Record number of antlerless deer permits to be available this fall

Firearms deer hunters will have access to 80,000 more antlerless permits this season over last season.

The DNR will issue 363,765 permits, an increase of 28 percent over 2001. It's the highest number of antlerless permits ever offered to state deer hunters. The previous high was 322,030.

Permit increases are greatest in northern Minnesota. In Zone 1 (northeast), quotas have increased 55 percent to 111,250. Permits increased 38 percent in Zone 2, which consists of east-central and north-central Minnesota. Intensive harvest permits, which combined with regular and management tags allow a hunter to take up to five deer per year, are available in 18 permit areas in zones 1 and 2.

Only one permit area remains bucks-only -- permit area 116 in the Arrowhead region.

In Zone 3 (southeast), antlerless quotas have decreased slightly, yet most permit areas will continue to have intensive harvest permits available in the late Zone 3B (either-sex) season. Quotas have increased 8 percent in Zone 4 (west, southwest). Intensive harvest permits will be available in 13 permit areas during both the Zone 4A and Zone 4B hunt, primarily in northwestern Minnesota.

Overall, 41 of Minnesota's 128 antlerless permit areas will have intensive harvest permits available this season.

Hunting and trapping regulation handbooks and deer licenses will be available in August. Applications for antlerless permits can be made at any of 1,800 ELS (Electronic Licensing System) agents statewide.