The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says that a strong harvest and a healthy deer population should make for a robust hunting season. 500,000 hunters are expected to participate in the season that opens Nov. 5.

Minnesota's 500,000 deer hunters are expected to see a fair number of deer this season after a mild winter, but the state has issued fewer permits this year in an effort to strengthen herd numbers. The season opens 30 minutes before sunrise on Saturday.

The Department of Natural Resources says the decline is a result of a smaller deer population and a windy opening weekend of the firearms season. Minnesota deer hunters harvested 192,300 deer during the 2011 season. That's 15,000 fewer deer than in 2010. The 2012 deer hunting season begins in September.

Moorhead police are investigating a report of deer hunting within the city's limits. Witnesses say the hunters shot the deer with a rifle early Sunday and then immediately fled the area.

Conservation officers across the state say wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour discouraged deer from moving, meaning fewer opportunities for the hundreds of thousands of Minnesota hunters.

A juvenile in central Minnesota is the latest to die in a hunting-related accident, according to the Associated Press. Two others were killed after falling from deer stands, and another hunter succumbed to natural causes. Several others have been hurt from firearms or falls from deer stands.

Start early, that's the motto of Minnesota Turkey hunters. The Star Tribune is reporting that hunters registered 1,249 birds after the first two days of the season, compared with 1,000 last year.

The DNR says hunters have harvested 143,000 deer so far this season, down only 7 percent from the same point last year.