Northwoods Experience: 2025 MN Firearms Deer Hunting Season Underway

Saturday was what many people in northern Minnesota might consider one of the biggest holidays of the year, where nearly half a million people celebrated this year’s firearms deer hunting season opener.

Even though the main excitement of opening weekend has worn off a little bit, there’s still several more days left of the hunting season. One of the biggest things to prioritize when getting out in the woods is safety.

“[Wear] blaze orange,” emphasized Blane Klemek, Northwest Regional Wildlife Manager with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “Not only is it safe, it is a law. And of course, when it comes to actually pointing the rifle, know your target before you point the rifle or any weapon and know what’s behind that target.”

Hunting season can bring a major economic boost to Minnesota, where hunters are traveling, eating at local restaurants, and bringing more business to the meat processing industry, and the 400,000-plus licenses purchased each year help the DNR put money back into the state’s natural resources. But to those sporting camo and orange, it’s not about the money.

“You know, it really has not a whole lot to do with the actual pulling of a trigger or drawing a bow back. That’s all part of it,” Klemek said. “But for me, it’s being in the woods, touching base with nature again. It’s pretty easy to escape all the troubles of one’s everyday life and about as peaceful as anything can really be for a person, really.”

Minnesota typically sees between 130 to 200,000 deer tagged during the nine to 16 days of the regular firearms deer hunting season.

“Deer population is doing well, 1.3 to 1.4 million deer in the state of Minnesota,” stated Klemek. “So really, there are deer hunting opportunities nearly anywhere in the state.”

More information on when the firearms deer hunting season ends in different parts of the state can be found on the DNR website. The DNR also provides maps and information on mandatory chronic wasting disease (CWD) testing regions.