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Where to hunt sharp-tailed grouse near Thief River Falls, Minnesota

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

There are 28 public units within 40 miles of Thief River Falls, Minnesota that hold ground where sharp-tailed grouse is recorded — 109,056 acres of it. The most of it is in Thief Lake WMA, 23.4 miles out, with 44,844 recorded acres. The closest is Thief Lake WMA at 23.4 miles. The season runs September 19, 2026 to November 30, 2026 — on dates that depend on the zone, 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.

• The ground within 40 miles
• Season and limits
• What to walk

Public land within 40 miles of Thief River Falls

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 sharp-tailed 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.

Season boundary not carried MN DNR zones this season and this app does not hold the boundary, so these units are not narrowed to it. Nothing here says the season is open on any of them — read the boundary with MN DNR before you go.
Season geography here is read off a dates table rather than the rule itself, and a dates table carries no boundary.

28 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 Sharp-tailed grouse. It is zoned, and a circle drawn round a town is not a zone — check which zone a unit falls in before you go.

What to walk when you get there

Open brushland — grass and low scrub with scattered clumps of aspen or willow, bog margin, and the pine barrens where sand keeps the timber from closing in. It is the opposite of grouse cover: if you cannot see a long way, you are in the wrong place.

Walk the open ground and expect flushes well out; birds hold poorly once the season is a week old and often go up in a bunch and fly a long way. Early season, before they pack, is the only time they sit. Mark where the flock lands and walk it again rather than following singles.

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 sharp-tailed grouse in Minnesota — every unit, ranked
• Sharp-tailed grouse hunting in Minnesota — season, limits and range
• How to hunt sharp-tailed grouse in Minnesota
• Sharp-tailed grouse — biology, range and how it is hunted
• Minnesota hunting regulations

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