Wright County Hunting

Census mapping gives Wright County 661 square miles of dry ground and 53 under water; the courthouse is in Buffalo. The 2024 estimate of 154,593 people is +9.4% off the 2020 count. Administratively the county belongs to DNR Region 3, the Central Region based in St. Paul. Deer rules follow 3 deer permit areas rather than the county line: 229, 219 and 685. Mapped public land (WMAs, forests, refuges, WPAs and the rest) comes to roughly 11,383 acres by GIS measure.

Land area from the Census 2024 Gazetteer, population from Census Vintage 2024 estimates, region from the DNR county region list, DPAs from the DNR deer permit area layer, public acres from DNR, USFS and USFWS GIS layers (not official acreages). Checked October 28, 2026.

Wright County hunting calendar, species by species

Waterfowl rows follow the North, Central and South zones and furbearer rows the North and South zones, so check which side of the line you hunt in Wright County.

Pheasant hunting opens at 9 a.m. each day; trapping seasons and falconry are on the species pages.

From the 2026-2027 Minnesota Hunting and Trapping Regulations booklet (Minnesota Department of Natural Resources) and the DNR deer permit area map, checked October 28, 2026.

Ground open to hunters across Wright County

Wright County has 35 listed properties open to hunters, led by Lake Maria State Park (1,589 acres). GIS counts 3,480 acres of USFWS waterfowl production areas. Most state park ground is closed except during special hunts.

• Wetland management districts in Wright (1)Litchfield Wetland Management District (37,899 acres*)
• Wildlife management areas in Wright (17)Pelican Lake Wildlife Management Area (1,016 acres), Suconnix Wildlife Management Area (1,006 acres), Woodland Wildlife Management Area (723 acres), Minnesota Veterans Wildlife Management Area (650 acres*), Albion Wildlife Management Area (545 acres), Grass Lake Wildlife Management Area (478 acres), Knapp Wildlife Management Area (433 acres*), Maple Lake Wildlife Management Area (410 acres), Hoglund Wildlife Management Area (361 acres), St. Michael Meadows Wildlife Management Area (211 acres), A Shau Valley Wildlife Management Area (210 acres*), Otsego Wildlife Management Area (205 acres), Kelly-meyer Wildlife Management Area (136 acres), Malardi Lake Wildlife Management Area (125 acres), Swartout Wildlife Management Area (110 acres), Corinna Wildlife Management Area (81 acres), Hidden Marsh Wildlife Management Area (39 acres)
• Waterfowl production areas: 14 on filePelican Lake Waterfowl Production Area (1,264 acres), Goose Lake Waterfowl Production Area (355 acres), Marysville Waterfowl Production Area (308 acres), Cokato Waterfowl Production Area (218 acres), Angus Lake Waterfowl Production Area (179 acres), French Lake Waterfowl Production Area (171 acres), Unnamed Waterfowl Production Area (Wright County) (164 acres), Annandale Waterfowl Production Area (161 acres), Victor Waterfowl Production Area (149 acres), Albion Waterfowl Production Area (141 acres), Temperance Waterfowl Production Area (136 acres), Corinna Waterfowl Production Area (131 acres), Robinson Waterfowl Production Area (103 acres), Silver Creek Waterfowl Production Area (83 acres)
• State parks with hunts in Wright (1)Lake Maria State Park (1,589 acres)
• Aquatic management areas in Wright (2)Ramsey Lake Aquatic Management Area (7 acres), Silver Creek Aquatic Management Area (5 acres)

* Acres cover every county the property touches.

Next-door public land

• Robina Lake Wildlife Management Area15 miles away · 197 acres
• Kingston Wildlife Management Area19 miles away · 624 acres
• Murray Lake Waterfowl Production Area20 miles away · 89 acres
• Dr. L. Daniel Frenzel Jr and Virginia Frenzel Wildlife Management Area20 miles away · 240 acres
• Clouster Lake Wildlife Management Area20 miles away · 80 acres

Our list marks Cokato Lake Aquatic Management Area, Mary Schmidt Crawford Woods Scientific and Natural Area and Mississippi River Islands Scientific and Natural Area as closed to hunting.

Land finder · All WMAs · Walk-In rules · All WPAs

Units from our Minnesota land list (DNR WMA, SNA, AMA, forest and park pages, USFWS and USFS records); acres by kind from the DNR management units layer, the USFS ownership layer and the USFWS interest layer (GIS measures); Walk-In Access from the DNR Walk-In Access program; special hunts from the booklet special hunt tables. Checked October 28, 2026.

Wright County shooting time on key dates

Sunrise in Moorhead comes well after sunrise in Grand Marais, so use the local times worked out for Wright County.

Spring turkey runs half an hour before sunrise to sunset, the same as the bird column.

Hours rule from the DNR booklet shooting hours page; sun times calculated for the county centre (NOAA method, Central Time), checked against U.S. Naval Observatory tables; checked October 28, 2026. Legal hours for every county.