Minnesota Wildlife

Enhancing duck and pheasant habitats

Area wildlife managers across Minnesota soon will begin planning and implementing updated strategic conservation efforts designed to foster stewardship of ducks, pheasants and their habitats. These efforts follow the state’s recently updated pheasant and duck action plans.

Conversations with and input from conservation organizations, state and federal agencies, Tribal nations, technical experts and the public contributed to the objectives and strategies outlined in the plans. Key objectives include:

• Acquiring additional habitat by maintaining the current pace of wildlife management area acquisitions overall while increasing the proportion within priority areas identified for pheasants and ducks.
• Improving access to private land for outdoor recreation by increasing acres enrolled in the DNR’s Walk-In Access Program.
• Increasing the quality and quantity of duck and pheasant habitat through restoration and enhancement on state-administered land and managed shallow lakes.
• Supporting the work of partners to protect, restore and enhance duck and pheasant habitat throughout Minnesota.
• Refining research and monitoring priorities for ducks, pheasants and their habitat, and implementing and continuing research and monitoring work to address these priorities.

More information about habitat work, activities and accomplishments related to the action plans and the plans themselves are available on the Minnesota DNR waterfowl management webpage and pheasant management webpage.

Redhead photo courtesy of Alyssa Sheffield

Northeast Minnesota elk restoration planning underway

The Minnesota DNR and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, in coordination with other Tribal entities, local governments, landowners and other stakeholders, has kicked off public engagement on the Northeast Omashkooz (elk) Restoration and Management Plan.

An elk coordination team including individuals from Tribal, state, county and federal agencies, as well as non-governmental organizations, is planning the restoration work, which includes public meetings that will inform a new northeast elk restoration and management plan.

The DNR and the FDL Band are conducting a variety of engagement activities to help inform the restoration and management plan. Opportunities include:

• Attend the online public meeting on Monday, Feb. 10, at 6-8 p.m. Central Time. The access link is available on the DNR website.
• Attend the in-person public meeting on Thursday, Feb. 13, at 6-8 p.m. Central Time, at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, Room 195, 2101 14th St., Cloquet, MN.
• Complete an online questionnaire available on the DNR elk management webpage by Feb. 28.
• Submit comments by email sent to [email protected] by Feb. 28.

Throughout the restoration project, questions and comments are welcome and can be submitted via [email protected]. Learn more about the project and elk in Minnesota on the DNR website.

We also have a quarterly elk newsletter, Elk Notes, that you can sign up for here.

Share your thoughts about a new WMA

Keystone Woods Wildlife Management Area is 1,820-acres and opened in October 2024. Located in Washington County, this new WMA offers a broad array of hunting, fishing and other recreational pursuits in close proximity to the Twin Cities.

Area wildlife managers are interested in getting input on amenities and opportunities individuals would like to see at the WMA in the future.

Two public meetings are scheduled for area staff to give an overview of Keystone Woods, its history, and potential opportunities to interested individuals:

• A virtual meeting will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 12, from 6-8 p.m.
• An in-person meeting will be held at Hugo City Hall on Thursday, Feb. 13, from 6-8 p.m.
• Complete the online questionnaire available on the DNR website.

More information about Keystone Woods WMA and how to share your input can be found on the DNR website.

Timeline update for Minnesota DNR’s new electronic licensing system

The Minnesota DNR has moved the rollout date for the state’s updated electronic license system.  

This collaborative technology project, developed with Minnesota IT Services and licensing vendor PayIt Outdoors, will modernize the issuance of fishing and hunting licenses and the titling and registration of boats and off-road vehicles.  

The state is working with PayIt Outdoors to identify a launch timeline that allows time for them to complete adequate testing and training. While the DNR had initially targeted a March 2025 launch, we now expect PayIt Outdoors to be ready to launch the new system later this year. While the updated timeline is disappointing, it will help ensure the new system fully meets the needs of its users when PayIt Outdoors delivers it to the state.  

It’s important to note that until the new ELS system is launched, nothing will change for license agents, deputy registrars, anglers, hunters, and recreational vehicle and watercraft users as they buy licenses or register motorized vehicles. The current system is fully functional.  

Looking back on deer season 2024

Hunters harvested more than 170,000 deer during the 2024 hunting season, up 7% statewide from the 2023 hunting season. The statewide harvest was 3% lower than the five-year average.

Weather during peak hunting times such as weekends, and the progress of crop harvest, provided optimal conditions for hunting during firearms season in much of the state, significant factors in hunter success. Anecdotal reports to wildlife managers also suggested rutting activities lined up well with the 2024 firearms opener.

“My first whitetail buck!” photo courtesy of Nelmes Abreu

Please share your deer observations

We’re seeking your input via an online survey about your deer observations in 2024. The survey includes questions about experiences hunters had during the deer hunting season, issues related to damage deer might do to crops, landscaping or gardens, and other deer-related issues. People can also share their input on proposed boundary changes for deer permit areas 101, 111, 183, 208 and 268.

Responses will be used to shape regulations for the 2025 hunting season. The survey is open through Monday, Feb. 10, and available on the DNR deer management webpage.

“Wild beauty” photo courtesy of Lori Warne

Evaluating progress on the deer plan

Minnesota’s management of white-tailed deer populations shows numerous accomplishments, and work that remains before some goals and metrics are met, according to a Minnesota DNR midpoint review of the statewide deer plan.

The deer plan is in effect from 2018-2028. The midpoint review assesses progress toward goals, objectives and strategies put forth in the 10-year plan, and includes 15 performance metrics and associated targets.

The midpoint review is available on the DNR deer plan page. On the page, you can share your thoughts on the review through Friday, Feb. 7.

CWD updates roll in

We’ve shared a couple pieces of news on chronic wasting disease this winter, in case you missed them.

Two adult male deer tested positive for chronic wasting disease in two deer permit areas without previous confirmed cases of the disease. One deer was harvested in DPA 266 near Hawley in Clay County and the other deer was harvested in DPA 701 near Greenfield in Hennepin County. Both deer were harvested during the firearms deer season. The hunters submitted tissue samples via the DNR’s partner sampling program which consists mostly of taxidermists.

Also, the Minnesota DNR will discontinue targeted culling in DPAs 646, 647 and 648, in the southeast corner of the state, where CWD has reached endemic stage, or a point in which some of the current methods of management are no longer effective.

Sign up for firearms safety certification

Though most hunting seasons are more than seven months away, the Minnesota DNR encourages anyone who plans to take a firearms safety class to sign up now.

Firearms safety certification is required of anyone born after Dec. 31, 1979, to purchase a hunting license in Minnesota. It’s recommended for anyone who hunts, even if by law they don’t need to be certified. People who are certified are less likely to be injured, or worse, in a firearms-related hunting incident.

The DNR and its volunteer firearms safety instructors put on hundreds of classes each year and certify more than 23,000 students. However, classes tend to fill quickly and people who put off signing up might not be able to find a class close to home. Those who wait too long might have to wait for next year to get certified.

For more information about firearms safety certification and the class calendar, visit the DNR website.

Wildlife highlight: gadwalls

Duck, duck, gray duck!

This gray duck is called a gadwall. This species is widespread in North America and has increased in number since the 1980s. Gadwall can be clever thieves, snatching food from diving ducks like American coots. They eat submerged aquatic plants and invertebrates like snails and midges. During the breeding season, females up their protein intake to produce 7-12 egg clutches. Gadwall are seasonally monogamous, meaning they form pairs only for a breeding season and may select a different mate the next. Curious? Find out more about this dabbling duck.

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