The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has announced the details for the 2025 deer hunting season, and it’s basically the status quo for hunters in the northwest part of the state.
According to Blane Klemek, Northwest Region wildlife manager for the DNR in Bemidji, bag limits in most deer permit areas (DPAs) in the northwest are the same as last year, while two – DPAs 265 (three-deer limit) and 671 (two-deer limit) – increased from two- and one-deer limits, respectively. Hunters in DPA 111, which includes much of Red Lake Wildlife Management Area and Beltrami Island State Forest, again will be limited to a one-deer limit, bucks-only, Klemek said.
A second consecutive mild winter allowed the DNR to keep the bag limits in the northwest and many other parts of the state relatively unchanged, Klemek said. The Northwest Region includes 23 counties from Lake of the Woods in the far northeastern corner, to Traverse County in the far southwestern part of the region near the South Dakota border.
“It wasn’t quite as mild as the winter before that, but as Minnesota winters go, it was a mild winter,” Klemek said. “Deer were able to move around throughout the entire region in the snow without any difficulty. There was about a two-week stretch at the most when it got pretty chilly. But overall, Minnesota’s winter, at least in the northwest, wasn’t much of a factor at all for deer survivorship.”
Statewide view
In a news release, the DNR said 103 DPAs statewide have the same management designation as last season, while 25 DPAs have increased bag limits. Two DPAs have lower bag limits to reduce the harvest of antlerless deer, the DNR said, with the intent of increasing deer populations.
Minnesota deer permit areas and bag-limit designations for the 2025 hunting season. (Courtesy of Minnesota Department of Natural Resources)
Harvest designations remain conservative in far northern Minnesota, where deer populations are still recovering from the severe winters of 2021-22 and 2022-23, the DNR said.
No application is needed to take antlerless deer in permit areas with either-sex, two-deer limit, three-deer limit, or five-deer limit designations. Hunters should note that DPA 183 has been split into two smaller DPAs (153 and 154), the DNR said, both of which have last year’s designation of lottery with a one-deer limit.
Dates to remember
Firearm and muzzleloader hunters who want to shoot antlerless deer in a DPA designated as “antlerless permit lottery” must purchase their license by Thursday, Sept. 4, the DNR said. Hunters who buy their license by Sept. 4 are automatically entered into the lottery for the DPA or special hunt area they declare.
Season details for each DPA and electronic copies of the 2025 Minnesota hunting regulations are available on the DNR deer hunting webpage at mndnr.gov/hunting/deer . Print copies will be available in mid-August wherever licenses are sold, the DNR said. Regulations translated into Hmong, Karen, Somali and Spanish will be available online in mid-September.
“We love getting ready for deer season each year. Many hunters prepare for time out in the forests and fields like it’s a major holiday,” Paul Burr, the DNR’s acting big game program coordinator, said in a statement. “We’re reminding hunters to closely review the new hunting regulations and all the details that apply to them, so they’re ready to enjoy deer seasons.”
Changes of note
The DNR has simplified the process for buying a firearms deer license by eliminating the B season license in the southeast and offering one statewide firearms deer license instead. The statewide license is valid during both the statewide Firearms A season and the late Southeast B season.
Another important change is related to chronic wasting disease testing. Self-service stations will be available in CWD management and surveillance zones during opening weekend of firearms season and the following Monday (Saturday, Nov. 8, through Monday, Nov. 10), and during CWD special hunts. Because of the expanding footprint of CWD in Minnesota, the DNR will prioritize collecting baseline surveillance data in three new areas and will shift staff resources to accommodate the increased workload.
Hunters should check the CWD testing requirements and available sampling options for the DPAs where they hunt. Hunters can find DPA-specific information on the DNR website at mndnr.gov/deerhunt. Hunters are required to have deer age 1 or older sampled in all CWD management and surveillance zones if they harvest their deer during the opening weekend of the firearms season Nov. 8-9.
CWD management zones in the Northwest Region are DPA 666 east of Moorhead; DPA 671 near the South Dakota border; DPA 661 near Crookston; and DPA 684 in the Bemidji area.
If sampling efforts don’t find any new CWD-positive cases in 684 this fall, mandatory testing would no longer be required in that DPA, Klemek said. The mandatory sampling requirement is removed if no positive samples are found for three consecutive years.
“Hopefully – fingers crossed – it’s the last year we need to sample hunter-harvested deer” in 684, Klemek said. “If we can get by this fall and have no positive samples from 684, we would be able to, according to our CWD response plan, cease sampling in that CWD management zone.”
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Season dates
Here’s a look at Minnesota deer season dates for 2025:
— Archery: Saturday, Sept. 13, through Wednesday, Dec. 31.
— Youth and early antlerless: Thursday, Oct. 16, through Sunday, Oct. 19.
— Firearms: Saturday, Nov. 8, with various closing dates depending on location.
— Muzzleloader: Saturday, Nov. 29, through Sunday, Dec. 14.
— Late CWD (DPAs 605, 642, 643, 645, 646, 647, 648 and 649): Friday, Dec. 19, through Sunday, Dec. 21.
For a guide on finding the most up-to-date information throughout the deer season, including details about individual DPAs, preparing for hunting, to find CWD sampling locations or to request a mail-in sampling kit, check out the DNR website at mndnr.gov/deerhunt.
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