Opening Firearm Deer Season Numbers Down from 2015

Harvest is down 3 percent from a year ago

Minnesota firearms hunters registered 68,958 deer during the first two days of firearms deer season, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Preliminary numbers from opening weekend show that the number of deer registered fell 3 percent from 2015.

In Zone 1, in northeastern Minnesota, total firearms harvest was up 16 percent. Zone 2, which covers the majority of the state and runs from Canada to Iowa, harvest was down 7 percent, and Zone 3 in southeastern Minnesota, was down 28 percent.

The DNR is projecting the 2016 total deer harvest to be between 165,000 and 185,000 deer, based upon the number of antlerless permits available and the number of permit areas that allow multiple deer to be taken.

The 2015 total harvest was a little more than 159,000.