Deer hunting

• The shotgun zone will remain in effect for fall 2025. The Legislature has repealed the shotgun zone effective for the 2026 deer season. View a map that clearly shows the border between the shotgun and rifle zones.
• DPA 183 has been split into two smaller DPAs (153 and 154). Refer to the fold out map for more details.
• The B season license has been eliminated. There is now one statewide firearms license (formerly known as the A season license) that can be used during both the statewide firearms A and late southeast B seasons. Hunters with the statewide firearms license can hunt both the statewide firearms A and late southeast B season in any deer permit areas that are open to each season.
• DPA 655 is no longer included in the late southeast B season.
• Ocheda Lake Game Refuge will now allow archery deer hunting throughout the entire season.
• Special deer hunts that require a permit are listed online only.
• New counties have been added to the deer feeding and attractant ban.

All deer licenses (archery, firearms, muzzleloader and bonus permits) go on sale Friday, Aug. 1. Once on sale, licenses may be purchased at any time before or during the season.

Landowners who own at least 80 acres of agricultural or grazing land and allow public deer hunting on that land during the deer hunting season can obtain a free license that allows the taking of one additional antlerless deer in either-sex, two-deer limit, three-deer limit and five-deer limit areas.

After a deer season is open, all licenses and permits are valid the same day of purchase if purchased before legal shooting hours. If the license or permit is purchased after legal shooting hours have begun, it is valid the following day.

• A person may purchase no more than one firearms, muzzleloader and archery deer license in a calendar year.
• The bag limit in antlerless lottery areas for firearms and muzzleloader hunters is one deer, which must be a legal buck unless hunters apply for and receive an antlerless permit in the lottery. The permit gives hunters the choice of taking either a legal buck or an antlerless deer.
• Bonus, early antlerless season and disease management permits may be purchased in addition to regular licenses. Bonus permits may be purchased throughout the season but must be in possession when taking deer. Regular licenses and bonus permits may be used in any order.
• A person may not take or tag deer without the appropriate license or permit. The term “take” includes attempting to take deer, deer drives, spotting or otherwise assisting another person in taking deer.

Tagging your deer

Your deer license and site tag comes as a two-part form. The upper half is the site tag for tagging the deer in the field. The lower half is the deer license and registration slip. Hunters must do the following:

• Detach the site tag from the deer license/registration slip.
• Before moving the deer, the hunter whose name is on the license validates the tag by using a knife or similar sharp object to cut out the notches indicating the month, date and time of day the deer was killed (AM/PM).
• If more than one month, date or time is cut out or marked, the tag becomes invalid.

General

• Hunters may not take deer with the aid or use of bait.
• Ensure you are using legal equipment for taking big game.
• Hunters using firearms to take big game must use legal ammunition.
• Legal bucks have one antler at least 3 inches long.
• Fawn bucks, sometimes called button bucks, are not legal bucks.
• Antlerless deer are deer without an antler at least 3 inches long.
• Know the difference between a deer and an elk.
• Hunters who purchase an archery deer license may take deer with a crossbow throughout the archery deer season. Archery hunters may be asked at registration if they harvested their deer with a crossbow or vertical bow. Crossbow users must be 10 or older.
• Members of a hunting party may not tag a legal buck or antlerless deer for any member of their party hunting with a youth license.
• Portable deer stands may be left overnight in certain wildlife management areas in the northwest.
• A licensed hunter who lawfully harvests an escaped farmed deer or elk is not liable to the owner but they must notify the DNR within 24 hours. If you harvest a deer or elk with ear tags or other identification, contact a conservation officer.
• Hunters may only possess and use nontoxic ammunition when participating in a special hunt or disease management hunt in a Minnesota state park or Scientific and Natural Area or in a regular hunt in a Scientific and Natural Area in which hunting is allowed. See details and a view the list of SNAs open to hunting.

CWD testing

CWD sampling is mandatory for all deer one year and older that are harvested on the opening weekend (Saturday, Nov. 8, to Sunday, Nov. 9,) of the statewide firearms deer season in DPAs designated as a CWD zone.

This sampling requirement applies to all DPAs designated as CWD management or surveillance zones and must be completed within 24 hours of harvest unless a hunter uses a mail-in kit, which must be obtained prior to Saturday, Nov. 8, and the resulting sample postmarked within 72 hours of harvest.

Carcass movement restrictions are in effect for all CWD management zones.

Detailed maps and corresponding information are available in the CWD information section and on the fold-out deer map, which is distributed with the printed regulations booklet.

Testing for CWD

There are several options, which are are available to all hunters – even those outside a CWD zone.

• Mail-in kit: A free mail-in kit for hunters to test for CWD. Unused kits from previous years may be used.
• Partner sampling: Taxidermists across Minnesota will collect samples. These partners will remove a lymph node sample and submit it to the DNR. The test is free but partners may charge fees for their services. Results will be available online.

New DPAs with mandatory sampling

• 601, 666, 671

DPAs affected

CWD zone definitions

• Surveillance: CWD has been found in captive deer in this zone or in wild deer in an adjacent deer permit area or state. The DNR is gathering information to determine if CWD has infected any wild deer in these deer permit areas. Some precautionary management actions are in place.
• Management: CWD has been found in wild deer in these areas. Multiple management actions designed to help mitigate disease spread are in place.

DNR, municipalities and organizations across Minnesota offer opportunities to hunt at special times and in areas – including state parks – that might regularly be closed to hunting.

Participation in these hunts is limited and often requires special registration. Consult the information contained in regulations book and the links below to register and participate in these hunts.

Earn-a-buck regulations apply during some special hunts. The regulation requires that a hunter harvest and tag an anterless deer with his or her own tag before harvesting a antlered deer.

• Archery
• Camp Ripley archery hunts
• Firearms *
• Muzzleloader *
• Youth *
• Disease management

* These hunts may require nontoxic ammunition.

Do you value strong connections to your outdoors and the food you eat? Are you looking for a new way to interact with the fields, woods, and waters around you?

Then view our series of 10 free, one-hour Learn To Deer Hunt lunchtime webinars. These classes offer an introduction and explanation of deer hunting and how to do it.

You also can view our series of short videos designed to help make you a better deer hunter. From sighting in your gun to managing land to reading deer sign and setting up your stand, these videos are intended to help regardless of your experience level.

Discover fall fields and forests with help from our archery and firearms how-to-hunt-deer guides.