Bear hunt lottery applications available (published April 3, 2025)

Prospective bear hunters have until Friday, May 2, to apply for a bear hunting license from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Applications for the 2025 season can be submitted online, at any license agent or by telephone at 888-665-4236.

A total of 4,605 licenses are available across the 15 quota areas where licenses are limited for the 2025 season, which opens Monday, Sept. 1, and closes Sunday, Oct. 12.

The number of licenses available each year in the quota area is based on Minnesota’s bear population trends for those areas. License quotas for the 2025 bear season include a moderate increase where population trends indicate sufficient growth.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources adopted changes to several bear permit area boundaries for the 2025 bear season. These changes affect areas that had previously been part of permit areas 12, 25, 46 and 451. Area 451 was dissolved and is now included in the no quota area. Boundaries for permit areas 12 and 46 have changed, with former portions of those two permit areas now included in the no quota area.

There also was a change that moves the Trout Lake unit of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from permit area 25 to 22, and permit area 22 is now consistent with the entire BWCAW boundary. Changes to these areas are reflected in the Minnesota bear permit areas map available on the DNR website.

Lottery winners will be notified by Sunday, June 1. The deadline to purchase bear hunting licenses awarded by lottery is Friday, Aug. 1. Any remaining unpurchased licenses will be available over the counter starting at noon on Wednesday, Aug. 6.

An unlimited number of bear licenses will be sold over the counter for the no-quota area that includes east-central and far northwest Minnesota. No-quota licenses are valid only in the no-quota area.

Hunters with either a quota or no-quota license who are interested in taking a problem bear should contact the DNR wildlife manager for their area(s) of interest to be added to a hunter contact list for any opportunities that might arise.

Complete instructions about how to apply for a bear hunting license, maps of permit areas and a listing of permit availability for each area are available on the Minnesota DNR website.