Moving to Minnesota

[AlaskanArmyGuy]

Hello..... Just wanted to say Hello. I am in the Military originally  from Alaska as you can tell from my name. But I have been living in Spokane Washington for the last 5 years. I just wanted to see how the deer hunting is here? I am going to be living in the somewhere that it will not be a long commute from Ft Snelling.  Whats the average drive time to get to where the deer are from this area?

[Boar]

ok mised the fact that ur moving here, sorry. id still go west then to the dakotas.

[AlaskanArmyGuy]

Thanks Boar for the information...... yeah, the Army tend to tell me where I would "like" to live.  :)   I would love to hunt the Dakotas as well.

[beeker]

if your bow hunting there is plenty of land south of snelling that is public. if you put in the time you can drag a monster out of there.

[gophergunner]

AAG-welcome to Minnesota.  As for drive time to get to good deer hunting, it's just a matter of what you want to put into it.  The Twin Cities has some very good bow hunting opportunities, but access is tough.  There is public land available, but it gets hunted pretty hard due to it's close proximity to the Twin Cities.  There is State Forest Land not far north of Ft. Snelling-about 1 1/2 hours drive to the Chengwatana State Forest.  This is kind of the beginning of the "up north" hunting.  It's actually more of a transition zone.  There's a lot of deer in there, and it's challenging hunting.  If you can get permission anywhere, there's lots of deer down in the Lakeville area, which would be about half an hour from Ft. Snelling.  That area is archery only.  The Twin Cities is part of an area with liberal harvest limits during gun season, but once again, gaining permission to hunt can be tough, and don't be surprised to see other hunters.  If you like a little tougher hunt, go south along the river bluffs and hunt the Richard J Dorer State Forest.  River bluff county-little hills, but they're very verticle.  That's about 2 hours south of Ft. Snelling.  Good luck finding a good spot to hunt, welcome to the area, and thanks for your service.

[snow1]

I'll 2nd the area south of redwing,some dandy bucks are taken every year down there,lots of state land to cover both low land along the white water river and along the bluffs over looking the river valley,archery or shotgun zone only.

PS~bring along your fishing rod or fly rod,excellent trout fishing as well.

Were you stationed in ft Rich? Curious,spent time fishing that stream@the front enterance gate,forget the name of tho? Nice bows and dollies there.

[gophergunner]

AAG-did you get my PM?