In Minnesota, you can hunt on your own land without a license only in a narrow situation: a resident may take small game on the property they occupy as their principal residence, and so may other members of the household living at that address.1Minnesota DNR. Small Game Hunting For everything else — deer, bear, turkey, waterfowl, a cabin property, land you own but don’t live on — you need the appropriate license, tags, stamps, or permits.
Who Qualifies for the Small Game Exemption
Three things must all be true. You have to be a Minnesota resident. The land has to be your principal residence, not a hunting cabin, a leased tract, or vacant acreage you own elsewhere. And the animal you’re hunting has to be classified as small game: squirrels, rabbits, grouse, pheasants, and similar species.2Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 2025 Minnesota Hunting Regulations
One point trips people up. Even when the license itself is waived, stamps are not. You still need a pheasant stamp to hunt pheasants and a waterfowl stamp to hunt waterfowl, because the landowner exemption only removes the base small game license.3License Minnesota. Hunting and Trapping Licenses
Waterfowl and Migratory Birds Still Need Federal Credentials
If ducks land on your pond, Minnesota’s exemption doesn’t cover you against federal law. Every waterfowl hunter age 16 and older has to carry a Federal Duck Stamp, formally the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp.4U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Federal Duck Stamp – About Us
You also need Harvest Information Program (HIP) certification before hunting waterfowl or any other migratory game bird except sandhill cranes, and HIP has to be renewed annually.5Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Minnesota Waterfowl Regulations 2025 Hunting ducks on your own land without those two things puts you in violation of federal and state law regardless of how many acres you own.
No Exemption for Big Game
There is no landowner exemption for white-tailed deer, black bear, or wild turkey. You need the appropriate license, tags, and permits for the season you’re hunting — archery, firearm, or muzzleloader — on your own property just as you would anywhere else.3License Minnesota. Hunting and Trapping Licenses
Larger landowners do get one benefit. If you own or actively farm at least 80 acres of agricultural or grazing land and you allow public deer hunting on it during the deer season — you can reserve the first Saturday and Sunday for yourself — the DNR will issue you a free license for one additional antlerless deer.6Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Landowner Deer Licenses It’s an extra tag tied to opening your land, not a break on your regular license.
Taking Nuisance Animals Causing Damage
A separate provision of Minnesota law lets a landowner or occupant take certain animals that are causing property damage without a license. This is for property protection — raccoons in the attic, beavers flooding a road, squirrels in the garden — not recreational hunting.
The covered species list is broader than many property owners realize:7Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 97B.655 – Taking Animals Causing Damage
- Mammals: weasel, mink, squirrel, rabbit, hare, raccoon, bobcat, fox, opossum, muskrat, and beaver
- Other wildlife: bats, snakes, salamanders, and lizards
Any method is allowed except poison and the use of artificial lights during the closed season. Raccoons are the single carve-out: lights are permitted for raccoons during the open season.7Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 97B.655 – Taking Animals Causing Damage
Traps set by someone other than the landowner must be tagged under state trapping rules. And if you kill one of the furbearers on the list — mink, raccoon, bobcat, fox, opossum, muskrat, or beaver — you have to notify a conservation officer or a Fish and Wildlife Division employee within 24 hours. Squirrels, rabbits, and hares require no notification.8Minnesota DNR. Living with Wildlife
Deer and bear are not on this list. If either is damaging your crops or property, you need a special permit from the DNR before acting.9Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Wildlife Damage Management Program Material Assistance
Rules That Still Apply on Your Own Land
Not needing a license is not the same as hunting unregulated. The rest of Minnesota’s hunting rules apply to you exactly as they would to anyone else.
Seasons and Bag Limits
You can only hunt during the open season for each species, and daily and possession limits apply. The combined daily bag for gray and fox squirrels is seven, with a possession limit of 14.10Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Rules 6234 – Small Game Cottontail rabbit and snowshoe hare share a daily limit of 10 and a possession limit of 20.1Minnesota DNR. Small Game Hunting
Shooting Hours
Small game shooting hours run from one-half hour before sunrise to sunset.2Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 2025 Minnesota Hunting Regulations Some species start later; pheasants, for instance, cannot be hunted before 9:00 a.m.10Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Rules 6234 – Small Game Because the exemption only covers small game, your legal window ends at sunset.
Blaze Orange or Pink
During any open firearms or muzzleloader deer season, every hunter and trapper in the field must wear blaze orange or blaze pink on the visible portion of a cap and on outer clothing above the waist. Outside firearms deer season, anyone hunting small game must still wear at least one article of blaze orange or pink above the waist.11Minnesota DNR. Blaze Clothing Requirements There is no exemption for your own land. Camouflage patterns count only if they’re at least 50 percent blaze orange or pink within each square foot.
Safety Zones
You cannot discharge a firearm within 500 feet of a building occupied by people or livestock on another person’s property without written permission.2Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 2025 Minnesota Hunting Regulations The restriction doesn’t apply to your own buildings, but it absolutely applies to your neighbor’s.
Game Registration
Where registration is required, it’s required regardless of where the animal was taken. Deer must be registered within 48 hours and before processing.12Minnesota DNR. Mandatory Deer Harvest Registration Wild turkeys must be registered within 24 hours. Registration is available by phone, online, or at a walk-in station.
Firearms Safety Certificate
Anyone born after December 31, 1979, needs a Minnesota firearms safety certificate before buying a hunting license.13Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 97B.020 – Firearms Safety Certificate Required Because the landowner small game exemption means you aren’t buying a license, the certificate technically isn’t a precondition for hunting small game on your home property. For any big game — where no exemption exists — you’ll need the certificate before you can buy the license.
What Happens If You Hunt Without a Required License
Hunting without a required license is a misdemeanor under Minnesota’s game and fish laws.14Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes 97A.301 – General Penalty Provisions Certain violations can be charged as a gross misdemeanor, carrying a fine of $100 to $3,000 and a jail sentence of 90 days to 364 days. A conviction can also lead to revocation of your hunting privileges, which stops you from buying any hunting license for a set period.
The exemption is clean when it applies and offers no cover when it doesn’t. Resident, principal residence, small game — meet all three and you’re fine. Miss any one and you need a license. Shooting a deer on your own land because you assumed landowners were covered is one of the more common and entirely avoidable mistakes the DNR sees.