2023 Deer Harvest in MN Down 8% Compared to Previous Year

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has announced 2023 deer season harvest results along with chronic wasting disease management findings.

Hunters harvested 158,678 deer during the 2023 hunting season, which is a lower total harvest than in recent years. The harvest was down 8% compared to the 2022 season and 14% less than the five-year average.

The greatest decreases were in the northern part of the state, where the deer harvest, compared to 2022, was 21% lower in the northeast region and 8% lower in the northwest region. DNR officials say habitat conditions, severe winters, and wolf predation influence northern deer numbers. However, they also added that there’s little evidence suggesting that Minnesota’s low deer numbers come directly from wolf predation.

Meanwhile, chronic wasting disease (CWD) remains relatively rare in Minnesota, and the DNR is continuing to ask for hunters’ help to keep it that way. CWD was detected in 43 hunter-harvested deer during the 2023 fall hunting seasons.

Of these, 91% were from the southeast, a region that continues to see persistent CWD infections in wild deer. Only one CWD-positive deer was found in a new deer permit area, in DPA 342 near Wabasha, and was not from northern or central Minnesota. All the other positive cases came from existing CWD management zones.

This year’s deer harvest report can be found on the DNR website.