As Minnesota's deer hunting seasons arrive, the Department of Natural Resources has some reminders for hunters for a successful harvest.
The archery deer season begins Saturday, Sept. 19, and continues through the end of the year.
Last archery season, Minnesota's bow hunters took 30,043 deer, an all-time high for the state. Roughly half of those were harvested with crossbows, while the other half were hunted via vertical bows.
"Archery hunters benefit from having a long season to get out into the woods and fields, experience the change of seasons, see deer and other wildlife, and have opportunities to harvest deer, too," the DNR said.
As tempting as it may be for hunters to focus on trophy-worthy bucks, the DNR reminds hunters that their sport is essential for population management.
"While parts of northern Minnesota continue to experience lower deer numbers than in recent decades, many areas need help reducing local deer populations," the DNR said. "In the areas with an abundance of deer, hunters are allowed to harvest multiple antlerless deer."
According to the DNR, early in the archery season is a great time to harvest a doe or two. Archery hunters harvest many antlerless deer: about 55% of archery-harvested deer had no antlers, and these hunters were responsible for one-fifth of all antlerless deer harvested in the state.
Experts in deer biology say that by the time hunting begins, fawns are old enough to make it on their own.
The DNR said some hunters pass on hunting does with fawns out of understandable concern for the young.
Most fawns are born in late May to early June, and can be completely weaned from their mothers in as little as 10 weeks.
The statewide firearms deer season opens Nov. 7 and ends Nov. 22 in most places. Hunters are encouraged to buy their licenses early, with the new electronic licensing system launched in June.
Hunters can still purchase paper licenses from license agents.
The online license allows hunters to tag their harvests via a mobile app.
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