BLUE EARTH– Will deer hunters in Faribault County be able to use high-power rifles to hunt deer during the 2026 deer hunting season?

That is a question Faribault County sheriff Scott Adams told the commissioners they will have to make a decision on during the next year.

“Last Wednesday, I had my normal Fifth District Sheriff’s meeting,” Adams said during a board meeting on Tuesday. “One of the topics we discussed was something the board is going to have to address next year is slug hunting versus high-powered rifle hunting for deer hunting.”

Surveying the other Fifth District sheriffs, Adams shared it appeared about 60 percent of the counties in the district are going to remain slug only while the other 40 percent are going to allow high-powered rifles for deer hunting for the 2026 season.

“Martin County is leaning towards staying with slug, Watonwan is going rifle, Blue Earth is going rifle, Waseca is staying slug,” Adams reported. “Freeborn County is not in our district.”

Adams stated his ultimate goal is public safety.

“To recap, it was in the 1940s that the state eliminated high-powered rifles and went to slug to let the population of deer grow,” Adams commented. “Now the DNR (Minnesota Department of Natural Resources) says the population has grown and it can be opened to rifle hunting.”

In the calls he’s received on the matter, Adams noted more of the people have been in favor of just allowing slug hunting because of safety.

“A lot of people are not aware that you can use a high-powered rifle in a pistol form currently in this area,” Adams said. “It is legal to use an AR-15 pistol to hunt deer in our area and it has been legal for a fair number of years.”

Adams stated he would recommend that the board would accept public comment on the matter before making their decision.

“I think it is odd that the State is putting this on the County Board,” Adams added. “But it is what it is.”

The commissioners also:

— Voted to appoint Kelly Hendrickson as the interim county recorder effective Nov. 3.

— Approved the Sales Order and Security Agreement purchasing order with Metro Sales Inc. for the purchase of a Ricoh IM C4510 at a cost of $15,072.

— Approved the training request of Kara Bendickson of the assessor’s office to attend the Vanguard User Group Training seminar.