Deer hunters in western Big Stone County know they'll be restricted this fall to harvesting a single buck. To bag a second deer, they'd have to win a lottery that offers 38% fewer antlerless tags than a year ago.

So, avid hunters like Ed Vollmer and Bruce Nelson, of Ortonville, were incensed when they learned a number of gut-shot deer were wasting away in a neighboring farmer's field. The farmer had a special permit to legally harvest 10 in response to crop damage.

"It's just an absolute outrage to me,'' Nelson said. "Our permit area will be decimated … It's ruining people's deer hunting.''

Said Vollmer: "I thought the DNR wildlife office was about protecting wildlife, not farmers.''

The two hunters accept harvest restrictions to rebuild the area's deer herd. But to them, it makes no sense for the Department of Natural Resources to undermine the strategy by allowing a small number of farmers to shoot large numbers of deer in an attempt to reduce the amount of soybeans and corn consumed by the animals.

This year, in Deer Permit Area 274 on the eastern edge of Big Stone Lake, three farmers have qualified for enough special permits to harvest 65 or more deer. Based on last year's total deer harvest in the area of 402 whitetails, three farms would be nabbing upwards of 15% of the total kills if this year's harvest is similar in size.

Vollmer, Nelson and at least two other deer hunters in Permit Area 274 have complained to the DNR and to a state legislator. They contend that the removal of so many deer by three farms is greatly out of balance with the relative "hardship'' of crop damage caused by wild deer. Moreover, the group asserts that DNR oversight of the special permits is lax — an accusation that a local DNR official denies.

Though the scuffle in this pocket of western Minnesota doesn't appear to be part of a rising trend based on state data, it is likely not the only case. In 2020, farmers claiming crop damage from deer were allowed to harvest nearly 200 whitetails on special permits.

As part of their local grievance, the Ortonville area deer hunters called on the DNR to investigate unauthorized deer killings that they alleged went unreported by the farmer in Deer Permit Area 274 who received a permit to harvest 10 deer over the summer. Late last month, the investigation resulted in a petty misdemeanor citation against farmer Ron Schumacher of Ortonville. According to a written report by the investigating warden, DNR Conservation Officer Levi Brown, Schumacher's farm legally filled all 10 of its summer deer tags. But the officer also discovered that Schumacher killed five additional deer and let them rot — not reporting them as required under his permit, according to the officer's report.

Schumacher did not respond to two phone calls and an email from the Minnesota Star Tribune seeking comment.

According to the officer's report, Schumacher said he looked for five deer he shot in his soybean field but couldn't find them. Brown reported that three of the deer were laying less than 10 yards from the edge of the field. He cited Schumacher for wanton waste of five deer. Besides a $300 fine, the local DNR wildlife office said the violation will weigh against Schumacher if he seeks permits to rid deer from his farm in the future.

For the local deer hunters who blew the whistle on Schumacher, the investigation has hardened their opinion that the deer depredation program lacks accountability.

"Once they get a permit, the farmers seem to think they can kill as many deer as they want,'' Nelson said. "They're on the honor system and that's it.''

Curt Vacek, DNR wildlife manager for the area that includes Big Stone County, said farmers who obtain extra shooting permits to address crop damage are tracked by a detailed reporting system and they don't always get what they want when seeking permission.

Schumacher, for instance, was denied permission to shoot deer when he catches them eating crops he plants under contract with the DNR on a public wildlife management area, Vacek said.

Since the crop-related deer removal program originated in 1993 as a state law to assist agricultural producers, it has been extended beyond the summer to include extra antlerless deer during the hunting season. The crop damage permits now allow an affected farmer to enlist up to 15 associates who can each harvest up to three extra deer from any qualifying farm field, even in areas where harvest permits are in short supply for local deer hunters. It's up to the local DNR wildlife manager to issue the appropriate number of extra deer-damage tags during the season.

"I don't like issuing these permits but it is a tool and the farmers have to follow through with a good faith effort,'' Vacek said. "Unfortunately, it's not black and white.''

Vacek said farmers in his area have only recently sought help under the program. Here's how it works:

During the summer months, a farmer who demonstrates deer are causing significant crop damage can apply to the local DNR wildlife office for a special permit allowing for the harvest of up to 10 deer before the hunting season. The animals — bucks or does — can only be shot when actively feeding in the designated field. When applying for the removal permits, the farmer must provide a list of people who will receive the deer for consumption.

After the farmer submits results of summer shooting, he or she can apply for a set of additional removal permits, known as Depredation Deer Antlerless Permits (DDAPs). The farmer's application can list up to 15 individuals, each desiring up to three extra antlerless tags usable during the traditional hunting season. Each of those individuals must be a licensed hunter with his or her own buck tag. All hunting under the DDAPs must occur on the crop field damaged by deer browsing.

According to data gathered by the DNR's Wildlife Damage Program, usage has been up and down. For the summer deer removal program, 459 permits have been issued since 2004 resulting in a total harvest of 1,847 whitetails. For the in-season DDAP program, the DNR has recorded a total harvest of slightly over 700 deer since it started in 2012. As few as 11 deer were harvested on those permits in 2016 and as many as 230 were harvested in 2013. The statewide DDAP harvest last year totaled 38 deer.

DNR Wildlife Damage Program Supervisor Eric Nelson said applicants and local DNR wildlife managers work out individualized hunt management plans to minimize crop damage.

"Each farmer has different economics,'' he said. Wildlife managers use their discretion to "assess the situations and decide what is justifiable.''

State Rep. Paul Anderson, R-Starbuck, said he suggested the DNR loosen hunting restrictions in Deer Permit Area 274 by offering standard hunters more permits to shoot antlerless deer during the season.

Another way to address problems is to pay farmers for damage, Anderson said. He's pushed for such a program at the state Legislature, saying Minnesota already pays farmers and ranchers in the north for losses caused by wolves and elk.

He said farmers tolerate a certain amount of crop damage from deer, but "some kind of program'' is needed to compensate them when the damage is heavy. Anderson, himself a farmer, is the Republican lead on the Minnesota House Agricultural Finance and Policy Committee.

Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, said it's a bad idea to start paying farmers for crop damage caused by wild deer. Hansen is chairman of the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Committee. Getting the public to pay for deer damage would "break the seal" and soon lead to a multi-million dollar annual give-away, he said.

Besides, he said, whitetail deer are a public resource that have inhabited Minnesota long before farmers started planting rows of corn and soybeans.