ST. PAUL — The number of small game hunters in Minnesota in 2024 decreased slightly from 2023 and was 5% below the 10-year average, the Department of Natural Resources said Tuesday, Sept. 2, in reporting results from its 2024 small game survey.

In a news release, the DNR said it sold 228,661 small game licenses for the 2024 hunting seasons, compared with the 10-year average of 240,812 small game licenses. But like the previous season, hunters who targeted waterfowl, grouse and pheasants — the state’s top small game species — had similar or slightly better success rates compared with the 10-year averages, the DNR said.

Conducted by mail, the annual small game hunter survey estimates the number of hunters and harvest and hunter success rates for two dozen species, the DNR said. The survey

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