Minnesota Hunting Season and Your Dog: Opener Weekend and Shared Land

This Saturday, November 7, is the Minnesota firearm deer opener, and the woods you walk your PUP in are about to get a lot more crowded.

If you've spent November in Minnesota, you know the feel of it. Trucks at the trailhead before sunrise, patrons in orange apparel at the gas station. It's a long tradition in the state, and most people out there are doing it carefully. If you share that ground with a dog, it helps to know what's open.

This is the Minnesota guide in our state-by-state series. For the full picture, read 10 States Where Dogs Face the Most Hunting Season Exposure. For the basics that apply everywhere, start with our hunting season dog safety guide.

Why is Minnesota in this series?

Minnesota is here because of exposure. Lots of hunters and dog families share public land here, and the rules differ enough from other states to deserve their own page.

Here's a number that makes it real. The National Deer Association counted 5.6 deer hunters per square mile in Minnesota in the 2024-25 season, above the Midwest average of 4.9. A square mile is 640 acres, so that's about one deer hunter for every 115 acres over the season. This fall the DNR expects more than 400,000 Minnesota hunters to take part in the firearms deer season. They won't all be out on the same morning, but on a November walk, the woods past the trailhead are shared ground, and blaze orange helps a hunter pick out your PUP at a glance.

The DNR's incident page lists 826,983 hunting licenses sold in 2023. The state's wildlife management areas alone cover 1,521 public areas and 1.39 million acres, open to hunters, trappers, and hikers. Add the state forests and other public ground, and Minnesota has about 8.2 million acres of public land. And the deer calendar is stacked in layers, which brings us to the dates.

What are Minnesota's 2026 firearm deer season dates?

The firearm deer season opens Saturday, November 7, 2026, and the dates that apply to you depend on your deer permit area. Here is what the Minnesota DNR deer page lists for 2026. If you walk in the 100 series (plus 604, 679, and 684), firearm season runs Nov. 7 to 22. In the 200 series (plus the other permit areas the DNR lists), it runs Nov. 7 to 15. The metro deer management zone (601) is open Nov. 7 to 29, and late southeast firearms runs Nov. 21 to 29. The muzzleloader season opens Nov. 28, in the same stretch as the end of the firearm seasons, and runs to Dec. 13. Archery runs Sept. 19 to Dec. 31.

Between mid-September and New Year's Eve, some kind of deer season is open somewhere in Minnesota. Nov. 7 to 15 is the one stretch when the 100 series, 200 series, and metro zone are all open at the same time.

That's one reason visibility works best as a year-round habit and not an opening-weekend errand. Check your permit area on the DNR's page before you go, because seasons and boundaries can change.

Where are dog families most likely to share ground with hunters?

Mostly on public land that's open to everyone: wildlife management areas, state forests, and the few state parks that run managed hunts. Here is how each one works for someone walking a PUP.

Wildlife management areas (WMAs) are hunting land first. The DNR says hunting and trapping are allowed on all state-owned WMAs during regular hunting seasons, with some exceptions. For dogs, the WMA rules say owners must accompany and control them, and dogs must be leashed from April 16 through July 14. In other words, the DNR's WMA rule doesn't require a leash in November. I recommend you leash anyway, and I'd keep your PUP close.

State forests follow the same pattern. The DNR says state forests and WMAs are open to hunting, trapping, and fishing during the appropriate season. On the trails, its page on state forest trails is short on this point: "Keep all pets on leash."

State parks are the one place hunting is off by default. Hunting is prohibited in state parks unless the DNR authorizes it. Many parks do hold managed hunts, though, and the DNR keeps a list of hunts and dates. Its advice there is plain: "Wear blaze orange or other brightly colored clothing, even if you will not be hunting." In a park without a hunt, Minn. R. 6100.1100 says pets must be attended and restrained by a leash not longer than six feet or a portable enclosure.

If you hike in northern Minnesota, the trapping calendar starts earlier. The DNR splits trapping into a North and South Furbearer Zone at the I-94/Highway 10 line, and fall seasons open a week earlier in the north (Oct. 17 versus Oct. 24 for fox, raccoon, badger, and opossum). The public land types the DNR lists for trapping, WMAs and county, state, and national forests, are all places you might hike. State hunting and trapping rules apply on national forest land unless the forest says otherwise, and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness needs a permit year-round for entry, per the DNR booklet.

What does the hunter blaze orange rule mean if you're just walking a dog?

