2025 deer season wrapping up with slight increase in northeast harvest
The 2025 deer hunting season will come to an end in one week on Dec. 31.
While the firearm and muzzleloader seasons have already closed, the season remains open until the end of the year for archery hunters.
Local conservation officers with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources observed a small number of muzzleloader hunters this season, and have seen even fewer late-season archery hunters in the woods.
“There were a few guys getting out there and hunting muzzleloader season,” said Hudson Ledeen, a DNR conservation officer based near the Hovland area. “Other than that, it really was quiet after firearms closed.” The muzzleloader season ended on Dec. 14.
Overall, Ledeen said the 2025 deer hunting season was “on par with the last few years.”
While harvest numbers in the northeast and across the state are slightly ahead of last year’s, Ledeen said it was a pretty routine season, with hunter participation, minimal big enforcement issues, and hunter success.
Harvest numbers have remained relatively unchanged since the end of regular firearm season on Nov. 23. As of Monday, Dec. 22, a total of 184,039 deer have been harvested across the state.
In the northeast, known as the Superior Uplands-Arrowhead region, harvest numbers are up nearly 14% from 2024 and 27% from the 2023 season, according to DNR data.
The Superior Uplands-Arrowhead region consists of six deer permit areas (DPAs): 117, 118, 126, 130, 131, and 133. Cook County primarily encompasses DPA 126 and a portion of 117, which sits within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
The following is the 2025 harvest data for the Superior Uplands-Arrowhead region as of Dec. 22 :
- DPA 126: 124 deer harvested
- DPA 117: 14 deer harvested
- DPA 131: 45 deer harvested
- DPA 118: 407 deer harvested
- DPA 130: 141 deer harvested
- DPA 133: 471 deer harvested
As of Dec. 22, the total number of harvested deer in the Superior Uplands-Arrowhead region is 1202.
Ledeen said he believes a variety of factors contributed to the increase in harvest numbers this year. Contributing factors include several relatively mild winters, which led to a low winter severity index, and a warm, comfortable deer-hunting season that allowed hunters to spend more time in the stand.
Given the continued low populations of deer in the northeast, the DNR designated the majority of the Arrowhead region as bucks-only for the 2025 season, similar to previous years. The DNR Harvest Report shows several does registered in DPAs designated as bucks-only, including 126. Ledeen said the registered does are from state park hunts, such as those at Cascade and Judge Magney State Parks, which allow a small number of designated antlerless permits.
DNR wildlife managers will sort through the harvest data later this winter, reclassify where the does were harvested, and include the data in the final harvest report, Ledeen said. Final harvest data will be finalized following the closing of the archery season on Dec. 31.
Throughout the deer season, Ledeen said he hasn’t observed or heard reports of any chronic wasting disease (CWD) or hunters using CWD mail-in kits in the Cook County area. “I just don’t think it’s an issue up in this part of the state, with our low deer density.”
This year, the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa again offered a CWD monitoring program for hunters who harvested a deer on the Grand Portage Reservation or on the 1854 Ceded Territory. Hunters could submit the head of a deer for testing in exchange for a $45 Cabela’s Gift Card.
WTIP’s Kalli Hawkins spoke with DNR Conservation Officer Hudson Ledeen about the 2025 deer hunting season, the end of the grouse season, the ongoing trapping season, and more. The audio from the interview is below.
Kalli Hawkins December 24, 2025
