As required by the state Legislature after allowing all hunters to use crossbows to hunt deer and turkeys, the Minnesota DNR has compiled its crossbow report for the 2023 and ’24 seasons. The agency says data from those first two seasons suggest crossbows have not adversely impacted the two species.
“In the past, the archery harvest has been a negligible (number) of deer taken, so we’ve never really had to calculate,” said Joe Stangel, the DNR’s southern region wildlife manager.