6/5/2023 0 Comments .22 for pheasant huntr![]() ![]() Big Stone’s new-ish refuge sibling, the Northern Tallgrass Prairie National Wildlife Refuge, was created in 2000 and is still in its infancy of acquiring parcels of land. A large portion of the 11,000-acre plus Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge is open to upland hunting, and with its abundance of cattails, it’s an appealing option for the late-season hunter. Top prospects for under-the-radar public hunting options for pheasants in Minnesota are National Wildlife Refuge lands in the far western reaches. Minnesota’s WIA administrators have given priority to lands already enrolled in a conservation program, namely the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) but also the Reinvest in Minnesota program, meaning that unless habitat management efforts are taking place, birds aren’t guaranteed but the habitat and opportunity to pursue them is. The program dates to 2012 and has incrementally grown to approximately 230 pheasant region sites, encompassing nearly 27,000 acres. If WMAs and WPAs are the crown jewels of Minnesota’s public-access offering, the state’s relatively young Walk-In Access (WIA) program is a ringneck ruby. It’s a hollow argument to cry there isn’t a place to hunt pheasants in Minnesota when nearly half of the best pheasant cover is open to the public hunter year after year. The blue goose symbol on WPA signs doesn’t mean “waterfowl only” – pheasants can’t read – and as heralded as Minnesota’s WMA system is, WPAs provide an almost-equal amount of the undisturbed grassland in Minnesota’s public pheasant portfolio.Ĭombined, WMAs and USFWS-managed lands across Minnesota’s pheasant range account for more than 790,000 acres, which is 45 percent of the total grassland in that expanse. Fish and Wildlife Service-managed Waterfowl Production Areas (WPAs). Another 3,015 acres awaited pheasant hunters last season as new, permanently conserved and permanently public U.S. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has a listing of the newest WMAs by county (search New WMAs - Minnesota DNR) to aid in research and hunt-planning efforts.īut the acquisition efforts don’t end there. The pace of adding to this patchwork continues at an average of 7,000 acres per year across the state, with at least half or so landing in the ringneck range. ![]() Last season, Minnesota’s pheasant country included 3,510 acres of new WMA land. Translation: Each year there are brand new WMAs for you to hunt. While this system dates back nearly 70 years, the advent of the “Legacy Amendment” in 2008, which directs a portion of taxpayer dollars to an Outdoor Heritage Fund and will continue to do so for another 15 years, has accelerated additions to this nationally recognized network. Minnesota’s expansive Wildlife Management Area (WMA) system is the bedrock of public land pheasant production here, with more than 420,000 WMA acres permanently rooted in the state’s pheasant range. Or perhaps the 10,000 lakes wash over the fact that quality public land pheasant hunts can be had from Mankato to Moorhead – nearly 250 miles – and that’s but a narrow swath of the North Star’s pheasant range. Maybe the 2-bird daily limit for much of the season, until it changes to 3 birds on December 1, keeps nonresidents away (just 1,500 rooster hunters from out-of-state annually in recent years). Now that you’re plum out of excuses, let’s go hunt.ĭespite being the birthplace and headquarters of Pheasants Forever, and arguably the most progressive state concerning modern upland habitat conservation efforts, Minnesota seems to get lost in the conversation of top tier pheasant hunting destinations. More in good years, fewer when the sun shines hard or the spigot doesn’t shut. ![]() But the idea that it doesn’t exist – and that the hunting isn't good - is just another excuse.Īnd there will be birds. The access isn’t always right around the corner, true. And while private land habitat and access may have eroded, the proliferation of public lands and state-sponsored public access programs could make you look at now as a golden era of public hunting. There’s never been more information available to the pheasant hunter, so the knowledge gap is a poor excuse. Most have evolved to include a habitat management angle, ensuring the cover is pheasant-friendly year after year. Not just at opening the gates, literally and figuratively, to millions of acres of pheasant hideouts. Yet all Rooster Land states have done in the past two decades is ramp up program after program designed to carve out more places for you and I to hunt pheasants.Īnd these programs work. It’s paradoxical, this research that tells us one reason people quit hunting, and a barrier to new entrants, is the lack of a place to do it (read: access). MARVEL AT ALL YOUR PUBLIC ACCESS OPTIONS IN THE TOP PHEASANT STATES, THEN HIT THE ROOSTER ROAD. ![]() “NO PLACE TO HUNT” IS NO EXCUSE FOR SITTING AT HOME. ![]()
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