Buying Hunting Land in Kanabec County, Minnesota

The Mille Lacs WMA reaches into west-central Kanabec County

The Mille Lacs Wildlife Management Area, established in 1949 largely from tax-forfeited land, covers roughly 39,000 acres straddling east-central Mille Lacs County and west-central Kanabec County. The Minnesota DNR maintains about 100 miles of roads and trails through the WMA, with 80 public access points spread across the area. Hunting is the dominant recreational use, though trapping, hiking, bicycling, bird watching, and cross-country skiing are also permitted. Because the WMA straddles the county line, a specific parcel's exact boundary and which county it falls in should be confirmed with the DNR or county GIS before assuming a given access point or trail segment is inside Kanabec County rather than Mille Lacs County.

For a buyer specifically interested in land near this WMA, proximity to a public access point can be a meaningful factor in evaluating a parcel for recreational or hunting use -- but it also means a nearby private parcel could see hunting traffic and vehicle access on adjacent public roads and trails that a similarly situated parcel farther from the WMA would not.

The Fish Lake-Ann River Game Refuge: open to hunting, except waterfowl

Kanabec County also contains the Fish Lake-Ann River State Game Refuge, one of the state game refuges listed under Minnesota Rules Chapter 6230. Unlike a refuge that closes all hunting, this one carries a specific, narrower restriction: it is open to all hunting and trapping except waterfowl. That's a genuinely local, actionable fact for anyone evaluating recreational or hunting land near the refuge boundary -- deer, small game, and furbearer hunting and trapping remain permitted inside the refuge itself, but waterfowl hunters need to know the boundary and hunt outside it. Confirm the refuge's exact mapped boundary with the Minnesota DNR before assuming a specific parcel sits inside or outside it, since the restriction applies to the refuge polygon itself, not a fixed distance from any landmark.

A Legacy-funded grouse habitat expansion, and a separate WMA addition

Kanabec County has also seen real, recent additions to its public hunting land base through the state's Legacy Amendment funding. Pheasants Forever and the Minnesota Sharp-tailed Grouse Society, working through the multi-phase Northeastern Minnesota Sharp-tailed Grouse Habitat Partnership and a grant recommended by the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, finalized acquisition of a 1,285-acre parcel in Kanabec County in 2011, adjacent to the existing Kroschel Wildlife Management Area; later phases of the same partnership added further acreage in the county, with 834 acres specifically cited as protected here for enrollment into the state WMA system. Separately, a 155-acre private-land acquisition was added to the nearby Erickson-Lidstrom Wildlife Management Area. Once enrolled, this land is managed in perpetuity by the DNR as public hunting and habitat ground -- worth checking against county GIS if a parcel you're evaluating borders any of these more recently added blocks, since they may not appear as public land on older maps.

The county's own tax-forfeited land auction is a direct acquisition path

Separately from any DNR wildlife-area program, Kanabec County itself periodically sells tax-forfeited parcels at public auction, some of which can include vacant, wooded, or otherwise recreation-suited land. The county's 2026 sale ran as an online auction, opening July 6 at 9 a.m. and closing August 5 at noon, with parcels listed in advance on the county's own tax-forfeit land sale page. For current listings, deposit terms, and bidding procedures, contact the Kanabec County Auditor-Treasurer's office directly (320-679-6430 for general questions, 320-679-6436 for land-sale-specific questions) rather than relying on a prior year's auction terms, since parcel lists, minimum bids, and deposit requirements change from sale to sale.

• Confirm whether a specific parcel of interest borders the Mille Lacs WMA, the Fish Lake-Ann River Game Refuge, or a recently added grouse-habitat or Erickson-Lidstrom WMA parcel directly with county GIS -- boundaries on older maps may not reflect additions made after 2011.
• If waterfowl hunting is part of your plan, confirm the exact refuge boundary with the Minnesota DNR before assuming a parcel near Fish Lake or the Ann River sits outside the no-waterfowl restriction.
• For the county's own tax-forfeited land auctions, contact the Auditor-Treasurer's office for the current parcel list, deposit terms, and auction dates -- these are set fresh for each sale and are not carried over from year to year.