2025 Minnesota Deer Season Ends With Strong Harvest Numbers

Minnesota deer hunters have loads of causes to be ok with how the 2025 season wrapped up, with closing harvest numbers confirming what many noticed from the stand final fall. In keeping with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, hunters tagged 186,203 deer statewide, a 9% enhance over 2024 and about 5 p.c above the 5 12 months common.

Good climate throughout key firearms weekends, bettering deer numbers, and strong rut timing all performed a job within the enhance. Roughly half of Minnesota’s deer harvest usually comes in the course of the first two weekends of the firearms season, and situations lined up effectively in 2025 with cooler temperatures and restricted precipitation.

“We had a fantastic deer harvest in most areas of the state this 12 months,” mentioned David Trauba, DNR wildlife part supervisor, noting that hunter success is a optimistic signal for each conservation and long run deer administration.

Regionally, the positive aspects have been widespread, although not uniform. Northeast Minnesota led the way in which with a 14% enhance over 2024, helped by two consecutive delicate winters that allowed deer numbers to rebound after a number of extreme years earlier within the decade. Northwest Minnesota adopted with a 9% enhance, whereas central and southeast Minnesota have been each up about 8%. The southwest area posted a 6% enhance and continued its development of constant harvests over the previous a number of seasons.

Wildlife managers cautioned that northern deer herds are nonetheless in restoration mode, and conservative bag limits stay in place in some areas. Even so, the upward development is encouraging for hunters who’ve waited by means of powerful winters and decrease deer numbers lately.

Archery hunters additionally performed a significant position within the general enhance. The archery harvest was up 8% in comparison with 2024, with crossbows accounting for about half of all archery deer taken. Minnesota legalized crossbows for archery hunters in 2023, and participation has continued to develop since.

Hunters additionally confirmed robust participation in illness monitoring efforts. Almost 14,000 deer have been submitted for continual losing illness testing in the course of the season, most in the course of the firearms opener. Preliminary outcomes present 117 optimistic detections statewide in 2025, with the bulk coming from southeast Minnesota. One optimistic buck was discovered outdoors an current CWD administration zone in McLeod County.

DNR officers thanked hunters for submitting samples, emphasizing that hunter participation is essential to monitoring and managing CWD throughout the state. Hunters whose deer check optimistic are notified immediately, and outcomes can be found by means of the DNR’s CWD Page

Wanting forward, the DNR is asking hunters and non hunters alike to share suggestions on deer populations and looking experiences by means of a web-based questionnaire open by means of Feb. 23. For a lot of hunters, the 2025 season already delivered a transparent takeaway. In a lot of Minnesota, deer numbers are bettering, alternatives stay robust, and freezer house was effectively used final fall.

Keith Lusher

Keith Lusher is an award-winning outside journalist who resides in Covington, Louisiana. He owns and operates NorthshoreFishingReport.com and writes a weekly outside column for the Slidell Unbiased Newspaper. He additionally writes for the St.Tammany Parish Tourism Fee’s VisitTheNorthshore.com. He’s the previous host of The Northshore Fishing Report Radio Present and is on the board of the Louisiana Outside Writers Affiliation. Keith contributes to quite a few publications each on-line and in print and prides himself on selling South Louisiana’s distinctive fishery. To contact Keith electronic mail: keithlusherjr@gmail.com