The 2023-2024 mild winter conditions helped deer populations begin to recover

Hunters harvested more than 170,000 deer during the 2024 hunting season, up 7 percent statewide from the 2023 hunting season, according to a report by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Wednesday, Jan. 22. 

The statewide harvest was 3 percent lower than the five-year average.

“We still have a way to go in parts of northern Minnesota,” said Todd Froberg, Minnesota DNR big game program coordinator. “But it seems like we’re moving in the right direction.”

Weather during peak hunting times such as weekends played a significant factor in hunter success and provided optimal conditions for hunting during firearms season in much of the state. Anecdotal reports to wildlife managers also suggested that opening weekend of 2024 firearms opener lined up well with deer activity during the peak of their mating season.

Breakdown by region

One of the areas that saw the most increase in deer harvest was the northeast, where harvest was up 9 percent compared to 2023.

Due to the ecology of the region, deer populations are significantly impacted by winter conditions, particularly deep snow. The mild winter in 2023-24 helped bolster local populations. However, wildlife managers are maintaining conservative bag limits and caution it will take more than one mild winter to help deer recover.

Northwest Minnesota also saw a jump in harvest with an 8 percent increase from 2023. The past mild winter was exactly what deer needed in this region. Many wildlife managers received reports of twins and triplets in spring and summer 2024.

The central and southeast regions of the state also saw great success, with a 9 percent increase from 2023 and a 2 percent increase compared to the five-year average. Hunting opportunities remain robust in these regions of the state, with bag limits as high as three- to five-deer limits.

The southwest saw a 4 percent increase in harvest compared to 2023 and a 1 percent increase from the five-year average. This area of the state has had very consistent harvest the last few years.

High archery season success

This year was an incredibly successful year for archery hunters, with archery harvest up 16 percent. Preliminary harvest results suggest this might be the second highest archery harvest ever in Minnesota, only surpassed by the 2020 season.

In 2023, Minnesota legalized crossbows for all archery hunters regardless of age. Crossbow harvest saw a 28 percent increase compared to 2023 and 48 percent of total archery harvest was by crossbow. Vertical bow harvest was also up 7 percent compared to 2023.

Both crossbow and vertical bowhunters took similar proportions of deer in terms of sex and age at harvest. A little less than half of the deer harvested with archery equipment were adult bucks (48 percent crossbow, 47 percent vertical bow). Adult does harvested during archery season made up about 40 percent of the deer harvested during archery season (40 percent crossbow, 42 percent vertical bow).

If drier winter conditions persist into spring 2025, hunters might look forward to increasing deer numbers in the upcoming hunting season.

Input opportunity and more information

Hunters and anyone interested in deer can provide their input via an online survey on 2024 deer populations and observations. The survey includes questions about experiences hunters had during the deer hunting season; issues related to damage deer might have done to crops, landscaping or gardens; and other deer-related issues. People can also share their input on proposed boundary changes for deer permit areas 101, 111, 183, 208 and 268. The survey is open through Monday, Feb. 10 and available on the DNR deer management webpage.

People who are interested in deer harvest data can find current harvest data and past harvest reports on the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ deer reports and statistics webpage. The page also features an interactive map and graph that visualize the data.