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Where to hunt ruffed grouse near Ely, Minnesota
Last updated 2026-09-24 · seasons from MN DNR · 2026 season year
There are 20 public units within 40 miles of Ely, Minnesota that hold ground where ruffed grouse is recorded — 1,686,857 acres of it. The most of it is in Superior National Forest, 0.8 miles out, with 1,484,864 recorded acres. The season runs September 19, 2026 to January 3, 2027 — 107 days afield, read against the 2026 season year from MN DNR. Public-land boundaries here are PAD-US, which records who manages a parcel rather than where the line runs or whether a unit carries a local closure — check with MN DNR before you park.
Public land within 40 miles of Ely
Distance is measured to the nearest edge of a unit rather than to its middle, in a straight line — this app carries no road network and will not print a drive time it cannot compute. A unit whose ground reaches inside the circle is listed for the acreage that is inside it, never for its statewide total.
Ordered by recorded acres — how much of each unit lies inside subbasins where ruffed grouse is recorded at regular strength or better — rather than by how big the unit is. The biggest block in a state is often not in the half of it the bird is in. PAD-US splits a forest into many parcels, so acreage is summed over the unit's name, and the share is measured against the unit's drawn boundary rather than a centroid: a national forest can be two polygons across half a peninsula.
MN DNR names no geographic restriction on this season, so no unit is
excluded for being outside one.
Season geography here is read off a
dates table rather than the rule itself, and a dates table carries no boundary.
| Unit | Class | Miles | Recorded acres | Acres in range | Where the records are |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Superior National Forest part of the unit | National forest | 0.8 | 1,484,864 | 1,488,654 | 90% stronghold, 10% regular |
| Finland part of the unit | State forest | 19.6 | 67,336 | 70,368 | 96% stronghold, 4% present |
| Kabetogama part of the unit | State forest | 21.2 | 28,949 | 28,949 | 5% stronghold, 95% regular |
| Miscellaneous part of the unit | State forest | 1.5 | 27,709 | 27,709 | 83% stronghold, 17% regular |
| Bear Island | State forest | 2.2 | 26,150 | 26,150 | 96% stronghold, 4% regular |
| Burntside | State forest | 3.4 | 24,914 | 24,914 | 83% stronghold, 17% regular |
| Sturgeon River part of the unit | State forest | 27.5 | 14,975 | 14,975 | 96% stronghold, 4% regular |
| Kabetogama Purchase Unit part of the unit | National forest | 28 | 7,827 | 7,827 | 100% regular |
20 units clear the circle in all and the 8 holding the most recorded ground are named. The rest are ground a reader would drive past something better to reach.
A unit marked part of the unit has ground outside the circle as well, and the acreage here is only what is inside it. PAD-US records who manages a parcel, not where its line runs on the ground and not whether it carries a local closure: context, not permission. Check the unit with MN DNR before you park.
Season and limits
MN DNR's dates for the 2026 season year, read from MN DNR. Minnesota lists this season as Ruffed grouse.
| Segment | Opens | Closes | Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statewide | September 19, 2026 | January 3, 2027 | 107 |
- Open today
- Open
- Bag limit
- not shown No single bag limit is shown for this species here — read the notes below and check the current MN DNR regulations before you go.
- Hunter orange
- required
- Shooting hours
- not carried
- Minnesota requires blaze orange or blaze pink while a firearms deer season is in progress, and it applies to small game hunters too. Treat orange as required for the whole season: missing it during gun deer season is the dangerous error. We have not been able to confirm the exact wording against MN DNR — read the regulations before relying on the detail.
- MN DNR publishes no bag limit we could confirm for this season, so none is shown.
- Statewide. MN DNR reported ruffed grouse in the declining phase of the population cycle in July 2026, which is a cycle position and not a season restriction.
What to walk when you get there
Aspen and mixed brush between about five and twenty years old — cut-over ground rather than big timber, thick enough that you cannot see far into it. The best of it is an edge: young cut against older hardwood, or the alder seam where the cut runs down to wet ground.
Walk the edges slowly and stop often; a stopped hunter is what makes a tight bird lose its nerve. Birds hold in the thick and flush loud, and most shots are inside twenty-five yards through cover, which is why open chokes and light loads are the tradition.
Written for this app rather than read off an agency page — the cover a bird uses does not change at a state line. Everything above that is a date, a limit or an acreage names the source it came from.
Read next
- Where to hunt ruffed grouse in Minnesota — every unit, ranked
- Ruffed grouse hunting in Minnesota — season, limits and range
- How to hunt ruffed grouse in Minnesota
- Ruffed grouse — biology, range and how it is hunted
- Minnesota hunting regulations