8 New Counties Now Added To The Deer Feeding, Attractant Ban In Minnesota

Tracking chronic wasting disease (CWD), the fatal, infectious nervous system disease of deer, moose, elk, and reindeer/caribou, is a priority in Minnesota because knowing where the disease is present can help prevent it from spreading, which ultimately protects animals and people.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources considers CWD a serious threat to the state's wild deer population, so they've implemented a comprehensive CWD response plan to eliminate the disease once it's discovered.

The DNR also takes proactive measures to help prevent CWD from spreading into new areas within the state, which is what they did this week by adding additional counties to its deer feeding and attractant ban.

8 Minnesota Counties Added To Deer Feeding And Attractant Ban

According to the Minnesota DNR, eight counties have been added to the deer feeding and attractant ban to reduce the risk of chronic wasting disease spread, after CWD was detected in wild deer in new areas of the state last year.

“The feeding and attractant ban is one tool to reduce unnatural congregating of deer and lower the risk of CWD spread,” said Paul Burr, acting big game program coordinator. He added that feeding bans such as this are enacted to protect the health of Minnesota's white-tailed deer.

It's important to note that the wording of the ban was clarified to prevent it from covering natural or manufactured products that do not have attractants added.

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The DNR says this important change allows hunters to use items such as non-scented ropes, mock scrapes with no scents added, and other items never intended to be covered under the deer feeding and attractant ban.

The following counties have been added to the feeding and attractant ban:

• Anoka
• Clay
• Ramsey
• Sherburne
• Steele
• Traverse
• Wilkin
• Wright

32 Minnesota Counties Now Included In Deer Feeding And Attractant Band

As of June 18, 2025, 32 Minnesota counties have deer feeding and antlerless bans.

Baiting or feeding deer encourages them to congregate unnaturally around a shared food source where infected deer can spread CWD through direct contact with healthy deer or by leaving behind infectious prions in their saliva, blood, feces, and urine.

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Before the DNR's announcement this week, the ban was already in place in the following counties:

• Aitkin
• Beltrami
• Carver
• Cass
• Crow Wing
• Dakota
• Dodge
• Fillmore
• Goodhue
• Hennepin
• Houston
• Hubbard
• Itasca
• Le Sueur
• Mower
• Norman
• Olmsted
• Polk
• Rice
• Scott
• Sibley
• Wabasha
• Washington
• Winona

You can see a map of existing bans through the button above. In areas outside the ban, the DNR recommends that the public not feed deer.

People who want to help deer should instead work to improve their habitat to provide long-term food resources and shelter. The DNR has several ideas on how to do this on its website.