Bear Lottery

I am going to give bear hunting a shot for the first time this year. We have at least half a dozen nuisance bears at our farm where we deer hunt, so I think I should have good odds. I’ll be hunting in zone 51.

I am a little unfamiliar with the permitting process. By reviewing the bear hunting page on the MN DNR website, it says you have to apply for the lottery for my zone by May 1st and you can do it through the online licensing system. When I log into the online license sales website, I don’t see a bear lottery or license anywhere. Am I missing something? The deadline of May 1st will be here before you know it.

Also, for someone like me with no preference points, do I even have a shot at drawing a tag this year?

Usually you go in just like you’re buying a regular license. Select bear lottery $5 . You either apply as an individual or a group. Group is slick because if one person in the group gets drawn the whole group is eligible. We’ve been just getting preference points it seems for awhile. Haven’t drawn a tag in 4 years for our group in area 51. Good luck getting a first draw depending on area.

Wow, good to know about area 51 and the fact you haven’t got a tag in 4 years… Looks like I should definitely temper my expectations on getting a tag this year. Have you ever tried getting a surplus tag when they are available in August or whenever it is?

These are the only options I see under hunting on the online license sales website. Maybe I’m missing it but I’m not seeing bear lottery anywhere.

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Here’s a link, but it isn’t available yet, should be ready early April….

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/licenses/hunting/index.html

Not that surplus tags are impossible to get but we’ve never been successful. Either you stand in line somewhere and the agent processes it right as they’re released or do it online yourself but they’re gone in a couple minutes. All the stars need to be aligned.

If you don’t get a tag and just want a bear removed I’ll bet you could convince a tag holder to hunt there and maybe even help?

i bear hunt zone 27, and yea its been every 4-5 years!!!!!!!! more so the 5 years !

I was just reading up the other day, and ya, applications aren’t available yet.

For surplus licenses of any kind, I use a small bait shop, (friend) who will have all the info entered and only has to hit submit 5 seconds before the sale begins. My good friend is 5 for 5 on getting me surplus tags. 2 times there were fewer than 5 in the area I wanted.

Good luck!
I’ll be trying for a tag in area 451.

Took me 6 years in area 45. I was able to get a surplus tag a few years back. Got lucky.
Dnr site says details will be available April 9th.

I’m still not seeing the bear lottery as an option to purchase/enter on the MN DNR online license sales system… am I missing it or is it just not up yet?

No info yet and can’t apply yet either. Apps due May 7th. Hope they get their act together. Deadlines coming up fast.

Have they increased the amount of tags being given out this year? I’m in zone 45 and it’s showing it will take about 5 years to get a tag. We have a lot of bears in the area and nobody hunts for them.

Red Eye wrote:

No info yet and can’t apply yet either. Apps due May 7th. Hope they get their act together. Deadlines coming up fast.

I looked at the DNR website yesterday,bit said more bear info will be available later????

glenn57 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Red Eye wrote:</div>
No info yet and can’t apply yet either. Apps due May 7th. Hope they get their act together. Deadlines coming up fast.

I looked at the DNR website yesterday,bit said more bear info will be available later????

I just applied today, so it’s up and running. Area 51 with some preference points, so hopefully this is the year.

ranger777 wrote:

Have they increased the amount of tags being given out this year? I’m in zone 45 and it’s showing it will take about 5 years to get a tag. We have a lot of bears in the area and nobody hunts for them.

Where do you see how long it will take to get a tag for your zone?

Here.

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Thanks for sharing! I didn’t see that on the DNR’s bear hunting page so that is very helpful.

A friend of mine said first time lottery applicants get 3 preference points their first year they apply. I can’t find anything in the regs about that. Does anyone know if that is true?

Never heard of that. That would kinda screw the whole system

Is there a way to check how many preference points your at?

There’s a good article in the Strib today on how well the bear population is doing.

personally i find it just easier to go down to a place that sells licenses and apply in person. obviously you need to know the zone you want to hunt in first, but sounds like you got that.

yea getting drawn the first time you apply is slim to none!!!!!

