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Where to hunt american woodcock near Bemidji, Minnesota

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

There are 51 public units within 40 miles of Bemidji, Minnesota that hold ground where american woodcock is recorded — 436,215 acres of it. The most of it is in Chippewa National Forest, 9.9 miles out, with 224,721 recorded acres. The closest is Buena Vista at 3 miles. The season runs September 19, 2026 to November 2, 2026 — 45 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 Bemidji

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 american woodcock 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
Chippewa National Forest part of the unit National forest 9.9 224,721 336,926 67% regular, 33% present
Blackduck State forest 12.2 41,335 41,335 100% regular
Bowstring part of the unit State forest 17.6 28,860 61,019 47% regular, 53% present
White Earth part of the unit State forest 19.4 28,489 33,658 85% regular, 15% no records
Red Lake part of the unit State forest 31.8 26,419 26,419 100% regular
Paul Bunyan State forest 8.8 25,150 60,850 41% regular, 59% present
Buena Vista State forest 3 18,508 18,508 100% regular
Two Inlets State forest 31.1 13,837 13,837 100% regular

51 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 American woodcock.

SegmentOpensClosesDays
Statewide September 19, 2026November 2, 202645
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

Wet alder runs, damp aspen bottoms and shrub swamp — soft ground the bird can probe for worms. Woodcock cover is often two hundred yards of a creek bottom rather than a whole block of forest.

Hunt the low wet ground inside grouse country, and hunt it again after a cold front: this is a migratory bird and a covert that was empty on Tuesday can hold a flight on Friday. Birds sit tight and flush straight up through the alders.

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

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