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Where to hunt ring-necked pheasant near Willmar, Minnesota

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

There are 57 public units within 40 miles of Willmar, Minnesota that hold ground where ring-necked pheasant is recorded — 15,419 acres of it. The most of it is in Lac qui Parle WMA, 36.1 miles out, with 2,403 recorded acres. The closest is Ringo-Nest WMA at 8.6 miles. The season runs October 10, 2026 to January 3, 2027 — 86 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 Willmar

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 ring-necked pheasant 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
Lac qui Parle WMA part of the unit Wildlife management area 36.1 2,403 2,403 100% regular
Dietrich Lange WMA Wildlife management area 13.3 944 944 100% regular
Ringo-Nest WMA Wildlife management area 8.6 822 822 100% regular
Stearns Prairie Heritage WMA Wildlife management area 21.4 756 756 100% regular
Sauk River WMA part of the unit Wildlife management area 38.5 667 667 100% regular
Tamarac WMA Wildlife management area 23 615 615 100% regular
Follies WMA Wildlife management area 20.7 609 609 100% regular
Regal Flats WMA Wildlife management area 21.4 508 508 100% regular

57 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 Ring-necked pheasant.

SegmentOpensClosesDays
Statewide October 10, 2026January 3, 202786
Open today
Shut — next opening October 10, 2026
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

The seam between grass nesting cover and grain: switchgrass and CRP-style fields, cattail sloughs, weedy fencelines and picked corn. A pheasant runs before it flies, so the cover that matters is the cover it can run through.

Work fields toward a hard edge — a road, a ditch, a corner — so running birds run out of ground rather than out the far end. Blocking a corner is worth more than another pass through the middle.

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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