SE Minnesota Public Hunting Land

[rocky]

I plan on taking my 11 year old son on the youth gun hunt over MEA. I have never been to southeastern MN and I was wondering how heavy the public land gets hunted down there. In a perfect world, I could find a small chunk of private land but that has been hard to come by. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Lunker]

Mostly the same story as public land elsewhere, easy access = heavy use. There is a lot of public land along the Mississippi in the federal refuge system, in addition to the wmas and other state access. I know some guys who hunt pretty successfully in the federal lands, but use boats for access to get to less hunted areas.

[fishingstar]

The boys and I started going southwest the last couple years ago and found that if you what and go Friday Saturday Sunday good luck a lot of hunters. We now hunt Thursday Friday Saturday morning. I think that is a big weekend for kids to go hunting with there dads.

[RJMOEN]

SE Mn public land is some of the heaviest hunted land. If you have a boat there are some areas that dont get touched but bring some waders. I would avoid Whitewater and trout valley and snake creek altogether. Huge amount of asian hunters in massive parties. Most of us locals completely avoid Snake Crk and trout valley during deer season.

[Monkster]

Rocky,

I took my son down a few years ago. I studied some maps and found a little chunk of a WMA no one was hunting. We hunted Thursday and Friday and never saw another hunter, what we did see was a couple very large deer! We did fine. Give me an email and I will see if I can find my info again! [email protected]

[96trigger]

There are some areas that you can get into where there won't be a lot of other hunters, but they are off the beaten path or people don't even know they are there.

[Monkster]

Trigger,

I believe you helped me out a bit with suggestions before my son and I came down there a couple years ago! Thanks again!

[USPENAMC]

Same here taking my 11 year old son to look for a doe or buck.. Hope to make some memories even if we do not shoot or see anything although I would like to get him on something.

I am not very familiar with the area either and am going to wing it using Google Earth to try and find an ok spot. I really do not mind the other hunters, if they get the deer out and moving I guess it isn't such a bad thing.

The only thing I worry about is safety. I usually hang an orange garment on a nearby tree or garment as high as I can reach and sometimes on top of our hunting blind.

Good luck to all the young hunters and yes I am always open to help for land and it doesnt have to be in SE I will travel anywhere in the state open for youth hunt if we get some good information.

Sincerely,

David

[mntatonka]

There's a large tract of public land where Winona County road 7 meats Highway 61. It gets hit heavy by squirrel hunters right away, but they thin out a lot by the time the youth season comes around.

[Hench]

I looked through the regs book but didn't see where it talked about the "youth season". Can any youth purchase a license over the counter and hunt anywhere in the state over the MEA weekend? I have a 12 year old daughter that I was planning to take in November but warmer weather (hopefully) would make the experience much better. Can she also go during the regular firearm season as well.

[mntatonka]

I looked through the regs book but didn't see where it talked about the "youth season". Can any youth purchase a license over the counter and hunt anywhere in the state over the MEA weekend? I have a 12 year old daughter that I was planning to take in November but warmer weather (hopefully) would make the experience much better. Can she also go during the regular firearm season as well.

[Hench]

Thanks MNTATONKA!!!

[USPENAMC]

HENCH

PAGES 34 70 and 71

10 through 12 year olds get free license

12 and above need Firearms Safety Certificate

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/rlp/regulations/hunting/2014/full_regs.pdf#view=fitb&page=66