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Where to hunt american woodcock near Little Falls, Minnesota

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

There are 9 public units within 40 miles of Little Falls, Minnesota that hold ground where american woodcock is recorded — 41,495 acres of it. The most of it is in Mille Lacs WMA, 35.3 miles out, with 16,007 recorded acres. The closest is Miscellaneous at 5.4 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 Little 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 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
Mille Lacs WMA part of the unit Wildlife management area 35.3 16,007 20,532 78% regular, 22% present
Pillsbury State forest 26.5 9,449 9,449 100% regular
Rum River part of the unit State forest 25.4 7,419 16,467 45% regular, 55% present
Meadow Brook WMA Wildlife management area 33.6 5,752 5,752 100% regular
Miscellaneous part of the unit State forest 5.4 1,230 3,811 32% regular, 55% present, 13% occasional
Rock Lake Forest Recreation Area State forest 31 597 597 100% regular
Walter E. Stark Forest Recreation Area State forest 26.7 524 524 100% regular
Shafer Lake Forest Recreation Area State forest 30.6 441 441 100% regular

9 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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