Deer Permit Area 278, Minnesota
Unit info
- Game species
- White-tailed Deer, Pheasant
- Group
- Zone 200 — Central Minnesota
- Area
- 422 mi²
- Public land
- N/A
White-tailed Deer — season & harvest
- Reported harvest
- 639
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 278 follows the Minnesota River corridor from Ortonville southeast to Montevideo, spanning Big Stone, Chippewa, Lac qui Parle, and Swift Counties. The area is dominated by row-crop agriculture (55%) with significant grassland and wetlands (30%), and roughly 20% public land anchored by Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge and Lac qui Parle WMA. Deer numbers run at the lower end of management goals; 300 antlerless tags are issued by lottery annually while buck tags are available over the counter.
Heavily agricultural river-corridor unit along the Minnesota River; 55% annual row crops, 30% grassland and wetlands, 3% woody cover, 7% open water. Flat to gently rolling prairie landscape in far west-central Minnesota covering approximately 402 square miles across Big Stone, Chippewa, Lac qui Parle, and Swift Counties.
low
White-tailed deer are the primary big game species. Ring-necked pheasants are present in agricultural and grassland habitats throughout the unit. No bear, moose, turkey, or grouse populations of note in this prairie-agricultural corridor.
Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge and Lac qui Parle WMA provide excellent public hunting in a largely private agricultural landscape. The Minnesota River wetland corridor creates quality deer habitat interspersed among cropfields. Antlerless tags (300) are lottery-only; buck tags are OTC. Hunter density is low at approximately 4 hunters per square mile with a 26% success rate in 2024.
Questions, tips & discussion
Ask anything about Deer Permit Area 278— 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 278.
Be the first — ask a question (“Best public access on the north end?”) or share a tip (“Glass the burn scars off the main ridge at first light”).
Boundaries: MN DNR official Deer Permit Areas. Community info last updated 23d ago.