About a half-million Minnesotans will hit the woods and fields for this weekend's start of the firearms deer hunting season, the biggest annual outdoors event outside the walleye fishing opener. It's more than a hunt. It's a prelude to a feast. Roughly 8 million pounds of meat will be harvested from the state's robust deer herd this season, the vast majority of it Saturday and Sunday. It's lean, high-protein and free-range.