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The firearms deer hunting season for most of the state ends this weekend and the harvest so far is still running behind last year's. 
 

Through Thursday, hunters had killed a little more than 92,000 deer -- down about 7 percent from last year. The Department of Natural Resources attributes much of that decline to last weekend's cold, windy weather, which restricts deer movement and tends to limit the hours hunters spend in the field. 


One bright spot has been the archery season, said Leslie McInenly, the DNR's big game leader.


"We had reported that it was down about a quarter compared to last year, and now archery harvest is down about 8 percent," McInenly said.  "So it's really picked up in the past couple weeks."


The firearms season ends Sunday in most of the state, but continues through Nov. 24 in northeastern Minnesota. In that part of the state, the harvest is down 19 percent.

Mark Johnson with the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association said wolves are partly to blame.
 
"I think that the wolves have had a big impact on the deer population, Johnson said. "Last year the hunting permits for does were knocked down, so it was a more conservative hunting season. But the wolves still take as many as always."


The DNR has sold more than 450,000 deer licenses this year. Last year, hunters killed 186,000 deer out of a statewide population of around 1 million. Statewide, the deer population is up about 4 percent over last year.

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The firearms deer hunting season for most of the state ends this weekend and the harvest so far is still running behind last year's.

Minn. deer harvest running behind as hunt ends

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