It’s a great time of year to be a deer hunter! Deer activity is ramping up, archery season continues and firearms deer opener is around the corner. 

Related: MN Deer Hunting Outlook for NE Minnesota: Deer Populations Still Lagging Despite Mild Winter

Youth and early antlerless season are a wrap and we have some preliminary harvest totals to share for the season so far:

• Youth season: We had hot and windy weather for much of the state but youth harvest was up in every region around the state. Youth harvested around 6,000 deer, up about 10% from last year and down 7% from the five-year average.
• Early antlerless season had a similar harvest to last year of about 2,400 deer.
• Archery hunters so far have harvested about 9,500 deer, down 3% from last year at this time. Crossbow harvest has accounted for 46% of the archery harvest so far.
• In total, as of Oct. 23, hunters had harvested about 17,700 deer, about 1% down from last year and 15% behind the five-year average.

For ongoing harvest totals, check the DNR webpage that has statewide figures, totals for each weapon type and totals for individual deer permit areas.