Changes could soon be coming to bear hunting in Minnesota. 

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is making recommendations for changes to the state’s bear permit area boundaries — the agency says there have been only a few changes like it since the early 1990s. 

Since both the number of interested hunters and bears have increased — the DNR says that, mixed with the bears making their homes in concerning places, this is a good time for the changes which aim to allow more hunting. 

“Where we can help address some of the conflict by allowing more hunting opportunities, we’re going to do that,” Dan Stark, the DNR’s large carnivore specialist, said. 

Following “input from wildlife managers and Tribal requests,” the changes also hope to create more consistent boundaries and reduce what the DNR calls “agricultural conflicts.” 

“It’s primarily with crops,” Stark said about the agricultural issues. “So bears go into corn, [or] soybeans, or sunflowers, and, you know, are basically feeding on those crops and can cause damage in those areas.”

For bear hunting in Minnesota, the state is split into two sections — a ‘no quota area,’ where an unlimited number of licenses can be issued and ‘permit areas,’ which have limits.

The changes would expand the amount of ‘no quota area’ land, which could result in more bear hunting licenses being issued. 

The counties in the recommendations, for now, include Mille Lacs, Morrison, Becker, Mahnoman, Clearwater and Pennington.

The DNR also states that an “additional recommendation includes combining both bear permit area units in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness into one bear permit area to provide consistent regulations.”

“The bear population in Minnesota is on the upswing,” Stark added. “Bears have slowly been expanding south and west and now probably occupy nearly over half to two-thirds of the state.”

To provide input to the DNR, you can fill out a questionnaire until March 17. Also, on March 4, the agency will hold an online meeting from 6-7 p.m. to go over the recommended changes.