REGIONAL— The 2025 regular firearms deer season wrapped up in northeastern Minnesota with total buck registrations up over last year. In the eight deer permit areas monitored by the Timberjay, hunters had registered a total of 3,985 bucks as of this week, with the archery season still set to continue through December. The muzzleloader season, now underway, continues through Dec. 14.
As of this point last year, hunters in the eight permit areas, including 107, 109, 118, 119, 130, 176, 177, and 178, had registered 3,745 bucks. In 2023, hunters had registered a combined 3,282 bucks in those same permit areas.
This year’s total amounts to a 6.4 percent increase over last year and it’s up 21 percent over two years ago. The results suggest continuing growth in the region’s deer population, which continues to recover from a series of deep snow winters between 2020-2023. The previous two winters have been exceptionally mild, which has helped the deer population to recover.
Hunters in the eight permit areas registered a total of 4,580 deer, including antlerless registrations, which is up 7.7 percent over last year’s totals at the same point in time.
Statewide, the DNR’s registration tracking website was reporting 171,965 harvested deer, which was up slightly over last year. The final total is likely to exceed 175,000, which reflects about a three percent increase over last year’s total of 170,679.
Of those deer registered to date, bucks make up 59.16 percent of the total, adult does make up 29.12 percent, and fawns comprised 12 percent.
Final totals from the 2025 deer season will be issued by the DNR later this winter.