The blaze orange rule is written for hunters and trappers. Here is Minn. Stat. § 97B.071, subdivision (a), as written: "a person may not hunt or trap during the open season where deer may be taken by firearms under applicable laws and ordinances, unless the visible portion of the person's cap and outer clothing above the waist, excluding sleeves and gloves, is blaze orange or blaze pink."

The DNR adds that camouflage patterns count if they're at least 50 percent blaze orange or pink within each square foot. You can read that on its blaze clothing page. SafetyPUP XD Blaze orange on your PUP gives them the same visibility protection hunters wear for themselves.

There's a second detail worth knowing. When no firearm or muzzleloader deer season is open, the DNR regulations booklet says blaze clothing isn't required for some hunting, including turkey, raccoons and predators (coyote, fox, bobcat), and for trapping furbearers. The orange you see on hunters in November isn't there in every season.

Here is why I'd put it on your PUP anyway. Blaze orange is a protective layer that forces your PUP to be seen from a distance. Minnesota hunters are required to wear it during firearm deer season, and road crews and utility workers wear hi-vis for the same reason: being seen is real protection. Blaze orange makes your PUP stand out against brown leaves and gray trunks, and a PUP who stands out is a safer PUP.

Do trapping seasons overlap with dog walking in Minnesota?

Yes. Minnesota's trapping seasons are legal, regulated, and they run alongside the fall and winter walks most of us take. This is awareness, not alarm.

The DNR's 2026 trapping season dates list fox, raccoon, badger, and opossum from Oct. 17, 2026 to Mar. 15, 2027 in the North Furbearer Zone, and from Oct. 24 to Mar. 15 in the South Zone. Beaver and otter open Oct. 24 in the north and Oct. 31 in the south, and run to May 15, 2027.

The DNR also says you can trap on many types of public land, including WMAs and county, state, and national forests. Trappers have rules on trap size and placement on public land, listed in the DNR regulations booklet.

Know what to do if your dog gets caught in a trap before it ever happens. If your dog gets caught in a body-grip trap, the Minnesota DNR booklet has a section on releasing a dog on page 64. For foothold traps and cable devices, start with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department's guide to releasing dogs from traps. Your vet is the person to talk to ahead of time, well before trapping season. The Minnesota booklet also points dog families to demonstrations from the Minnesota Trappers Association. It says that if your dog is caught in a trap, contact your local conservation officer through 888-MINNDNR (646-6367). Read that section before the season, not during it.

If you walk your PUP in Minnesota this month

Here is what I'd actually do.

1. Check your dates. Open the DNR deer page the night before and confirm your permit area.
2. Pick your ground on purpose. A state park without a hunt is a different walk than a WMA. On WMAs and state forests, assume a season is open.
3. Leash up. State forests say leash. State parks say six feet or shorter. On WMAs, keep your dog under control.
4. Wear orange yourself. The DNR says to even if you're not hunting, at least at its park hunts. And it is just smart.
5. Dress your PUP to be seen. Blaze orange makes them stand out during the day, reflective trim for dusk and dark.
6. Keep them close in thick cover and near water. That's where a nose takes a dog off the trail fastest.
7. Tell someone your route. It matters if a walk goes sideways.

How to gear up your PUP for hunting season

A dark coat can disappear into dark timber, and a tan coat can look like a deer's. Making your PUP easy to see is the fix, and it works best alongside the leash, your route, and keeping your eyes on your dog. One Minnesota customer, Nilah A., wrote in an Amazon review of our Lite vest: "We use it while walking on trails in Minnesota in the woods so he's visible even while in deer season."

My pick is the blaze orange SafetyPUP XD Original Reflective Dog Vest. Orange is literally the go to safety color for a reason. Blaze orange really stands out against nature. The retroreflective trim works differently: it sends light from a flashlight or headlights back toward its source, so it helps at dusk and after dark, and especially for protection against distracted drivers. If you'd like yellow, the Urban Reflective Dog Vest also comes in neon yellow, which suits traffic and roadside walks. For hunting country I reach for blaze orange, because it's one of the colors hunters must wear in the woods during firearm season.

To the Minnesota dog families who've trusted us with their PUPs: thank you. We're a US-based family business, and hearing from you means a lot. Stay safe out there this month.

Frequently Asked Questions About Minnesota Hunting Season and Dogs

 

Gear up, and keep them visible.

Wondering about dogs a hunter might mistake for game? Read Deer-Colored Dogs and Black Dog Visibility.