(KNSI) – Deer hunters can check out regulations for the season in the recently released 2021 Minnesota Hunting and Trapping Regulations handbook.
Archery deer season opens September 18, and firearms deer season opens November 6. Hunting licenses are on sale at any DNR license agent, by telephone at 888-665-4236, or online.
According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, hunters can take more than one deer in almost half of the permit areas. Overall, bag limits are similar to last year, with a few changes in areas with higher deer populations.
The DNR has expanded the early antlerless deer season, October 21-24, to include more deer permit areas in central and southeastern Minnesota. Hunters can apply for an antlerless permit until September 9.
Another change is a shift to a five-deer bag limit in areas that were previously under an unlimited antlerless bag limit. The unlimited antlerless bag limit was traditionally used to increase harvest and reduce deer densities to limit disease spread in disease management zones and manage urban deer issues in the metro deer permit area.
A mandatory sampling of deer harvested in chronic wasting disease zones will resume this year, and that those zones have expanded following detections of the disease in wild and captive deer. In the northern part of the state, deer permit areas 184, 110, 197, and a portion of deer permit area 169 have been added to the chronic wasting disease (CWD) surveillance zone, following CWD detections in a farmed deer facility in Beltrami County this spring. Deer permit areas 233 and 342, located between the south metro area and the southeastern corner of the state, have also been added to the CWD surveillance zone due to additional detections of CWD-positive deer within the management zone.
Other deer season changes
This year, the DNR is changing the names of bag-limit designations to make the bag limits clearer. The one-deer limit categories are “bucks only,” “antlerless permit lottery” (formerly “lottery”), and “either-sex” (formerly “hunter choice”). “Managed” is now “two-deer limit,” and “intensive” is now “three-deer limit.” The bag-limit descriptions remain unchanged, except for the “unlimited antlerless” designation, which has been replaced with a “five-deer limit” designation.
Several deer permit area boundaries in southwest and northeast Minnesota have changed based on input from the public, tribal communities, and DNR staff. The changes are depicted on the 2021 Deer Season Area Map, and hunters should double-check the boundaries of any permit areas where they plan to hunt, as well as bag limits in those areas.
Late chronic wasting disease hunts are scheduled for Dec. 17-19 and Dec. 31-Jan. 2; additional details will be posted on the DNR website closer to hunt dates.
The Camp Ripley archery hunt will be a single, three-day hunt (Oct. 29-31), instead of two, two-day hunts. Applicants must apply for the Camp Ripley lottery by Aug. 20.
Return to mandatory CWD testing in disease zones
With COVID-19 social distancing recommendations having eased, chronic wasting disease testing will be mandatory in CWD zones on the opening weekends of both firearms A and B seasons for any deer older than 1 year. Last year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the DNR used a voluntary sampling approach without staffed stations.
CWD zones consist of deer permit areas where disease management actions are in place. This year, the DNR has simplified the names into three tiers: management zone, control zone, and surveillance zone. Hunters should refer to the regulations book to see if their deer permit area is within one of these zones, where special disease regulations apply.
More information on CWD and related hunting regulations is available on the CWD webpage.
The DNR sets regulations for each of Minnesota’s deer permit areas to manage populations toward goals established for each area. These goals are based on information from the DNR and Minnesotans who participate in periodic public goal-setting processes.
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