Almanac: Archer lives dream, doubles up on 10-point bucks

Persistence.

And a little luck.

Both paid off recently for Luke Hegge, an avid bow hunter from Pine City.

Hegge, 33, who has been bow hunting since he was 12, was deer hunting with a friend at the Camp Ripley archery hunt earlier this month when he encountered not one monster buck but two big 10-pointers.

And bagged them both.

"I saw the second deer first, and rattled my antlers, but he kept going," Hegge said. He kept rattling. "Ten minutes later, the first one charged over the ridge looking for a fight."

The 10-pointer was only 3 yards away when Hegge shot it. The green score of its rack was 160 inches -- a deer of a lifetime, and the biggest Hegge has ever taken. His friend, hunting nearby, heard the commotion and showed up for some high-fives. They field dressed it and dragged it to his truck, then returned.

Hegge, who had been looking at photos of his first buck on his cellphone, set the phone down, grabbed his bow and arrowed the second buck, a 10-pointer with a 21.5-inch inside spread that green scored 155 inches. (Because he was party hunting with his friend, he legally used his friend's tag on that deer.)

He's having both bucks mounted.

"It was a fun day, let me tell you," Hegge said.

Hunting the southeast • Southeast Minnesota bucks (from permit areas 338-349) must have at least one four-point antler to be legal, and hunters in the region no longer are allowed to tag bucks shot by other hunters. (These rules are not effective in the Chronic Wasting Disease Management Zone, deer permit area 602.) Youth ages 10-17 are exempt from the antler-point restriction. Adult hunters are not allowed to tag a buck for youth hunters.

• Hunters who harvest a deer in and adjacent to the CWD Zone must register their deer in person at check stations located in the area. Hunters who harvest deer within the CWD Zone cannot remove the carcass from the zone until a CWD-negative test result is reported. (Some exemptions exist for boned meat. See website address below.) Testing typically takes three business days, and results can be accessed by hunters online at the web address below.

Archery hunt update After a slow start, Minnesota's archery deer hunters are doing slightly better than last year. As of last week, archers had bagged 10,632 deer, about 100 more than the same time last year.

"I'm hearing really good reports from bow hunters, particularly in the southeast," said Marrett Grund, Department of Natural Resources deer research scientist at Madelia, Minn.

Harvest was down about 1,000 after the first month of the season, but since then weather has been cooler and crops are nearly all harvested, both good news for hunters, Grund said.

Youth deer hunt Meanwhile, youths who participated in the youth deer hunt Oct. 20-23 in the northwest, southeast and metro area killed 304 deer -- down 92 from the 396 shot last year. Grund said the decline likely was because of a change in deer management strategies in some areas, which discourages some hunters from shooting an antlerless deer early in the year in hopes of shooting a buck during a later season.

Hunting outlook The regular firearms deer season opens Saturday, and the DNR expects a deer season similar to last year, when hunters bagged 207,000 deer. "It should be an excellent year, as long as there are good weather conditions," Grund said. "My guess is the harvest will be comparable to last year."

"Farmland deer go into the winter in such good physiological shape, winter just doesn't have a big effect," he said. That's because those deer fatten up on corn and soybeans. And snow generally melts sooner there than farther north.

"They can quickly replenish nutritional loss," Grund said. "That's not true in the forest zone."

Beware of "salt licks" Many stores in Minnesota sell "salt licks" that contain other food ingredients besides minerals, and deer hunters who use them during hunting season could be tagged for baiting deer. Some "salt licks" contain sugar beets, acorns, apples or other food and are illegal to use during hunting season.

"Just because they sell it at the local feed store doesn't mean it's legal," said conservation officer Marty Stage of Ely.

Here's what DNR regulations say: "Liquid scents, sprays, salt and minerals are not considered bait or feed. Any attractant that contains grain or other food sources is considered bait or feed."

While investigating a hunting complaint he heard what sounded like a cat howling. Later he spotted a cat running up a tree with a fisher in hot pursuit. The fisher grabbed the cat, and they both tumbled nearly 25 feet to the ground. Paurus approached, and the cat again ran up a tree. The fisher again grabbed it and both fell to the ground. The fisher then killed the cat. "As the fisher caught its breath after the kill, it winded me, picked up the cat and scampered off," Paurus reported.

Wolves trapped Several wolves have been accidentally caught by trappers in the Grand Marais area, reports conservation officer Darin Fagerman. He and another officer released one cooperative wolf and one uncooperative wolf, he reported. Both wolves ran off with no apparent injury.