Like many Minnesotans, a young hunter had visions of a buck on the deer opener

MIESVILLE, MINN. – Of the 40 deer hunters who won permission this year to join a parkland deer hunt 10 miles south of here, 13-year-old Jeremiah Lee was one of the youngest.

Jitters delayed him from falling asleep on Friday night, he said. But there he stood in the predawn light on Saturday's opening day of the Minnesota firearms deer season, walking beside his father, Cody. They ducked under tree branches and navigated their way through other brush en route to a natural hillside perch in Dakota County's Miesville Ravine Park Reserve.

The seventh-grader, who lives in Hastings, enjoyed a brilliant sunrise with only a mild chill in the air. During the first three hours of the state's biggest hunt, he didn't see a deer. But he delighted in some of the same sensations that an estimated 459,000 other whitetail hunters have experienced and will experience during sunrises this fall. By New Year's Day, the state expects the overall harvest to climb toward 170,000, in line with a lagging trend and well below the long-term annual goal of 200,000 whitetails. Like always, the current nine-day firearms season will likely dominate the overall harvest.

Through Thursday, the Department of Natural Resources had sold about 272,000 deer hunting licenses, down 4% from the same time last year. Mild, warming weather statewide could boost participation, but opening weekend results aren't typically released until Tuesday.

Equipped with copper ammunition and a 20-gauge shotgun, Jeremiah said during a break Saturday that his dream is to harvest a giant buck. But if an antlerless deer approaches at a clean angle within his range, he'll shoot, he said.

"So far I'm kind of disappointed and cold," he said before climbing into his dad's pickup truck to warm up. "But I feel like we'll get one."

Involved in deer hunts since age 10 and the oldest of four brothers, Jeremiah previously tagged one doe. New to him on Saturday morning were the sounds of shotgun blasts from other hunters reverberating inside the steep ravine where he was located 10 miles south of Miesville. He heard lots of shots, he said, but didn't see anyone drag out a deer.

Other highlights of the morning for Jeremiah were the sounds of the woods coming alive with bird calls, sharp-angle sunshine burning through the early morning haze and squirrels darting across fallen leaves and racing up and down tree trunks.

A year ago during the same hunt, Cody Lee said he saw numerous bucks on opening morning. But back then, participating hunters had to first harvest an antlerless deer to "earn a buck." This year, he said, he and Jeremiah were blanked in terms of deer sightings but planned to return to the woods in the afternoon.

Dakota County natural resources specialist Scott Hagen said this year's special deer hunt at Miesville Ravine Park Reserve is one of two 2023 parkland hunts within the county. They're organized to control deer populations, and hunters must apply for a limited number of permits.

This year's hunt at Miesville is the 10th of its kind. The 1,600-acre park is wooded and remote, surrounded by farm fields. A section of the park borders the Cannon River.

Thinning the park's deer herd by 30 animals or more is designed to soften the annual impact deer place on farmers' crops. Having fewer deer around also will lessen damage to desired vegetation inside the park — for one thing, Hagen said, the overpopulation of deer inside the ravine has stunted natural regeneration of oak trees.

In the past, special deer hunts in the county have killed as many as 75 deer in one season. At Miesville this year, permit winners can hunt throughout the full nine days of the firearms season but only with shotguns. In addition, participants this year can harvest a buck without first shooting a doe. And because Miesville is within one of the DNR's chronic wasting disease (CWD) management zones, any licensed hunter can shoot up to five antlerless deer. The park is closed to the general public throughout the special hunt.

Gov. Tim Walz hunted Saturday in Lanesboro, the staging area for his two-day Governor's Deer Hunting Opener. The event was organized by the DNR and Explore Minnesota in partnership with Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, Bluffland Whitetails Association, Minnesota Conservation Federation and Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center, according to a news release.

Pat Rivers, the DNR's deputy director of the Fish and Wildlife Division, hunted with Walz's party. He said the governor didn't shoot a whitetail but saw about 15 deer.

DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen visited a CWD sampling station in Preston and met hunters there Saturday instead of hunting, according to the DNR.

Walz offered his appreciation on X (formerly Twitter) to hunting partner Jim Vagts, a co-founder of the Bluffland Whitetails Association, and others.