Conditions described here were accurate only as of the date shown and may have changed. This is not a substitute for current official information from the agency with jurisdiction. See the full notice. Full notice.
Minnesota's Deer Opener Brings Mandatory CWD Testing in the Southwest
The firearms season opened Saturday and runs through November 29, with licenses and harvest registration now in a new electronic system.
Minnesota's firearms deer season opened Saturday, November 7, and runs through November 29, Northern News Now reports. The Department of Natural Resources has started a four-year rotation for chronic wasting disease surveillance that splits the state into quadrants; this year, testing is mandatory in southwestern Minnesota for deer age 1 or older taken on opening weekend, and voluntary elsewhere. Northeastern Minnesota is not scheduled for mandatory testing until 2028.
Licenses can be bought and harvests registered online, through a mobile app or in person under the state's new electronic license system, and license sales are up this year. Deer numbers are rebounding in the northeast, especially around Duluth and parts of Itasca County, after mild winters. Wear blaze orange or blaze pink, check stands before climbing and tell someone where you are hunting. Michigan's firearms season opens November 15 and Wisconsin's November 21.
Sources