Things are good and getting better. That's the quick prognostication for hunting deer in Northeastern Minnesota as the forest herd continues to thrive. There are now more deer in the northern half of the state than at any time since the early 1990s. Mark Johnson, executive director of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, agrees. Deer hunters across Northeastern Minnesota will have access to more than double the number of doe permits that were available last year.
Permits are up across the region.
But the change is most noticeable north of Duluth, where in recent years few or no permits were available. And in some areas southwest of Duluth, antlerless permit numbers have tripled. DNR officials say this year's harvest should be in the top few years for northern Minnesota, but not quite as high as record harvests in the early 1990s, when the DNR issued large numbers of antlerless permits to cut the rapidly growing herd. Permits help managing herd The DNR uses computer models, history and information from local wildlife managers to set doe permit numbers. It has apparently become a highly effective way to manage the deer population and hunter harvest.