Results From Minnesota’s Deer Hunting Opening Weekend

The firearms deer hunting opening weekend was last weekend in Minnesota.  Glen Schmitt from Outdoor News joined me on WJON.  He says approximately 375,000 licenses were sold, and 55,100 deer were shot, which is up about 4% from the opening 2 days from last year.  With all the deer hunting seasons combined 89,625 deer have been shot.  This includes archery, antlerless, the youth hunt and this past weekend's firearms opener.

Schmitt says every area of the state was up a few percentage points from last year.  He indicates the northeastern portion of the state saw the highest percentage gain of 6%.  Schmitt attributes that to increased deer numbers due to last year's mild winter.  He says that part of the state is still seeing a 22% decrease over the past 5 years due to a smaller deer population.

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The firearms deer season continues in much of the state through this weekend but some locations in northern Minnesota have a 3rd weekend, the week after.  The archery deer hunting season goes through the end of December and the muzzleloader season goes until December 15.

Ice fishing season is just around the corner in Minnesota.  Glen indicates the last 2 seasons have been rough for different reasons.  Last year was too mild and ice conditions weren't consistently firm while 2 years ago slush on the ice was a big problem.  Schmitt believes the industry really needs a good season to help with ice house sales, and other ice fishing supplies.

Glen also weighed in on the recently announced slot limit changes on Red Lake and Lake Mille Lacs.  If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Glen, it is available below.