Pawlenty's Last Opener

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty will host his final deer hunting opener this weekend in Little Falls.

Brainerd Area Wildlife Supervisor Gary Drotts says it should be an interesting weekend for the state's cheif executive.  His says there are a lot of whitetails in the Little Falls Camp Ripley area.

Archers harvested 220 deer and took eight bucks weighing more than 200 pounds at the second two-day hunt held at Camp Ripley on Oct. 30-31, according to the DNR.

Those deer, coupled with the 287 taken during the Oct. 21-22 hunt, represent the third highest harvest at the Camp Ripley bow hunts. The four-day total of 507 deer is about 64 percent above the long-term average harvest of 310 deer for the two hunts, and only nine fewer than the record 516 deer taken in 2008.