After a seemingly endless barrage of regulations changes and adjustments, Minnesota firearms hunters can look forward to no major changes in season structure for 2009. There are a few notable exceptions to that rule, but for the vast majority of Minnesota's hunters, the regulation book review this year will be shorter than in the past.

"This has been our goal with the new regulations," said Lou Cornicelli, big-game program coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. "It just takes time to get them in place. We hope that hunters can check the book, know the bag limit where they hunt, check any other new regulations and get hunting."

Cornicelli said this would have been the year everything was simple for everybody across the state, but a last-minute adjustment by the Minnesota Legislature changed things drastically for hunters in Zone 3A. The adjustments are outlined in the article but more fully articulated and explained in the regulations. Mixed bag in '08

It was a mixed bag last season as far as hunter success is concerned, and just like any other year, there were some who loved it and some who had nothing but complaints. It might have seemed worse than average last year because more hunters were griping than in many years. That's because 38,000 fewer deer were taken, for a 19 percent drop over 2007.

It might sound like bad news, but it was still the ninth consecutive year the harvest has exceeded 200,000 and the eighth highest of all-time. On the flip side, it was the lowest harvest in six years.

"A lot of it is a reflection of our deer population and the fact that we are getting closer to our statewide population goal," Cornicelli said. Population goals were set by the MDNR several years ago in conjunction with and advice from conservation organizations and public surveys.

The weather was also very difficult on opening weekend with lots of wind and a mixed variety of precipitation, meaning the deer were less likely to move around and hunters were more likely to head back to the hunting shack early. "The majority of our deer harvest comes during the first weekend of firearms season, and when the weather is bad, we never fully make up the difference the first weekend," Cornicelli said.

By season, the breakdown in harvest numbers showed that archers shot 7 percent fewer deer, muzzleloaders show 25 percent fewer, and firearms hunters took 15 percent fewer deer.

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Firearms hunters had a 35.1 percent success rate last year, meaning that more than a third of the available tags were filled. Hunters in Zone 1 once again had the highest success percentage but also had three weekends to hunt. The lowest success rate came in Zone 2, but each of Minnesota's three zones experienced 33 percent success or higher. Early antlerless season hunters had a 17.7 percent success rate.

The MDNR compiles numerous statistics based on hunter-reported harvest information and has the files available in spreadsheet form downloadable from the Web site or by contacting the big-game coordinator. Harvest numbers are organized by permit area rather than by counties because many permit areas are situated in multiple counties.