For years, Minnesota’s Conservation Partners Legacy Grant Program has been one of the most effective ways for local conservation organizations to turn good ideas, volunteer effort and local partnerships into real habitat improvements on the ground.
We have been following our doe, born last spring in Minnesota’s prime deer habitat, the transition zone, where she grew rapidly through the summer and fall. She experienced her first estrus cycle in early winter and attracted an adult buck. When we left her, she rejoined her maternal family group to shelter in place for the winter after being bred. She entered winter in good condition with ample fat reserves and due to the fairly mild snowpack and temperatures, she is still doing well and is now nearing time to give birth.
If your trail cameras have been busy this summer, you're not alone. Across Minnesota, hunters are starting to see mature bucks on their feet in bachelor groups, giving us an early glimpse of what the 2026 deer season could have in store.
In a boost for local youth outdoor education, Cuyuna Range Whitetails, established in 2001, recently partnered with the CRES Firearm Safety program to enhance accessibility for student trapshooters and hunters going through the Firearm Safety program.
If you've ever watched the sun come up from a deer stand, shared stories around deer camp, or helped a young hunter tag their first buck, you know deer hunting is about much more than filling a tag.
For many years, the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association and our chapters across the state have believed that one of the best investments we can make is in the next generation of outdoorsmen and women. That belief is why MDHA and its local chapters have proudly supported the Minnesota State High School Clay Target League since its earliest days and why we continue to make that support a priority today.
For more than four decades, the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association has played a major role in shaping Minnesota’s outdoor heritage. While MDHA is best known for its advocacy on behalf of deer hunters and wildlife habitat, our organization’s influence extends far beyond the woods each fall. Through conservation projects, habitat restoration, outdoor education, fundraising events, and support for hunting participation, MDHA contributes significantly to Minnesota’s economy and quality of life.
MDHA keeps growing, and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome the new South Washington County Chapter to the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association family.
For more than four decades, the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association has been committed to protecting Minnesota’s deer habitat, preserving hunting traditions, and ensuring the future of our outdoor heritage. One of the most impactful ways we do that is through Forkhorn Camps — a program designed to introduce young people to the outdoors, conservation, and safe, ethical hunting.
Like many of us raised in Minnesota, I started hunting as a pre-teen (at the age of eleven) and have been at it ever since. Some highlights include my first ruffed grouse (1978) and first deer (1981). Years later, my first contribution to Whitetales, a story (“Whitetail Deer Evolution”) in the Spring 1995 issue. During the subsequent thirty-plus years I’ve been privileged to write/contribute an additional 42 Whitetales stories.
Spurred on by a combination of factors, including the growing interest in long-range shooting, availability of high ballistic coefficient bullets, new powders, rifles with fast-twist barrels, and the popularity of AR-15 style rifles, there has been a surge in the development of small-caliber cartridges over the last 20 years.
No rest for the wicked, or so the saying goes. We’ll quickly be staring down summer weather with all it’s drudgery, including ticks and mosquitoes, but there’s plenty of work to be done before then. Here’s how to triage spring chores that should be done now.
Minnesota Deer Hunters Association
460 Peterson Rd
Grand Rapids, Minnesota 55744
