ST. PAUL -- Minnesota firearms deer hunters shot fewer deer again this year — registering 130,820 deer statewide, down 8% from 2020 and off 10% from the five-year average.
According to data from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, final registrations for the 100 series management units, which includes all of northeastern Minnesota, were down 6% from 2020 and down a whopping 35% from the five-year average, likely because far fewer doe permits were issued after a string of tough, deep-snow winters held deer populations down, especially north of Duluth.
In some good news, the buck harvest in the 100 series was actually up 4.3% this year at 24,090, compared to 23,083 in 2020.
The 16-day season in the 100-series units ended Sunday.
Deer harvest was down 8% this year in the 200-series units from 2020 and down 15% in the 300-series units.
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So far this year, hunters have registered 163,257 deer of all types and through all seasons, including the statewide youth firearms season in October and the ongoing archery season. The statewide muzzleloader rifle season is still to come, set for Nov. 27 through Dec. 12.
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The DNR has a goal of roughly 200,000 deer shot annually through all seasons, but hasn't hit that goal for more than a decade. Hunters came close last year, at 197,315 deer registered, but haven’t topped 200,000 since 2010.
Through the end of the regular firearms deer season, Minnesota had sold a total of 427,248 deer hunting licenses, down 1.4% from 2020. This year marks the lowest license sales of the past 21 years and is down 10% from 2012, when 474,751 licenses were sold, the most in this century.
Barb Keller, big-game program coordinator for the DNR, noted unusually mild weather, with little deer movement over opening weekend Nov. 6-7, likely helped bring the total deer harvest below expectations.
“Weather likely played a role in opening weekend harvest being down,’’ Keller said, noting opening weekend usually amounts to nearly half the total firearms season harvest. She said that more people are back to work compared to 2020, when some hunters may still have been unemployed due to COVID-19 shutdowns.
“License sales seem pretty similar to last year, but the time hunters could dedicate to hunting is likely down compared to last year," Keller said.
Comparatively in Wisconsin, after the first two days of that state's nine-day firearms deer hunting season, hunters had registered 85,860 deer statewide, down 14% from 2020 and down 20% from the five-year average.
