Minnesota Wildlife

Share your venison recipes

Calling all deer hunters! Do you have a favorite venison recipe? Share it with the Minnesota DNR by Thursday, Nov. 30, for a chance to be featured on our website, social media and other publications.

Recipes can carry special meaning. They?re passed down generations and are central to cultural traditions. And some are special because they just taste darn good. Wild game meals give hunters a chance to fully appreciate their harvest, share with friends and family, and connect with nature on a deeper level.

It?s easy to share your venison recipe. Visit the DNR website to submit your recipe online. Remember to submit it by Nov. 30 for your chance to be featured!

Field reports: What Minnesota deer hunters can expect this season

More than 400,000 deer hunters are preparing for the firearms deer season that opens Saturday, Nov. 4. The season offers opportunities to spend time outdoors with friends and family, find adventure and put venison in the freezer. The Minnesota DNR?s wildlife managers report that there should be good opportunities to harvest deer in most areas.

To get a flavor of how deer populations are doing, what shape the habitat is in, harvest opportunities and other points to know, check out the reports from around Minnesota.

Photo courtesy of?Heather Berger

Pledge to take someone new hunting this year

We?ve partnered with Pheasants Forever to share their Hunter Mentor Challenge in Minnesota. We encourage hunters to take the pledge to take someone new hunting this season ? for deer, pheasant, or any type of in-season hunting.

Minnesota hunters who participate will qualify for a discount code for ALPS OutdoorZ brand gear; and after the hunt, they have the chance to win a custom, limited-edition Pheasants Forever hunting backpack from ALPS OutdoorZ.

Did you know a new hunter can try hunting before they take hunter?s safety? All they need is their apprentice hunter validation, proper licensing and a licensed adult hunter with them. You can buy the apprentice hunter validation for $3.50 wherever licenses are sold. Learn more about the apprentice hunter validation.

Join the challenge and share the passion of hunting in Minnesota!

2023 Governor?s Deer Hunting Opener will be in Lanesboro

Gov. Tim Walz, Explore Minnesota, and the Minnesota DNR, in partnership with Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, Bluffland Whitetails Association and the Minnesota Conservation Federation, announced details for the 2023 Minnesota Governor?s Deer Hunting Opener. This year?s event will take place in southeast Minnesota at the Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center in Lanesboro.

The Minnesota Governor?s Deer Hunting Opener, now in its third decade, is a unique event celebrating the state?s white-tailed deer hunting heritage. Beyond tradition, it also fosters conversations on deer management, promotes outdoor skills, and underscores the economic benefits of hunting and tourism.

Deer hunters invited to share wildlife observations

Minnesota deer hunters can use an online log to report wildlife they see while hunting. Data from the observation logs help the Minnesota DNR estimate population level trends for deer and track wildlife distribution for other species across the state.

Using a mobile device or desktop computer, hunters can enter information on the DNR website about wildlife they see each day of hunting, including deer, turkeys, bears, fishers and other species. They?ll also be able to report specific information about any deer they harvest. Hunters are encouraged to fill out a report after each hunt, even if they don?t see any deer that day. The online questionnaire will be available until Jan. 15, 2024.

Photo courtesy of?Terry Graham

Out-of-state hunters and taxidermists: Be aware of carcass import restrictions

A reminder: Hunters who harvest a deer, elk, caribou or moose out of state cannot bring the entire animal back to Minnesota.

The restriction is part of the DNR?s comprehensive strategy to prevent the spread of chronic wasting disease to Minnesota deer, elk and moose. Not moving animals, whether alive or dead, eliminates one means by which the disease can spread.

Hunters wanting to bring their harvest back to Minnesota should plan to dress, process or mount animals before returning. They are allowed to bring home:

• Quarters or other portions of meat with no part of the spinal column or head attached.
• Meat that is boned out or that is cut and wrapped (either commercially or privately).
• Hides and teeth.
• Antlers or clean (no brain tissue attached) skull plates with antlers attached; and
• Finished taxidermy mounts.?

Nonresidents transporting whole or partial carcasses on a direct route through Minnesota are exempt from the restriction. For a videos including on how to quarter a deer, cape a deer and collect a lymph node sample, visit the CWD video page.

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Know how to tell an elk from a white-tailed deer

People sometimes report seeing elk in a wider geographical area outside of far northwestern Minnesota. Hunters need to make sure they know the difference in the field. The Minnesota DNR website has drawings and traits listed to help distinguish elk from white-tailed deer. Additionally, people are encouraged to report elk sightings in Minnesota using this online elk sighting reporting tool.?

Learn more, do more with DNR skills webinars

Have you checked out our wildlife and outdoor skills webinars lately? As part of the Minnesota Outdoor Skills and Stewardship Series, we have upcoming webinars on topics like elk in Minnesota and how to get more youth connected with nature. Plus, there is an archive of recorded webinars on topics like the 2023 deer season, crossbow hunting, how to hunt a variety of species, wildlife photography, wildlife research and even how to dress for the outdoors.

Photo courtesy of?Kalli Hawkins

Wildlife highlight: mink

Mink are the most common water mammal predator in Minnesota. They are in the mustelid family, along with otters and weasels. These 2-4 pound predators will eat nearly anything that lives in or near water, including fish, frogs, ducks, crayfish, eggs, lizards, insects, mice and muskrats. Other than otters, mink have very few natural predators. The most common causes of death are from parasites and diseases. Mink are found in areas with water in Minnesota?? so across the entire state ? and they are nocturnal and secretive. Learn more about this voracious aquatic predator on the DNR website.

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service