Waterfowl Production Areas (WPAs)

[student]

Are WPAs considered public hunting ground for deer? I found a few I wouldn't mind trying but cannot find any info on whether they are open to the public for deer hunting.

[JJensen]

Yes they are. I have a couple stands on WPAs. The only thing is you can't use screw in steps in the trees.

[slimngrizzly]

All the WPA's around me have been raped of their trees and brush! If youre not a duck, youre hardly allowed on a WPA! Grass and water... otherwise... GET THE AX! Its sad.

[sticknstring]

I bow and pheasant hunt a few around home as well. Check the out the recreational compass & PRIM maps on the MN DNR page for more info in your area.

Slim - Some of the very best whitetail cover is grass and cattails! You're right - very few trees!

[student]

I was using the compass but whenever i clicked on more detail, i got transferred to a federal site and there was no mention of hunting deer. The WPA finder offered by the Fed site would only bring up 5 WPA's withing 150 miles of Moorhead, which according to the compass is quite short of reality.

Thanks for the help.

[sticknstring]

I came up with 18 results. I think they only upload 5 per page.

[Archerysniper]

I bow and pheasant hunt a few around home as well. Check the out the recreational compass & PRIM maps on the MN DNR page for more info in your area.

Slim - Some of the very best whitetail cover is grass and cattails! You're right - very few trees!

You ever set up a 6 foot ladder in the cattails and sit on top of it? I have,some times it works great and catches them off gaurd.

[student]

Can't believe i didn't see that...Thanks SnS.

[Scott M]

Ladder in cattails huh? I've always pushed a lot of them out while pheasant hunting, that's an interesting idea.

[student]

When you do the ladder trick, have you prescouted the area? What would you do if you had to hunt the same day you scout? Leave the ladder at the edge and go in quietly looking for sign or carry the ladder in to the best aerial/hypothetical spot and hope for the best? I suppose one night of prescouting from a high spot with optics would be better than burning a spot on the first day? I suppose another aspect of the WPA is that they do typically recieve human pressure, but not necessarily targeting deer.

[Archerysniper]

I find any little narrow area that funnels them down. Normally it's a last ditch effort after seeing them come thru the same spots all the time and never getting a shot. This works well also if their is a high dry spot and you sneek in really early before light and wait for them to show up. Just sitting on the ground also work however in the catails you are normally limited to 5 yards or less the ladder helps you get above and shoot over them. Tripod stands are just too clumbsy to carry them in and out every time IMO.

[deerminator]

Dude, I like the ladder trick! Will have to try that. Also, yes, just sitting inside some brush will work for sure. That's how I got my buck this year. The trick is obviously to set up so you'll totally suprise them and be able to draw at this point versus just plopping down in some cattails or brush. You need a close, quick, undetected shot.

Also, besides WPAs, check out the DNR's recreation compass for other public lands. WMAs are the most obvious but AMAs, WIAs, SNAs (open to hunting), etc., etc., are often overlooked options. I like to scope them out on the compass and my Sportsmans Atlases and then start scouting online with Google Earth. Good luck.

P.S. People often gripe about public land but when it comes to bowhunting in my area, there are a lot of low pressure spots if you're willing to work to get to them and don't need a tree.

[TruthWalleyes]

In SW MN i hunt almost solely WPA's...Get into the cattails and spook them deer out. I've pushed a lot of deer out of areas that have just been phesant hunted...Since most hunters are too lazy to get into thick stuff.

[Bear55]

P.S. People often gripe about public land but when it comes to bowhunting in my area, there are a lot of low pressure spots if you're willing to work to get to them and don't need a tree.

Yep trees are sometimes overrated, especially on public land. I spent about 25% of my sits this year hunting from the ground in those grass/cattail areas. Never saw a another hunter but but plenty of buck sign. Never had a buck cooperate but I feel my odds are much better out there than in a tree with the other hunters in the area.

[rkhinrichs]

im confused ladder stand or like an A frame ladder. and just sit on the top?

[deerminator]

I hear you Bear. There's this new spot I found for next year that's public. Lots of sign and rolling hills, ridges, benches, saddles and I spooked a nice buck of a bench while scouting it two weekends ago on a hike with the family. Anyways, lots of scraggly, younger trees combined with brushy patches and changes in elevation everywhere you look make ground hunting the method of choice. Looking into a ghillie suit for next year and hunting a lot more terrain like this and less field edges as I up my personal standards on a buck.

[TruthWalleyes]

I only do single man pushes in those tall cattails. Never sat still in one longer than 2 minutes (Usually takes a good 30s or so of standing silent in close proximity of a deer before it spooks)..I do realize this is a bowhunting thread. Your better off doing this with a muzzleloader. Got to be pretty difficult shooting a bow in cattails.

[slimngrizzly]

A ladder in the cattails...? I would bet 99 times out of 100 they will silohuette you????

S&N- Some of the biggest deer I know of are in public land cattails!!! I just hate how the US Fish & Wildlife has the "duck only" mentality. Oh well... I guess they are WATERFOWL Production Areas. I wish we had more, or any, DPA's or DEER Production Areas! I can wish!

[bowhunternw]

A ladder in the cattails...? I would bet 99 times out of 100 they will silohuette you????

S&N- Some of the biggest deer I know of are in public land cattails!!! I just hate how the US Fish & Wildlife has the "duck only" mentality. Oh well... I guess they are WATERFOWL Production Areas. I wish we had more, or any, DPA's or DEER Production Areas! I can wish!

I will agree with you, they should have some little shelterbelts on these properties. Provide a little extra wintering cover for wildlife. Plus I just really like trees, they add so much to the landscape. I really don't understand why these conservation agencies hate brush and trees so much.

Should we start a whitetail forever/unlimited chapter?

[sticknstring]

Ladders work great in the corn too!

[JJensen]

Student I am also from moorhead. there is some good WPA in the hawley area that I have looked at to go bow hunting but never had the time. There is a few south of highway 10 that look good

[slimngrizzly]

Ladders work great in the corn too!

You guys are plain SILLY!! The day I see a guy on a ladder, bowhunting in the middle of a cornfield..... ill be stopping in the center of the road and taking pictures!!!

I guess people probably do crazier things and get deer.... thats thinking OUTSIDE the box! I wanna see YOU GUYS do it and show us the video!

[TruthWalleyes]

You might see me in a grain wagon on a headland in normal harvest years...

[Bear55]

Silohuetting can be a problem but a lot of the time it gets you up just enough to shoot over the cattails. It can be pretty thick in there so if you are ready for a shot by the time the deer see you its too late. I have also setup on the ground and used a stick to open up some small shooting lanes. Other times I setup 4-5 feet off the ground in a spindly little 5 inch diameter tree. Just enough to shoot over the cattails and brush.

If you want to shoot a nice buck on public or pressured land you have to do things far differernt than every other hunter in the area.

[student]

I did found some good ones, I will be using a muzzle loader for the next week and a half and then it would be with a bow if I can find the right spot. Zone 239 is HC this year so I can hunt the WPA's there. I think I can pick out a couple of decent spots within minutes of each other and do a aggressive spotting scope scouting session in relation to the aerial maps to pinpoint which property to attack first then go in to the thickest stuff and sit tight. I like the ide aof using a ladder.