An army of Minnesota hunters clad in blaze orange will take to the woods in force Saturday as the state’s main firearms deer season opens.

The Department of Natural Resources says more deer are out in the woods this fall, so hunters may see more deer from their tree stands — though restrictions on shooting antlerless deer means another conservative season.

The state’s deer herd has grown thanks to a relatively mild winter and fewer antlerless permits last season.

But for the second season in a row, the DNR is seeking to rebuild the herd in areas where deer populations remain below their goals. One-deer limits remain in place across most of the state, and it’s a bucks-only season again in northern Minnesota to ensure that more fawns will be born next spring.

The DNR projects this season’s harvest at 140,000 to 155,000 deer, compared with about 139,000 last season.

Last season’s success rate was 25 percent for firearms hunters. Minnesota’s deer population is estimated at about 1 million.