REGIONAL— Hunters registered a total of 186,203 deer during the 2025 hunting season, according to a press statement issued by the Department of Natural Resources this week. That represents a nine percent increase over 2024. This year’s statewide harvest was also five percent higher than the five-year average.
Northeastern Minnesota, where deer populations have been slow to recover from a series of snowy winters in the early 2020s, saw the biggest increase in the deer harvest, with registrations up 14 percent. The region’s deer population has been rebounding in the wake of two historically mild winters in 2023-24 and 2024-25.
Other parts of the state saw increased deer registrations as well, including:
• A nine percent increase in the northwest.
• An eight percent increase in the central/southeast.
• A six percent increase in the southwest.
Archery stats
This past season again showed an increased harvest for archery hunters, with archery harvest up eight percent compared to 2024. Total archery harvest in 2025 was nearly 30,000, which is a new record for Minnesota. Crossbow harvest in 2025 was 50 percent of total archery harvest, compared to 48 percent of total archery harvest in 2024. Minnesota legalized crossbows for archery hunters in 2023.