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MARTIN COUNTY - Firearm deer hunting opens this Saturday, Nov. 7, and will run until Nov. 15, and with it will come plenty of hunters and plenty of changes to take note of and follow.
To start off with, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is starting a Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Surveillance Block. It will rotate through the entire state across the next four years, and its first year will cover Southern Minnesota and cover both of the permit areas of Martin County, 252 and 253.
"The southwest part of the state is chosen for this particular year, and then we’ll rotate clockwise around the state," DNR Area Wildlife Supervisor Brian Nyborg said. "We’ll go up to the northeast next, then northwest, northeast, southeast and then back to southwest. We’ll do a four-year rotation around the state, surveilling CWD."
Before they are sent in for testing, it is required that the deer be registered. It is also required that they be registered 48 hours after it was taken and before it is processed privately or commercially. The closest registration station is either in Wells or Lakefield, so Nyborg recommends doing it online.
"There are three pieces of information you need," he said. "Two of them you’ll know off the top of your head: your date of birth and your name. The third piece will be the MinnDNR number, or the license number. There’s one piece of information that’s going to be somewhat tricky for owners to know, but that’s going to be printed on your license."
Registration is done online at dnr.state.mn.us/licenses/online-sales.html or on the MN DNR Licensing mobile app.
Any deer shot Nov. 7 or 8 has to be tested, no exceptions.
"A hunter harvested, they’ll do the site validation in the field, register the deer, and then bring it to the check station," Nyborg said. "I will be in Sherburn, and then Blue Earth has a station. They’ll harvest the deer and bring it into the check station. We’ll work in teams of two, one person doing data and another person cutting the nodes out of the neck. It takes two minutes to remove the nodes and maybe five minutes to collect the data. It’s important hunters know the location where they shot it and have their MinnDNR number available when they come through the check station."
The Blue Earth Station will be at 702 East 14th Street, and the Sherburn Station at 1 Temperance Lake Road. The main nearby DNR headquarters location is at 175 County Road 26 in Windom. They will all be available from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Nov. 7 and 8 and from 9 a.m. to noon on Nov. 9.
If you can’t get to a station on those days, Full Rut Skullery in Trimont is part of the partner sampling program and can help, but you must make an appointment by calling 507-399-1502. Full Rut Skullery will also test in the North Parking Lot of the Martin County Fairgrounds from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Nov. 7 and from noon to 3 p.m. on Nov. 8.
Mail-in kits will also be available while supplies last from dnr.state.mn.us/cwd/cwd-kits.html
Fox Lake Conservation League President Tim Eisenmenger said he is glad that they are doing it.
"Testing ahead of time so they’ll know what’s going on," he said. "They’re just doing our areas, and next year they’ll do different counties. Testing the whole state is a good idea."
While no CWD has been found in this area, Eisenmenger said some has been found in South Dakota, reaching near the border.
This will also be the first season in decades where not all counties are shotgun only. This formerly statewide ordinance was repealed in 2025, but time was given for individual counties to figure out whether to keep their zones shotgun only or allow rifles. While Martin and Blue Earth County allowed the change to go through, Cottonwood, Faribault, Jackson and Watonwan County opted to stay with shotgun-only.
Even with this in mind, Eisenmenger and Nyborg said they have not seen any hunters changing the counties they hunt in because of it. From those he has talked to, Eisenmenger said more than half of them are glad to be able to use a rifle.
"There are a few that are still using slugs, and some people that don’t want to change," he said. "I think that’s fine, too. I’m going to use both. I’ll use my slugs down in some areas because it’s short range, and in some other areas I might use a rifle."
A new electronic licensing system is also getting its first exposure to a deer hunting season. Eisenmenger said when bear season started on Sept. 1, the system suffered from an outage, so the main concern he has fielded from people is system issues while they are trying to register.
Nyborg said they have fielded some calls, but for some pretty straightforward issues. It is strongly recommended that the hunting license process be done as soon as possible.
Hunting licenses can still be purchased in person, at the Fairmont Wal-Mart and at the License Center at 228 Lake Avenue. Online, the website is licenses.dnr.state.mn.us/.
Overall, Nyborg said conditions are shaping up nicely.
"The biggest thing will be the percent of the corn crop that’s harvested, so there are fewer places to hide," he said. "We’re probably 90 percent harvested right now. You don’t see a ton of cornfields left."
"It’s been awful wet, so there’s still corn left," Eisenmenger said. "Hopefully it dries up so they get it out. I do think with the rifle, there will be more buckshot this year than there has been the last few."