Turkey Hunting Begins This Week in Minnesota

Minnesota's stay-at-home order does allow venturing outdoors, which is great news for turkey hunters across the state.  Turkey hunting begins this week, with one simple request from the DNR.

Turkey hunting officially begins Wednesday, April 15 and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is encouraging all hunters to stay as close to home as possible this season.

There have been recent regulation changes which no longer limit hunters to a single permit area.  That means if a hunter had purchased a license with the intent of traveling to a favorite hunting area in the state, they can use that same permit to hunt closer to home and honor the DNR's request.

Another change allowed hunters to purchase a license for any of the turkey hunting time periods without applying early. Applications were required in January, though, for firearms hunters age 18 and older who wanted to hunt in the Mille Lacs, Carlos Avery or Whitewater wildlife management area (WMA).

Hunters planning on hunting on accessing public land or WMA should also honor social distancing guidelines.  If you see a crowded parking lot or suspect a lot of people in an area, the DNR recommends finding another place to hunt.  Click here to access the DNR Recreation Compass and search for public hunting land.

All residents should be careful around WMAs and public land as hunters are not required to wear blaze orange for spring turkey hunting.

Do not wear any visible article of clothing into the turkey woods that contains the colors white, red or blue. Hunters don’t wear these colors because turkeys will spot them, while non-hunters should not wear them because they are associated with the head of a male turkey.  Wearing those colors could lead to a tragic hunting accident.