Minnesota Hunters Shocked By North Dakota License Price Increases

Ever since I was a kid, I've enjoyed the fall ritual of heading out to go pheasant hunting. As a Minnesota resident, there's only a portion of my home state that offers decent pheasant territory.

Over the years, my hunting partners and I have made trips to some of Minnesota's neighboring states in search of new hunting opportunities. For the last number of years now, some of those annual trips have been to our neighbor to the west - North Dakota.

My dad has a good friend with farm land in North Dakota, giving us access to some hunting land that doesn't have a lot of hunting pressure like public lands tend to see. I know not everyone is lucky enough to have connections like that, so I do count myself grateful.

In recent years, the cost of an out-of-state hunting license as a Minnesotan heading across the border for pheasants was $100 plus some other fees and such, so the total license cost came to about $120. Not as cheap as the Minnesota resident license of $7.50 (plus a small game license), but we considered it worth the expense for a couple of fun trips each season.

I was literally preparing to leave on a trip to North Dakota a few days ago, gear in the vehicle and all, and I went online to buy my license before hitting the road, and I was stopped in my tracks.

Rather than the normal $120-ish it had been for some time now, the total cost now as a Minnesotan looking to head across the border, was now $175. That's right, another roughly $50 for the same 14-day non-resident license to hunt pheasants.

Ouch.

Wondering if I did something wrong when trying to buy the license, I did a little quick research. It turns out North Dakota jacked up most of their licenses for both residents and non-residents.

A bill passed through the legislature and signed by the North Dakota Governor earlier this year included numerous sizable increases for a variety of hunting and fishing licenses. There were also some other notable changes beyond pricing.

Here are a couple of bigger license changes to be aware of:

Non-Resident Small Game (Including Pheasant) License: $150 (used to be $100)

Non-Resident White-Tailed Deer License: $350 (used to be $250)

Non-Resident Fishing License (Season): $60 (used to be $40)

Non-Resident Fishing License (Short Term - 10-Day): $50 (used to be $30)

Non-Resident Waterfowl License: For non-residents, the license is not statewide anymore starting in 2025. Now, you have to buy a zone-specific license and there are rules about these zones (seen here).

There are a number of additional changes for both residents and non-residents, which you can find on the North Dakota Game & Fish Department's legislative page. The reason stated for the increased prices is to "support wildlife management and conservation efforts".

Lots of people in online hunting forums have expressed frustration, with some people swearing off going to North Dakota over the changes. One person (sarcastically) commented in a forum how they hoped the increased license fees would offset the economic losses suffered by fewer hunters spending money at hotels, gas stations, restaurants, and other businesses in the state.

To be fair, license fees go into a different financial pool than that kind of revenue, but I understand their frustration.

To be clear, I am writing this just to let my fellow Minnesotans know that if you plan on hunting this year that you might get some sticker shock if you haven't already seen the new prices, not to discourage people from going.

I get that out-of-state licenses are more expensive than resident licenses, and I know everything is more expensive than it used to be. I am just putting a word of warning out because it definitely shocked me and changed my plans for this year.

I don't know yet if these price changes will permanently keep me from ever going back, but the increased costs and other new regulations will certainly make hunters think twice before "pulling the trigger" on buying their new license.