Minnesota's deer harvest is down 11.5 percent from last year – not a surprise given the reduced number of antlerless permits available to hunters this fall and the late corn harvest.
Hunters have registered about 129,000 deer so far this fall, compared to about 145,000 at this time last year. That's on target with a 200,000-deer harvest, said Lou Cornicelli, DNR big game coordinator. "It's right about what we thought,'' he said. Last year, hunters bagged 222,000 deer.
The buck harvest is down just 3 percent (from 71,000 last year to 69,000 this year), Cornicelli noted. The antlerless deer harvest is down 20 percent, from 74,000 last year to 59,000 this year, which again reflects the reduce number of antlerless permits.
The kill was down 18 percent in Zone 1, down 10 percent in Zone 2 and up 24 percent in Zone 3A, where two days was added to the season.
License sales steady
Minnesota deer license sales are down a hair – 1.4 percent – from last year. The DNR sold 437,157 licenses as of Monday, compared to 444,142 for the same time period last year. However, this year's figures are still the fourth highest in the past 10 years.
Crop harvest improves
Farmers had harvested 43 percent of the corn crop as of Monday. That's way behind the five-year average of 91 percent. Standing corn gives deer and pheasants a place to hide from hunters.
