Hunting Public Land Around Greater Grand Forks

I don’t golf. I did when I was a kid, playing on the local 9-hole course. Our town was small, so you could usually just show up and start playing. If you topped a ball, it was customary to take off at a dead sprint while your partners started counting. If you made it back to the tee box in under 20 seconds, you could hit again. Eventually I found most golf courses, and golfers, frown upon this type of play. I also found golf to be a game of reservations, dress codes, and codes of conduct. When I discovered golf was a “fancy peoples” game, I quickly moved on to other outdoor pursuits.

Golf does not have many parallels to hunting deer, except when you are talking about hunting deer on public land. Understanding the situation, adjusting your approach, and keeping a number of options available in order to adjust to a variety of conditions is critical to both. I would argue that hunting anywhere, even on a private farm that is conditioned and groomed so game movement is predictable, requires a hunter to adjust to a variety of variables. Weather, wind, and changing food sources are just a few examples of said variables hunters should adapt to if they want to increase their chances of success. Going into the field with only one approach would be like playing a round of golf with only a putter.

Public land suited for hunting deer is widely available in the Greater Grand Forks area, but it is not necessarily an easy find. For starters, public land hunting requires scouting. Winter and spring scouting is valuable as it allows you to see where deer activity took place the prior year. It allows you to get out and do a deep dive into bedding and travel areas without worry of leaving scent or spooking deer. It is also a great way to give you an excuse to get off the couch and go outdoors!

Once you find some areas that look promising, it is time to start thinking about how you can hunt them. What is the best way to enter and exit the area without spooking deer? Where can I set up so I can get a good shot? Is there a tree to set up a stand or do I need to sit on the ground? Would a portable hang-on stand or a saddle be best? Is there a way I could build a natural blind to conceal myself or do I need to consider a portable ground blind? The more options you have available, the more areas you will be able to effectively hunt during season.

Bow tags for white-tail deer are available over-the-counter for both residents and non-residents in North Dakota and Minnesota. Rifle tags are available over-the-counter for residents and non-residents in Minnesota, but you must enter a draw system in North Dakota for a rifle deer tag, regardless of residency. Costs for non-resident tags in both states have risen recently, but are still relatively low compared to other states. A North Dakota non-resident tag costs $350 and a Minnesota non-resident tag at $185. North Dakota’s whitetail bow season begins at noon on the Friday before Labor Day and runs into early January, while Minnesota’s whitetail bow season begins the 3^rd Saturday in September and ends on December 31st. Minnesota’s Rifle seasons are held the Saturday closest to November 6th in Minnesota and noon on the Friday preceding Veteran’s Day in North Dakota. Length of rifle seasons vary in Minnesota, anywhere from 8 days to nearly 4 weeks, depending on which zone you choose to hunt. North Dakota’s rifle season is approximately 3 weeks statewide.

Bowhunting is my method of choice due to the easy access to tags, length of season and lower hunting pressure. Rifle hunting on some public lands can be a little like stepping on a hornet’s nest – chaotic and potentially calamitous – particularly in Minnesota where there are far more hunters due to no restriction on tags. When I was a kid, my elder hunting partners used to half-jokingly say “If it is not by a road or a trail, don’t shoot”. That is poor advice if you are rifle hunting on public ground. Find a spot that is difficult to access, far away from roads or trails, and competition will be significantly reduced.

Public land is abundant in North Dakota within a short drive of Grand Forks. You will need to drive a bit further if you are going to hunt public land in Minnesota, but there are a number of options available east of Crookston. There are a variety of tools available that will show public land boundaries, but I prefer the onX hunting app. Loaded right on your smartphone, onX will highlight all types of land open to public hunting as well as addresses and ownership of private land, in case you want to knock on a few doors to ask for permission. The app requires a subscription, so if you are just getting into public land hunting, you may want to look on state or county GIS sites or pick up an atlas book.

Keep in mind, not all public land is created equal, or for the same purpose. Much of eastern North Dakota’s public lands are Waterfowl Production Areas (WPA’s) managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. They are littered with cattails, rushes and sedges. Most lack standing timber, but there are pockets of shrubby vegetation and Russian Olive, which can make good spots to set up an ambush on the ground. In addition to WPA’s, North Dakota has Federally managed National Grasslands and Bureau of Land Management lands, State managed Wildlife Management Areas (WMA’s) and State Trust Lands, and Private Land Open to Sportsmen (PLOTS) – privately owned land enrolled in a voluntary access program. Some of these public areas have spots that resemble traditional whitetail

Whether you hunt, hike, snowshoe, birdwatch or just want to get some exercise, you might be surprised at how much fun you can have on our public lands. Get outside and check out these opportunities that are within a short drive of the Greater Grand Forks area. You don’t need a reservation and no one will be upset if your shirt doesn’t have a collar on it!