The 2015 Minnesota rifle deer season opens on Saturday morning. Approximately 500,000 deer hunters will be dressed in orange and sitting in the woods or on the edge of a field somewhere, long before the sun rises tomorrow.
Experts are expecting another low deer harvest this year as they try to rebuild the deer herd. The numbers of antlerless permits were limited due to lower deer numbers in much of Minnesota, especially in the heavily wooded northeastern part of the state.
Most estimates are predicting the deep harvest in 2015 to be slightly higher than in 2014, when hunters harvested approximately 139,000 deer.
The rifle opener is as late as it gets this year (first Saturday in November). There is a good chance the deer will be in full rut when the season opens, which should help hunters harvest a few more bucks on opening weekend.
The weather also looks to be favorable. Hunters don't want it so cold that it is too uncomfortable sitting in their stands and they don't want it too hot, so the hunters that tag a deer are able to hang them without spoiling or freezing the meat.
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The two biggest weekends of the year in the outdoor sporting calendar are the fishing opener and the rifle deer opener. Bemidji is an extremely popular destination in both cases, with plenty of public land for deer hunting and lots of lakes filled with fish.
There have still been a few diehard anglers on the lakes. Surface water temperatures are hovering in the mid 40s, with most anglers fishing for walleyes, crappies or muskies.
Walleye anglers are finding fish feeding more during peak periods of the day, rather than feeding most of the day like they were earlier in the fall.
The Rainy River has had one of the hottest walleye bites recently, with both good numbers of fish and larger walleyes following the emerald shiners out of Lake of the Woods into the first couple miles of the Rainy River.
Lake of the Woods has also been good for walleyes, with good action around Pine Island and in Four Mile Bay. Anglers have been finding walleyes and sauger in many of the same areas where anglers will be ice fishing early in the hard water season.
Leech Lake continues to be good for walleyes, but the hot bite has slowed down some and the number of anglers on the water has decreased dramatically. There have also been a few anglers on Leech Lake that have been fishing for muskies and jumbo perch.
Lake Bemidji has been getting some pressure for muskies, with the muskies targeting the pre-spawn tulibees that have moved into shoreline and mid-lake structures with shallow rocks, which is where the tulibees spawn.
There may be concentrations of muskies and larger pike in the areas where the tulibees (and whitefish) are spawning. Anglers can troll for muskies and watch for signs of activity as they troll.
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Larger predators often show themselves, either by surfacing or by the boils in the water as they chase their prey in shallow water. Once anglers find a location that may be holding numbers of predators, they can go back through the area and cast larger lures, to fish the area more thoroughly.
Many anglers prefer to fish smaller lakes in the fall. Many of the lakes have a combination of species, with a few walleyes along with panfish and bass. Northern pike are also a species common to most of the local lakes.
Walleyes in smaller lakes are often along the edge between hard and soft bottom at the base of drop-off, either on the shoreline break or on mid-lake structures adjacent to the deepest holes in the lake.
Anglers should be trying to use their electronics to locate fish, rather than trying to drift or troll until they find something. The best presentation for walleyes and crappies are often vertical during the cold water period, with anglers trying to hover over the fish much like ice fishing out of a boat.
