Results From Unique Hunting Season in Minnesota

Northwestern Minnesota has a fair amount of elk.  The elk hunt in Minnesota took place from September 21-29.  Glen Schmitt from Outdoor News says only 10 permits were available to hunters and he says 8 elk were shot.  Schmitt explains all 8 were male, bull elk.  He says the Red Lake Nation got 30 tags with 10 permits and shot 8 elk, as of earlier this week.   Schmitt says most of the land to shoot elk is on private land, which makes it more difficult to hunt elk in the state.  The DNR has talked about relocating some of the elk from northwestern Minnesota to northeastern Minnesota to help grow the herd.  Schmitt says elk used to live in northeastern Minnesota many years ago and it is a natural habitat for them.  In 2022 17 elk were shot in the state.  He says the goal of the elk hunt is to limit the agricultural damage to fields in northwestern Minnesota due to the elk population.

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The Minnesota waterfowl season resumes in the central and south parts of the state after taking a break this weekend.  The remainder of the duck, coot, and merganser season goes from October 5 - November 24 in the central and south parts of the state while the north region did not have a week off and will end their season November 19.  The goose season continues in the central and south portions of the state October 5 - December 26 while in the north portion of the state the hunt goes from October 5 - December 21.  St. Cloud is considered to be in the central portion of the state.  Schmitt says there is currently plenty of geese in Central Minnesota.  He says the dry conditions throughout the state have hurt the grouse habitat making the grouse hunt more challenging. Schmitt says grouse are there, it's just hard to shoot them.

Fall fishing continues throughout the state.  The water temperatures locally are still around 60 degrees which hasn't made fall fishing ideal yet.  He says the water needs to cool down to encourage a stronger bite for walleye.  Schmitt explains crappies can still be found in the weeds or deeper basin areas.  He says look for bass and pike along weed lines.

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Glen Schmitt, it is available below.