SAINT PAUL, Minn. — We're now officially in deer hunting season with the bow hunting opener starting Saturday.
Something new this year, hunters will be able to track what they see while out in the field using a new tool from the Minnesota DNR.
The state agency has hundreds of researchers and experts who work in the woods, but with this new website the agency could soon have more than 400,000 researchers providing valuable data.
“There are more than 400,000 deer hunters out in the woods every year who could be providing information about what they’re seeing in the woods,” DNR research scientist Adam Landon says.
Deer hunters can log in to https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mammals/deer/management/hunter-field-log.html to participate in the project.
The website will bring up a quick survey with a handful of questions that include the date of the hunt, the location, how much time the hunter spent in the tree stand, and how many deer they saw.
“We’re hoping hunters will log every hunt they do this year,” Landon says.
"We're interested not only if you saw a deer that day but if you didn't see any deer that day too. That's really important. The absence of deer and the presence of deer are both equally important pieces of information."
Hunters can also log other animals they see, like turkeys, bears, bobcats, wolves, and a few others.
"Minnesotans love their natural resources and we think this is a great opportunity to get some public participation and research and management of those natural resources,” Landon says.
Deer hunters will have until January 15, 2024, to log their journals.
The DNR says the information that is collected through this program will be used in various reports and those reports will be released sometime next Summer.
For more information click here.