Anyone know how to check preference points? I think I have 6. I might hunt my land in 45 this year.

TH wrote:

Anyone know how to check preference points? I think I have 6. I might hunt my land in 45 this year.

do you know how many years it’s been since you last hunted, and applied after that??

So if you’ve applied for a license 4 times since and not got drawn you would have 4 preference points, so based on your post you have 6.

If you happen to have the results of last year’s lottery it would have listed your points, but to directly answer your question, NO I have no idea where to go to check

do you know how many years it’s been since you last hunted, and applied after that??

So if you’ve applied for a license 4 times since and not got drawn you would have 4 preference points, so based on your post you have 6.

If you happen to have the results of last year’s lottery it would have listed your points, but to directly answer your question, NO I have no idea where to go to check

That is the simple answer, but life gets busy and I’m not sure I applied every year. Also the last year or two I applied for a point as I didn’t want a tag.

bigfatcroixbaby wrote:

Minnesota is HORRIBLE at conducting their bear drawing. You can almost NEVER apply when they say you should be able to because for whatever reason they can’t get their ducks in a row. Secondly, they notify successful applicants in early summer when all the Wisconsin guys have already bought up most the good bait, and by the time they finally get around to allowing the purchase of surplus tags all the bait is gone and they give a guy almost no time to prepare, as baiting starts like a week or two later. They could do you guys a favor by hosting the draw several months sooner, but then again it is Minnesota so I wouldn’t put too much faith in that happening..

As for 51, you won’t draw this season, and with point creep it could take 5-6 years before you do. Bear huntin is getting pretty popular these days.

I don’t have a clue when Wisconsin notified successfully beat applicants but Minnesota outdoor news article says Minnesota will notify successful applicants buy June 1…. That’s plenty of time. I have never had an issue getting bait

Wisconsin typically draws bear tags early February.

bigfatcroixbaby wrote:

Minnesota is HORRIBLE at conducting their bear drawing. You can almost NEVER apply when they say you should be able to because for whatever reason they can’t get their ducks in a row. Secondly, they notify successful applicants in early summer when all the Wisconsin guys have already bought up most the good bait, and by the time they finally get around to allowing the purchase of surplus tags all the bait is gone and they give a guy almost no time to prepare, as baiting starts like a week or two later. They could do you guys a favor by hosting the draw several months sooner, but then again it is Minnesota so I wouldn’t put too much faith in that happening..

As for 51, you won’t draw this season, and with point creep it could take 5-6 years before you do. Bear huntin is getting pretty popular these days.

Seems like a problem that would be limited to people close to the WI border.

What is point creep? According to MN DNR, it took 3 preference points for 51 last year. 6 seems like a stretch.

Gotcha, that makes sense. FWIW, according to the DNR, both the 2020 and 2021 bear lottery draws for 51 took 3 points to draw a tag. So at least according to them, it hasn’t crept up at all the last two years. This will be my second year applying and getting a point, so I’m hoping next year is the year.

Just emailed dnr about finding out how many points I have. You have to call to find out. As for area 51 the minimum you will draw with is 3 points. So if you apply this yr you will have 2 points. After you apply next yr you will have 3 points. Then the year after is when you will be eligible to draw but not guaranteed. But if you don’t draw with 3 points you will then draw the following yr with 4. Assuming there is no point creep. Including a pic of email about point checking and pic of license graph with how many points it takes to draw. What the percentage means is that in area 51 18% of the successful applicants had 3 points. The other 82% took 4 points. So if you have 4 points going into this yr you are guaranteed a tag. And the point you’re gaining this yr by being unsuccessful doesn’t count till next yr.

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Red Eye wrote:

You have to call to find out. As for area 51 the minimum you will draw with is 3 points.

Good info, thanks for sharing! I called to check since I’ve never drawn a bear tag, and I have 4 points now. However, I started to apply with a buddy last year, and it’s based off of the lowest point total in our group so if he is at 3 or less still pretty marginal chance at Zone 51 this year. If I were applying alone I’d pretty much be guaranteed a tag.