Minnesota's bear hunters can apply now for a license.
Applications for the fall hunt will be accepted through May 4 at any Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) license agent and online at www.mndnr.gov/buyalicense. They also are available at the DNR License Center in St. Paul or by phone at 888-665-4236. A total of 6,000 licenses are available in 11 permit areas. This year's bear hunt is Sept. 1-Oct. 14. Hunters selected in the annual lottery must purchase their licenses by Aug. 1, so licenses that aren't purchased can be made available to other hunters. After this year's Aug. 1 deadline, any eligible hunter may purchase any remaining licenses starting at noon, Monday, Aug. 6. In 2011, hunters bought 5,684 licenses by the deadline. Those hunters were chosen from a pool of 19,170 applicants for the available 7,050 permit area licenses. The remaining 1,336 permits were sold after the deadline passed. Hunters harvested 2,131 bears. Bear licenses cost $38 for residents and $200 for nonresidents. The bag limit is two bears in the no-quota area and one bear in all quota permit areas. More information is available on the DNR website at www.mndnr.gov/hunting/bear.
