Hunting Land in Price County, Wisconsin

The public-land base: county forest, state and national forest, and enrolled private land

Price County's roughly 77% forest cover is backed by a genuinely large, multi-layered ownership base. The county itself owns and manages roughly 90,000 acres as the Price County Forest, administered by the county Forestry & Parks Department. State-owned forest land adds roughly another 28,500 acres, and the Chequamegon National Forest (part of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest) accounts for over 151,000 acres within the county's boundaries. On top of the public land, more than 128,000 acres of privately-owned forestland are enrolled in Wisconsin's Managed Forest Law or the older Forest Crop program, which together push the county's combined forested acreage -- public and enrolled-private -- well past half a million acres.

That base translates directly into hunting access: more than 300,000 acres of forested public land (county, state, and national forest combined) are open to hunting across Price County, with over 300 miles of trails supporting access. For a buyer specifically interested in adjacency to public hunting ground, this is a meaningfully larger and more varied base -- spanning three different ownership/management regimes rather than a single conservation area -- than many single Wisconsin counties offer.

Park Falls and the county's dedicated Grouse Management Area

Park Falls, Price County's second city, specifically brands itself the 'Ruffed Grouse Capital of the World' -- a claim backed by the county's own Grouse Management Area, a dedicated roughly 25,400-acre tract with its own network of access roads, ATV/UTV routes, and walking trails built specifically to support grouse hunters. Wisconsin's aspen-dominated northern forest habitat (Price County's own forest composition includes roughly 200,000 acres of aspen alongside 220,000 acres of northern hardwoods) is exactly the young-forest habitat mosaic ruffed grouse depend on, which is part of why this specific area sustains the reputation.

Beyond grouse, the county's roughly 450 miles of funded ATV/UTV trail routes -- including 62 miles of the Tuscobia State Trail, the 70-mile Flambeau Trail System, the 9.5-mile Solberg Trail, and the 15.8-mile Georgetown Trail -- provide practical access into forested tracts for scouting, retrieving game, and general recreational use alongside hunting itself, which is worth factoring in if trail access (or trail proximity/noise, depending on your preference) matters to how you'll use a specific parcel.

Managed Forest Law: the key thing to check before buying forested land here to hunt privately

Given how much of Price County's private forestland is enrolled in Wisconsin's Managed Forest Law program, the single most important thing to confirm before buying a specific parcel for private hunting use is its current MFL status. MFL enrollment requires at least 20 contiguous acres under the same ownership (or at least 10 contiguous acres connected to another 10-acre-plus parcel), with at least 80% of the parcel classified as productive forest, and in exchange offers a substantial property-tax reduction tied to following an approved forest-management plan.

The critical distinction for a hunting buyer is 'open' versus 'closed' MFL enrollment: open-enrolled parcels are required to allow public access for hunting, fishing, hiking, and other recreation, while closed-enrolled parcels (available for a smaller share of a landowner's total MFL acreage, subject to program rules) don't carry that public-access requirement. If your goal is exclusive private hunting rights on a specific parcel, confirm both its current MFL enrollment status and, if enrolled, whether it's designated open or closed -- don't assume a forested 'For Sale' listing is automatically available for exclusively private use.

• Ask the seller or listing agent directly whether the parcel is MFL- or Forest Crop-enrolled, and request the current management plan and enrollment classification (open or closed) rather than relying on a listing description alone.
• Contact Price County Zoning & Land Conservation ((715) 339-3272) or the Wisconsin DNR to confirm current MFL status and any pending withdrawal penalties if you plan to build on the parcel.
• If public hunting access is required on an open-enrolled parcel you're considering, factor that into your evaluation of the parcel's value for your own hunting use -- it will not be exclusively yours during hunting seasons.
• Check the parcel's location against the county's Grouse Management Area boundary and the broader public-forest blocks (county, state, Chequamegon National Forest) using the county's GIS/Real Property Lister records, rather than relying on a general 'near public land' description.