Minnesota’s peak deer season ended Sunday with a plentiful harvest that assured state wildlife biologists that whitetail populations are still rebounding and being kept in check by hunters.
The final tally for the nine-day, statewide firearms season was 123,634 whitetails, up 8% from a year ago and comfortably ahead of the five-year average. Hunting license sales at the Department of Natural Resources were on par with last year: about 398,000 hunters. Looking ahead, total deer harvest this year is on pace to exceed last’s total of 170,679 animals.
“I’m very happy to see the numbers that we’re putting up,” said Paul Burr, DNR’s acting big game program director. “It’s indicative of a growing, healthy deer population and we did not see a decline in hunters.”
By the time all Minnesota deer hunting ends on Dec. 31, some 442,000 people will have hunted whitetails in Minnesota this fall with a vertical bow, crossbow, rifle, shotgun or muzzleloader.
But the firearm season matters the most for wildlife managers, because nearly three of every four whitetails killed by hunters are taken during that time.
Hunting is Minnesota’s most important deer management tool. For each deer permit area designated across the state, the DNR sets bag limits to balance the herd. Fall harvest ups and downs factor into those decisions.
“This certainly might bump up some bag limits,” said Burr. “But in struggling areas we would want to see these kinds of numbers for a couple of years before we bump up bag limits.”
Deer have been most scarce in northeastern Minnesota, where wolves, bears, habitat degradation and harsh winters have taken a toll. But after back-to-back mild winters, Burr said hunters there harvested about 23,500 whitetails during this year’s firearms season, up 14% from last year. He called it the largest relative increase in harvest among the four major regions segmented by DNR.
