Read this important notice
Prarie chicken season is closed. Information on this page and pages linked to it applies to the 2023 season may be outdated.
Details for the 2024 season will be available on Thursday, Aug. 1.
View lottery and license dates and hunting dates on the hunting and trapping seasons page.
News & notices
Lottery results available
Check the results to see if you or your group were selected for this fall's hunt. Winners can buy their 2023 licenses beginning Friday, Sept. 1. Winners will be notified by mail in early September.
Help the habitat
Best known for the males' booming calls and springtime courtship antics, the greater prairie chicken once flourished in Minnesota. Help bring back habitat and the birds along with it.
Season
| Lottery deadline | Aug. 18 |
|---|---|
| Hunting | Sept.30-Oct. 8 |
Limits
| Either sex | 2 |
|---|
Licenses available
| Permit area | Licenses |
|---|---|
| 803A | 8 |
| 804A | 10 |
| 805A | 10 |
| 806A | 12 |
| 807A | 20 |
| 808A | 20 |
| 809A | 15 |
| 810A | 15 |
| 811A | 5 |
| 812A | 5 |
| 813A | 5 |
| Total | 125 |
Group applications
When applying as a group, all valid group members will receive a license. All group members (up to four) must apply for the same prairie chicken permit area. View the details in the how-to-apply section.
Landowners & tenants
Up to 20 percent of the permits for each permit area will be issued to applicants who are landowners and tenants of 40 acres or more of prairie or grassland within the permit area for which they have applied. Immediate family members of a landowner or tenant are eligible. View the details in the how-to-apply section.
Notification
Successful applicants will be mailed the winners notice and landowner list as their winning notification. Once the notification is received, winners must purchase a license wherever hunting and fishing licenses are sold.
Permit areas
How to apply
Residents only
- A hunter 21 or older must have been a Minnesota resident for at least sixty 60 days. Valid forms of identification are a valid Minnesota driver’s license or a state ID card issued by the Department of Public Safety.
- Ensure your identification card reflects your current mailing address. If you are successful in the computer preference drawing, your winning notification will be sent to this address.
Groups
- When applying as a group, select one hunter to apply first. That hunter will receive a group ID number on his or her printed receipt. The remaining group members must use this group ID number when they apply to be included in that group.
- A group must select the general hunt or landowner/tenant category. All group members must qualify for the selected group. Mixing categories among hunters is not allowed.
- The group member with the lowest preference rating will determine the rating of the group.
Landowners & tenants
- The 40 acres of prairie or grassland within the selected permit area does not need to be contiguous.
- Qualified landowners or tenants who are successful in this special drawing must allow prairie chicken hunting on their land during the entire season. Information on the location of this land will be available to other prairie chicken hunters.
- Select the prairie chicken permit area in which your land is located.
- Select the county in which your land is located.
- Landowners must provide the three-digit township number, two-digit range number and the section numbers of eligible land.
- Tenants must provide the landowner's name.
- Landowners and tenants must provide a phone number.
Learn to hunt
Do you value strong connections to your outdoors and the food you eat? Are you looking for a new way to interact with the fields, woods and waters around you?
Please check out our guide on how to get started hunting.
Management
Hunting is only one aspect of the DNR's effort to manage prairie chicken for the public trust. Visit our prairie chicken management page to learn about the things we do to manage prairie chickens for the benefit of all Minnesotans now and into the future.