outdoors

Minnesota deer hunters have donated just 475 deer so far to food shelves under the state's fledgling venison donation program -- and the season total likely will be the lowest since the program was launched in 2007.

Hunters donated about 2,000 deer the first year and about 670 last year. Last year Iowa donated 7,300 and Wisconsin 6,500 to similar programs.

There are a couple of reasons for the Minnesota decline.

"The drop from year one to year two was due to increased requirements of processors," said Lou Cornicelli, DNR big game program leader. After the discovery of lead bullet fragments in meat, processors were required to attend sessions to learn how to minimize lead contamination.

That reduced the number of participating processors from 70 in 2007 to 33 last year and this year (deer are processed at no charge to hunters).

Meanwhile, the drop in donations this year is likely in response to the decline in the deer harvest, Cornicelli said.

"About 90 percent of the deer donated the first year came from areas where hunters could kill more than one deer," he said. "This year, far fewer antlerless permits were issued and harvest is down."

Only deer killed by archer hunters have been distributed to food shelves so far. Processed venison from firearms hunters still has to be X-rayed for lead bullet fragments. Officials suspended distribution last year and began X-raying all donated venison after finding lead in 5.3 percent of samples tested.

The numbers aren't final, but Minnesota's regular firearms deer harvest remains down about 11 percent from last year. Hunters have registered 157,200 deer.

Wildlife officials predicted a total deer harvest of around 200,000, and they still expect to hit that once harvest from muzzleloader and archery hunters is added. Those seasons still are ongoing.

The muzzleloader deer season ends Dec. 13, and so far hunters have shot 1,171 deer, down 24 percent from last year at this time. Again, that's not surprising considering muzzleloaders this year had to apply for antlerless deer permits, Cornicelli said. Last year, most muzzleloader hunters could shoot antlerless deer. Meanwhile, muzzleloader license sales -- 55,000 -- are down a bit from 61,000 last year. Another 3,400 youths bought muzzleloader licenses. Overall, firearms deer license sales are down about 2 percent from last year.

In the southeast, the 3B deer harvest (6,500) was down 19 percent from last year. That decline likely is due to changes in the seasons: The 3A deer season was extended two days, and 1,500 3B hunters switched to the 3A season. The 3A harvest was up 24 percent, to 10,000.

For the first time, the annual Minnesota Waterfowl Symposium and the Minnesota Decoy Collectors Association's decoy show will be held together in Bloomington the first weekend in February. It will address the status of waterfowl populations, hunting regulations, species management problems, decoys and calling, duck hunter's views and the future of waterfowl hunting. Symposium officials are hoping to boost attendance by linking it to the popular decoy show. The symposium, which is free, will be Feb. 6 at the Ramada Mall of America. The decoy show is Feb. 4-6 at the same place. For information, see www.mnwaterfowl.com.

The waterfowl association also plans to create a Minnesota Waterfowl Hall of Fame. If you have a nomination, contact Brad Nylin at brad. nylin@mnwaterfowl.com.

• The deadline to apply for Minnesota's spring turkey season is Jan. 8 (see startribune.com/cluboutdoors for 2010 changes). The deadline to apply for a Wisconsin spring turkey hunting license is Thursday.

•The Wisconsin DNR has pulled a proposal for a 16-day deer season from consideration at a board meeting this week. Officials want to analyze the results from this season's hunt before making changes.

• Minnesota's long-delayed corn harvest was 78 percent complete last week; normally it would be 98 percent done.

Doug Smith • dsmith@startribune.com