“I’ve been hunting private land near the city limits, northwest of town for a quite a few years,” he said. “There are buildings and houses in places now that I used to hunt. Now my brother Duane and daughter Abby hunt a little further out. She loves it too.”

Postel feels fortunate to be able to hunt as much as he does. He’s been hunting since his early teens.

“I’m the lucky one who gets to spend more time out in the woods than some others,” he said. “It was fun. Hunting was good this year. I got two smaller eight-pointers. Deer meat is always good. I turn in deer hides for gloves, cook the horns and o skull mounts.”

He compared shooting deer to engines.

Staff photo by Fritz Busch Darrick Postel of New Ulm stands next to one of his favorite deer he harvested locally a couple years ago and mounted it next to deer skulls and fish in his home. Postel said he's the lucky one who gets to spend more time out in the woods than most others.

“You pull one or two spark plugs off and they’ll still go. You have to respect them. They live outside but among us. You may not see them, but they can hear and smell you,” said Postel.

He described shooting a larger deer at one of his favorite places to hunt near New Ulm.

“I remember shooting a big buck while sitting in a ravine near town where I could look down at a creek and see wildlife like birds, turkeys and whatever else. It’s beautiful,” said Postel. “About 20 yards below the peak of the ravine, I saw a deer standing broadside looking at a bluff beside me. He flicked his ears and tail and saw me turn. He stopped right in the open, I shot and he didn’t do anything. I shot again and he rolled down the hill, 10 yards from me. I got out of my chair. He was looking right at me, eye to eye. He still is.” (The deer is mounted in Postel’s house).

Postel said he and a friend plan to build a mobile, heated deer stand for more deer hunting comfort next season.

He agrees with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) assessment that deer hunting continues to improve in recent years.

“Deer hunting was slightly up in southwest Minnesota as a whole. Around New Ulm, it was very similar to last year,” said DNR Area Wildlife Manager Jeff Zajac of New Ulm.

He said no Chronic Wasting Disease was found in the area, but testing continues.

“So far this winter, it’s been easy on deer with snow melting off. If it continues, it should set up for good hunting next year,” said Zajac.

R&R Bait & Tackle owner Francis Rieger said he did 194 deer skulls in one month.

“I got a lot of deer hides. People keep bringing deer in. Quite a few people do shotgun and bow hunting, mostly around New Ulm,” said Rieger.

The DNR reported 186,203 deer harvested during the 2025 hunting season, a 9% statewide increase from 2024. The statewide harvest was 5% higher than the five-year average.

Harvest area 290, in and around New Ulm, showed 1,254 deer harvested with 530 female adults, 598 male adults, 55 female juveniles and 71 male juveniles.

“We had a great deer harvest in most of the state this year,” said David Trauba, DNR wildlife section manager. “Hunters are critical to managing deer populations. It’s positive news for conservation when we see hunters having more success in fields and forests.”

Paul Burr, acting big game program coordinator, said hunting conditions were favorable for hunters getting out and harvesting deer.

“We had cooling temperatures and limited precipitation,” said Burr. “It also helped that deer populations have continued to rise over the past couple years, thanks in part to mild winters.”

The DNR is inviting Minnesotans to submit feedback about their experiences with deer and deer hunting on an online questionnaire. Visit the deer hunting webpage at mndnr.gov/hunting/deer. For current and past deer harvest data including an interactive map and graph, visit mndnr.gov/mammals/deer/management/statistics.html.

Staff photo by Fritz Busch Darrick Postel of New Ulm stands next to one of his favorite deer he harvested locally a couple years ago and mounted it next to deer skulls and fish in his home. Postel said he's the lucky one who gets to spend more time out in the woods than most others.