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Where to hunt ruffed grouse near St. Cloud, Minnesota

Last updated 2026-09-24 · seasons from MN DNR · 2026 season year

There are 15 public units within 40 miles of St. Cloud, Minnesota that hold ground where ruffed grouse is recorded — 10,120 acres of it. The most of it is in Rum River, 35.3 miles out, with 6,378 recorded acres. The closest is Oak Ridge WMA at 30.7 miles. 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 St. Cloud

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.

UnitClassMilesRecorded acresAcres in rangeWhere the records are
Rum River part of the unit State forest 35.3 6,378 12,221 52% regular, 48% present
Dalbo WMA Wildlife management area 34.6 1,302 3,363 39% regular, 61% present
Mud Lake WMA part of the unit Wildlife management area 37 710 710 100% regular
Clare Johnson - Carl W. Schmidt WMA Wildlife management area 31.6 701 701 100% regular
Sponsa WMA Wildlife management area 31.1 218 218 100% regular
Oak Ridge WMA Wildlife management area 30.7 164 449 37% regular, 63% occasional
Groundhouse WMA Wildlife management area 38.8 162 162 100% regular
Buckhorn Lake WMA Wildlife management area 32.5 157 157 100% regular

15 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.

SegmentOpensClosesDays
Statewide September 19, 2026January 3, 2027107
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

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.

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