Best Way to Find Public Wetlands?

[cubbies11]

I am a student at the U and am looking for a place to duck hunt, my friend hunted Rice Lake off 169 there last year but we would like to find a place with less people and steel flying through the air. What is the best way for me to find public land within 45 min of the cities? Websites would be great, maps, or anything that can get us started looking.

Cubbies

[Juice]

go to google and type in "google EARTH" there you can download a satlitte view of the entire world. Then you can zoom into MN and find area potholes and lakes. Its a quick load if you have cable/DSL connection, using dial-up would take a few years! Best of luck!

[Mark Christianson]

But its not going to show public or private lands.

[delta hunter]

Go to Minnesota DNR HSOforum and click on Rec. compass, and zoom in on a area that your looking at hunting and that will tell you where all the public land is located!

[Kodiak]

those PRIM maps you can buy off the dnr HSOforum are a WASTE of money! so dont go that route i just did and am very dissipointed.

[jbell1981]

I disagree with the PRIM maps. I have several that I have bought at sporting goods stores. I find them very usefull and I would not have found some of the areas I hunt without them. As with any map they are not 100% accurate, but the mistakes I have found on the 5 I have, have been very minor. I personally think they are your best bet for finding public hunting land. The recreation compas on the dnr HSOforum is also useful, but it will not show WPA's and other federal lands, which are what I hunt about 90% of the time.

~Josh

[metrojoe]

Why don't you like them.?

I think the PRIM's are great. They show all public land with more datail than the Gazetteer.

Try looking here: Hunting Land Locations

You can get most of these maps from the DNR office on Lafayette Rd in St Paul or the Map Store which is also in St Paul.

If your looking for maps showing WMAs and WPAs PRIMs are the way to go.

[hobbydog]

The problem is that if you thinkk you are going to find any public land within 45 minutes of the metro that is not overrun with sky busters....well good luck. The Delorme map is a good investment to get you started but any map is only a start....scouting out potential areas will take hard work and maybe years of trial and error.

[jbell1981]

Good point hd. A lot of the places I hunt near the metro have a lot of competition with skybusters. But there are some areas that not many people venture out to. The key is being willing to do the hard work to get to a spot off the beaten path that not many other people are willing to put the time and effort to get to.

[Kodiak]

why? they need to supplement it with more information and better discriptions of rule and regulations of each of the types of areas, and have more detailed written information. I am not going to get into a forum arguement about a stupid map, i bought it and "I" feel it needs more information on certain areas..

[Kodiak]

jbell-

where is the recreation compass on the dnr site, do you have a link. I will look now.

thanks!

[metrojoe]

I don't want to argue either...I was just curious.

I guess I'm not aware of any other resource that offers the public lands locations and boundries like the PRIMs.

They were invaluble when I went out west to do a little WMA hopping trying to get on a few pheasants.

[jbell1981]

I hope I don't get into trouble for posting a link, but here you go.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/compass.html

[cubbies11]

Thanks to everyone for getting back to me so soon, I have checked out the DNR HSOforum, it is somewhat helpful but will give us a good enough start. How are people if you knock on doors about hunting private lands, fields and stuff?

Cubbies

[tweedlap]

jbely, Great link. Thanks.

Tweed