Minnesota Wildlife

Turkey hunting licenses on sale

Turkey hunters can buy their licenses for the spring 2023 season starting today. Licenses may be purchased online, by telephone 888-665-4236 or in person wherever hunting and fishing licenses are sold. Hunters can hunt statewide and buy licenses for any time period (A-F) over the counter.

For research purposes, license agents will be asking hunters which permit area they plan to hunt, so hunters are advised to know which permit area they plan to hunt when they buy their license. The information is useful to the DNR in managing the state?s turkey population. Importantly, hunters who identify their permit area when purchasing their license will not be restricted to hunting in only that area.

Season dates and hunt rules can be found on the DNR turkey hunting page. Permits to hunt the popular Carlos Avery and Mille Lacs wildlife management areas in the A-C time periods, and Whitewater WMA in the A-B time periods,?were distributed already by lottery only for firearms hunters 18 and older. The lottery application deadline was Feb. 17 and results are available on the DNR website.

Photo courtesy of the National Park Service

DNR invites conversation about wildlife, habitat and hunting

We?re inviting you to talk about deer and other wildlife, hunting and habitat topics with wildlife managers throughout the state on Thursday, March 2. Wildlife managers will be available in local area offices or by phone from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. that day.

To participate, visit the DNR website to find the list of area offices and telephone numbers for your area wildlife manager.?Area managers always welcome calls, so if you can?t call during the dedicated time, please do so at your convenience. Unable to call or stop by? Share your thoughts through an online questionnaire that is available through March 23. Additionally, written comments may be submitted to Barb Keller, Fish and Wildlife Division, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 500 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN 55155.

We?re welcoming conversation about deer, other wildlife, hunting and habitat, to discuss specific topics that the DNR?s deer advisory committee should be aware of, or thoughts and feedback about deer population management. Comments will help inform DNR staff with season-setting decisions this spring, which will reflect management designations for the 2023 fall deer hunting season.

Photo courtesy of?Kellie Gunderman

Deer harvest results available

Hunters harvested about 172,000 deer during the 2022 deer hunting season, a lower total harvest than in recent years. Total harvest was down 7% compared to the 2021 season and 10% less than the five-year average deer harvest for Minnesota. Some bullets about the season:

• Lower deer numbers in northern Minnesota and poor weather during opening weekend in some parts of the state likely contributed to lower firearms A season harvest.
• Weather was better during later seasons including firearms B and muzzleloader seasons. The number of deer harvested during muzzleloader season was the highest reported since 2007 and was 10% higher than the 2021 season harvest.
• Archery season harvest was about 1% lower than the 2021 season. Most archery season harvest occurred prior to the firearms season and peaked in late October and early November.

A final deer harvest report and reports from past seasons are available on the DNR website.

?Nice eight-point buck Tom!? photo courtesy of?Steve Thorp

Where we did not find CWD

Chronic wasting disease remains a serious and persistent threat to Minnesota?s deer herd health, but sampling efforts revealed some good news ? three consecutive years of disease surveillance in deer permit areas 157, 159, 213, 225 and 273 yielded no detections of the disease in wild deer.

Consistent with the DNR?s CWD management plan, these zones were established due to the detection of CWD in captive deer facilities. Following these three consecutive years of no detections in wild deer, successful hunters in these DPAs will no longer need to submit samples for testing.

We greatly appreciate hunters? help monitoring these areas over the past few years!

And where we did find CWD

CWD was detected in 26 hunter-harvested deer through the 2022 fall seasons. Of these, 73% were from the southeast, a region that continues to see persistent CWD infections in wild deer.

CWD was detected in two hunter-harvested bucks in DPA 184 in the Bemidji area. DPA 184 is part of a CWD surveillance zone established due to the detection of CWD in a captive deer facility and illegal dumping of infected captive deer carcasses on public land.

After the discovery of this fall?s CWD detections in wild deer, the DNR held a late disease management hunt to learn more about the presence of CWD in the area. An additional 102 deer were harvested by hunters, with no additional CWD detected.

Learn more about actions being taken to respond to CWD.

Catch these webinars on prairie chickens, bison conservation

You?re invited to check out our upcoming webinars on about prairie chickens and bison conservation. Registration is required, and free.

The first webinar is at noon Wednesday, March 8. Greg Hoch, DNR prairie habitat team supervisor, will discuss the history of prairie chickens in Minnesota, their population numbers and habitat requirements, where to see prairie chicken spring courtship dances, and hunting opportunities.

The second webinar is at noon Wednesday, March 15. Richard Milda, Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community?s bison herd coordinator, and Molly Tranel Nelson, DNR Parks and Trails bison expert, will discuss the history and future of bison in Minnesota, including general information, the Bison Conservation Herd Program, where you can view them, and how to help support bison management and stewardship.