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Where to hunt wild turkey near Rochester, Minnesota

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

There are 26 public units within 40 miles of Rochester, Minnesota that hold ground where wild turkey is recorded — 14,733 acres of it. The most of it is in R J D Memorial Hardwood, 8.6 miles out, with 9,267 recorded acres. The season runs October 3, 2026 to November 1, 2026 — 30 days afield, bag 1 per day, 1 in possession, 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 Rochester

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 wild turkey 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
R J D Memorial Hardwood part of the unit State forest 8.6 9,267 29,472 31% regular, 30% present, 9% occasional, 29% no records
Schueler WMA Wildlife management area 35.4 896 896 100% regular
Brightsdale Forest Recreation Area State forest 28.9 636 636 100% regular
Wo Wacintanka WMA Wildlife management area 33.8 558 558 100% stronghold
Ramsey Mill Pond WMA Wildlife management area 30.3 394 394 100% stronghold
Rush Creek Woods WMA Wildlife management area 38.2 367 367 100% regular
Seven Springs WMA Wildlife management area 27.6 340 340 100% regular
Carex WMA Wildlife management area 35.9 332 332 100% stronghold

26 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 Wild turkey.

SegmentOpensClosesDays
Statewide October 3, 2026November 1, 202630
Open today
Shut — next opening October 3, 2026
Bag limit
1 per day, 1 in possession
Hunter orange
required
Shooting hours
not carried

What to walk when you get there

Mature hardwoods that carry mast — oak ridges and beech — against open ground: pasture, food plot, log landing or field edge where birds strut and feed. Roost trees are usually the biggest timber near water.

Locate first and call second. Fall hunting is often a matter of finding a flock, scattering it and calling it back together; spring hunting is working a gobbler off the roost from a set-up he can walk to without crossing anything.

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

Open the hunting map →Public land and bird cover, drawn for the bird you are after.