 It was a successful opening weekend of deer hunting for most hunters. In this week's Northwoods adventure, our Josh Peterson shares with us what made the opening weekend so successful. There's nothing more traditional in Minnesota than deer hunting. Over the weekend, an estimated 500,000 hunters took to the woods to bag their prize buck. But unlike recent years, this year seems to be more traditional. I think we're on track to be better than average this year. It seems like a lot of people were able to shoot their deer on the weekend. The weather was really nice. The weather was a lot cooler than the last two years, which is really nice. It allows people to get out and shoot a deer and not have to worry about getting it processed. This year's cold and snow has actually been very reminiscent of deer hunting seasons from the past. This cold weather has actually helped hunters capture their prize buck. It really kicks the bucks into rut, and so the bucks are moving around, they're pushing the does around so the deer are actually moving more in this cold weather than they would be in the hot weather. Across town, businesses booming at Stitsworth Meats since Sunday, a steady stream of hunters have brought in their deer to be processed. For Stitsworths, this is one of their busiest times of year. It's been really busy. We got about Sundays when the big rush came in. Saturday is not too bad, but yesterday and Sunday were our busiest two days. We've probably taken in 150 deer already. Seems like everybody's having a pretty good year. So many deer are brought in that a semi-trailer and construction dumpster are brought in to help with all the deer. It's just a sign of a strong economic impact that deer hunting has across the state of Minnesota. It definitely helps us get through the winter because once after the holiday season it dies down pretty good around here so all the sausage orders that helps us definitely get through the winter. Already over 200 deer have been brought into Stitsworths to be processed, and if that's any indication of the season across the state, numbers released today by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources show that in the first two days over 70,000 deer have been registered across the state. With this week's Northwoods Adventure in Bemidji, Josh Peterson, Lakeland News. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.