Northeast deer permit areas remain primarily bucks-only as hunting season nears

Despite recent conservative management practices and a mild winter during 2023-24 across northeastern Minnesota, white-tailed deer populations remain low ahead of the upcoming deer hunting season.

With continued low numbers, many hunters this fall will have similar bag limits to those of the 2023 season.

On Aug. 1, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) released the 2024 hunting regulations for the Superior Uplands—Arrowhead region, encompassing Cook and Lake Counties. The region is divided into six deer permit areas: 117, 118, 126, 130, 131, and 133. All six deer permit areas received the same bag limit designation as the previous season.

Deer permit areas 118, 130, 131, and 126 will remain bucks-only for the 2024 season. DPA 117, which sits inside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and generally has low hunter participation, will remain one deer limit: either sex and DPA 133, closer to the Lake Superior shore, near Two Harbors, is designated as one deer limit with 25 antlerless lottery permits.

The same designation and bag limits are similar to the hunting regulations established for the 2024 season across the state. In the Aug. 1 release, the DNR said that 90 of the 130 DPAs kept the same designation as the previous season. In comparison, 30 DPAs saw a reduction in antlerless bag limits in an attempt to increase deer populations.

“No DPAs have increased bag limits this year,” the release read. 

While the mild winter conditions this past winter were favorable for white-tailed deer, the DNR said northern deer populations will need multiple mild winters to recover after the severe winters in 2021-2022 and 2022-23.

Kalli Hawkins August 10, 2024