Minnesota Deer Season Opener sees 16% drop in Northwest Region 

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources have released the harvest numbers for the rifle deer season opener and say that the harvest is down 16% from last season. The DNR says that in the Northwest Region 13,224 deer were registered which is  16%less than 2022 and 38% lower than the five-year average. 

The findings didn’t surprise the Minnesota DNR too much as a decrease was expected to do back to back harsh winters which reduced fawn survival significantly. The Youth Harvest also saw a 30% decrease in the Northwest Region. 

In total Minnesota hunters registered 47,138 deer during opening weekend which is 13% lower than 2022. The firearms deer season ends November 19 for the 100 series, November 12 for the 200/300 series.