Minnesota's 2008 deer registrations haven't been tabulated, but preliminary results show a likely harvest of less than 230,000 deer. That's the lowest harvest in the past six years -- when hunters shot more than 250,000 deer yearly. And that has sparked some disgruntlement among hunters.

"I'm getting a lot of feedback right now on how awful it was, when in reality it was in the top 10 of our harvests," said Lou Cornicelli, Department of Natural Resources big-game program leader.

Ten years ago, for example, hunters bagged only 159,000 deer.

Cornicelli said the drop likely is due to a decline in the deer population and bad weather last fall, which hampered hunting. The agency has, for several years, been trying to reduce deer numbers in some parts of the state, so the harvest decline shouldn't be a big surprise, Cornicelli said.

The harvest decline likely will result in changes next fall in hunting opportunities in some areas, he said.