Well it has been a while since I have updated this blog, sorry bout that.
Well now that I am finished with that on to some good news. Recently the MN DNR published their August
roadside survey and
pheasant prospect map. It appears that the mild winter and drier summer has produced good results and that the pheasant population is starting to rebound from the previous years. There are still large swaths of poor area but unlike last year there are a few good areas instead of just the one near New Ulm. The fair areas have also expanded but as mentioned earlier there still is a large portion of poor areas.
Also this year I stopped at the DNR building at the MN State Fair and looked at the various offerings they had there. The best find was their printed "
Wildlife Lands 2011" maps which are about the size of the state highway map but each one only covers half of the state. These show the location of all of the WMAs in the state and there is one for southern Minnesota as well as one for northern Minnesota. You can download them here:
Granted these maps don't show all of the various lands open to public hunting but do show the locations of WMAs and would be worthwhile to get a paper copy.
Also I was looking at the 2012 hunting & trappings regulations books and saw an advertisement for a free map of public hunting land in SW Minnesota, Marshal area, and took a look. It appears that the map is a cut down one of the DNR provided Wildlife Lands Southern Minnesota 2011 map. The only nice thing is that they have a google maps overlay to view the same info. It isn't great but it is better than nothing.
