I grew up in Mankato and the writing was already on the wall as far as hunting goes, in the early 70's. Even back then public land was crowded to the point of being dangerous, private land was tough to get on, and the "what's good for the Twin Cities is good for outstate" liberal mentality was beginning to bloom.
During deer season mom made us dress in orange and wouldn't let us play out of the yard. My first and only shotgun deer season when I was 16, I was nearly killed by a party blasting at one of the few deer I saw that day, as it ran between us. I was in full view and dressed head to foot in orange. 12 gauge slugs make a sound you will never forget when they fly by & ricochette off frozen plowing, as you make yourself as small as possible behind the only cover available, a 4" fence post. I never hunted deer again in Minnesota...
I left as soon as I could, moved to ND, and never looked back. I sacrificed some salary, but I live & hunt in some of the most prime, uncrowded territory this side of Alaska.
From talking with buddies who still live in Minn, it seems it's even worse now than it was in the 70's with the added attractions of much greater population, much increased crime, a DNR that is politically based and far out of touch with the average outdoors-person, and an even greater big city liberal rule. Literally all the places we hunted as kids & teenagers have been replaced with cities & suburbs.
You should see the army of Minnesota guys that invade ND to hunt waterfowl every Fall. The road in front of my farmstead gets so torn up with NR traffic that we have to use 4WD to get to the blacktop! They come here because they can't get even a fraction as good hunting at home. When I was growing up over there Minn was known for it's waterfowling, now even that is a ghost of it's former self.
This is an utter crying shame as Minnesota once was and still should be a sportsman's paradise...
Topic: On my way to Minnesota (Read 973 times)
