recent survey results indicate deer hunter dissatisfaction rates as high as 75 percent in northern Minnesota. In the Arrowhead region, a full 86 percent of hunters surveyed said they perceived a lowering trend in deer population over the past five years.

The questionnaires also ask hunters to rank the relative importance of items the DNR should consider when setting deer population goals. Among the considerations are impact on the local economy, deer herd health and forest browsing. DNR deer managers balance non-hunting interests, too, and the current survey has been gathering opinions from landowners.

Cornicelli said the "human dimensions" are integrated with biological considerations. "We don't make decisions in a biological vacuum," he said.

Johnson, of the bowhunters group, said he's frustrated by the incomplete release of survey results. The missing data deals with survey "trust'' questions. Is the DNR doing a good job managing deer? Is the agency open and honest? Do game managers listen to hunters?

Cornicelli said results to those survey questions will be released when a report is written. Other portions of the survey were processed first because they are more important to goal setting, he said.

Tony Kennedy • 612-673-4213