Deer Permit Area 256, Minnesota
Unit info
- Game species
- White-tailed Deer, Pheasant
- Group
- Zone 200 — Central Minnesota
- Area
- 655 mi²
- Public land
- N/A
White-tailed Deer — season & harvest
- Reported harvest
- 1,045
Draw odds for White-tailed Deeraren't on file for this unit yet. Check your state wildlife agency website for current draw statistics.
Season & harvest data is published for White-tailed Deer so far. Pheasant also occur here — that data can be added as the community contributes.
About this unit
AI-compiled · sourcedDPA 256 covers portions of southern Marshall, western Pennington, Red Lake, and Polk counties in far northwestern Minnesota — a highly productive agricultural zone dominated by 62% row crops, 23% grasslands and wetlands, and 8% woody cover. Deer densities are above the management goal and the unit runs a two-deer limit for 2025, making it one of the more liberal farmland DPAs in the state. Hunter density is moderate at 3 hunters per square mile with a solid 43% success rate in 2024.
Flat to gently rolling agricultural plains in the Red River Valley transition zone. Land cover is 62% annual row crops (corn, soybeans, small grains), 23% grasslands and wetlands (including prairie potholes and wetland complexes), and 8% brushlands and woodlands. Very little forested upland. Total non-water area is approximately 654 square miles.
moderate
Deer are the primary big game species with strong populations supported by abundant agricultural food sources — corn and soybean fields provide exceptional nutrition. Pheasant are present in the grassland and wetland pockets of this northwestern Minnesota farmland zone, though this is near the northern fringe of pheasant range. Waterfowl hunting is excellent in the prairie pothole wetland complexes. Bear and turkey are not established in this open agricultural DPA.
Two-deer limit (one of which may be a buck) for 2025 reflects a population above management goal. Deer rebound quickly in this productive agricultural landscape after mild winters. Buck harvest jumped 20% in 2024. Hunter success rate was 43% in 2024 firearms season. Total 2024 harvest was 1,033 deer. A deer feeding and attractant ban is in effect for Polk County due to CWD proximity. Optional CWD testing available. All legal firearms allowed.
Questions, tips & discussion
Ask anything about Deer Permit Area 256— or drop a tip or trick: access points, where game holds, glassing spots, conditions, crowding, gear that worked. This is where the unit's species-specific intel gets built, hunter by hunter.
Nothing posted yet about Deer Permit Area 256.
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Boundaries: MN DNR official Deer Permit Areas. Community info last updated 23d ago.