ST. PAUL — The Department of Natural Resources is predicting a good season for Minnesota deer hunters.

Lou Cornicelli, the DNR’s Big Game Program coordinator, says he’s not promising success. But he says there will be good hunting opportunities statewide.

The DNR said Wednesday it expects nearly 500,000 people to participate in the firearms deer season, which opens Saturday, Nov. 6.

Cornicelli says the harvest should be similar to the 194,000 deer taken in 2009. Last year’s success rate was 32 percent.

One major difference is most standing corn will be cut down by the opener. Last year, 80 percent of the corn crop was still standing on opening day, providing ample cover for deer.

Minnesota’s whitetail deer population is about 1 million.