Some huge whitetails turned up at the 2008 Minnesota Deer & Turkey Expo in Owatonna March 7-9.

The Winter That Wouldn't End
by Gordon Whittington
March 19, 2008

You call this global warming?

I spent much of last week in north-central Minnesota, and if that trip was any indication, you can forget about those doomsday forecasts of melting polar ice caps and rising sea levels. I experienced the lower air temperature I've felt in more than 20 years: a brisk 23 degrees F below zero. Thank goodness it wasn't windy.

I knew I was in trouble when the weatherman on TV warned that it was about to get cold "for this time of year." Well, "this time of year" being late winter, I figured that meant cold in a somewhat absolute sense. Too bad the weather forecasters couldn't have been as wrong about that prediction as they usually are.

Now, -23 is bad enough under any circumstances. But just to make sure this Southern boy got a good taste of what late winter "up North" is really like, somebody at the car-rental agency in Minneapolis decided it would be a good idea to send me away in a convertible.

No, I'm not kidding.

So, you're wondering if I actually popped the top on that convertible. Yes, I did -- but not for long. I dropped it, drove for literally only a few seconds, and then wasted no time putting it back up again; just enough to be able to claim, truthfully, that I've driven a convertible in the middle of a Minnesota winter. So there.

Of course, not many folks fly from Atlanta to Minnesota in winter without a good reason, and I had one. No, make that two. First, I needed to spend several days at InterMedia Outdoors' television production facility in Baxter, working with video editor Josh Viste to assemble some of the pieces of our next wave of TV shows. Then, it was off to the southern Minnesota city of Owatonna, to present seminars at the 2008 Minnesota Deer & Turkey Expo.

Those seminars were on the topic of food plots, and as usual, the interest level was high. Seems there are plenty of folks wanting to start planting food plots for whitetails, or improve the results of plots they've already been planting.

Some mighty big bucks showed up at the show in Owatonna, confirming what I heard from several of my friends who live in the area: Last November's gun season was a very good one for trophy whitetails. A good cold snap coincided with the early-November opener, and mature bucks were on the move. Many of them found their way into hunter's pickup trucks.

Naturally, even in a great season most hunters don't shoot big bucks, and there has long been a feeling that Minnesota could produce more trophies than it does. How to improve the situation is a matter of debate, but several ideas have been advanced lately. One option is antler restrictions; another is changing the gun season dates to include less of the rut.

Gary Bartsch, president of Bluffland Whitetails Association, told me both possible moves are being studied. Antler restrictions definitely appear to have improved buck quality in some states, including Georgia, Mississippi and Missouri; having the gun hunt outside of peak rut certainly has made a positive difference in a number of locations, including Iowa, Kansas and, to a lesser extent, Wisconsin. While quick to point out that no change is imminent, Gary noted that the goal should be to come up with a more balanced herd, especially in terms of buck to doe ratios and buck age structure. We'll see where this all goes, but at least the issue is being given a thoughtful look by those interested in Minnesota's whitetail resource.

Well, so much for the frozen tundra; now I'm heading east, to check out the Ohio Deer & Turkey Expo in Columbus this weekend. (See www.deerinfo.comfor details.) There, I'll present more food plot seminars and most assuredly see wall after wall of monster bucks. I only hope the huge white pile that hit Columbus last weekend is gone by the time I arrive; this Southern boy is about ready for winter to end.

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