Mn public land trail cams

[Swamp Stache]

I've heard it's illegal to leave trail cams on federal WMA and WPA grounds . ( i know of a few that have been confiscated) I can't find in writing that you can or cannot on mn state land. So help me out here what type of public grounds can you run a camera on in MN?

[Lockdown]

Only legal on certain types of forestry land. As far as I’m aware.

[BRoth82]

I've heard it's illegal to leave trail cams on federal WMA and WPA grounds . ( i know of a few that have been confiscated) I can't find in writing that you can or cannot on mn state land. So help me out here what type of public grounds can you run a camera on in MN?

You are correct it's in the same sections where it talks about not leaving stands over night in any WMA or WPA. There are some public lands where you can leave them out but mostly up in Northern MN. It's a dumb rule, and by the looks of all the cameras I find not many people like the rule either.

[Drich]

I've heard it's illegal to leave trail cams on federal WMA and WPA grounds . ( i know of a few that have been confiscated) I can't find in writing that you can or cannot on mn state land. So help me out here what type of public grounds can you run a camera on in MN?

If you can anywhere, it would be on MN State Forests. The State Forests are typically the state lands with the least rules. County lands may or may not have even less rules. Call the local CO and get there opinion if any doubt.

[Drich]

Found some State Forest links:
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_forests/rules.html

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/rules/6100/

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/rules/6100.1650/

[Pancake]

From page 109 of the hunting regulations book regarding leaving personal property on state forest land:

"Personal property may not be left or positioned so as to obstruct use of a road or a trail. Personal property left unattended for 14 days shall be deemed abandoned."

I sent the DNR an email specifically about this regulation as it relates to trail cameras in state forest and if checking the camera every two weeks was sufficient or if the camera had to be removed altogether at that point. Here's the response I received:

"It is allowed to leave a trail cam in a State Forest for a little while, but as you read, it is considered abandoned after 14 days. Checking it would not be enough; it would have to be removed. Bear in mind that it is not protected in any way, so if it were to be stolen or damaged, the State has no liability for that."

Cameras can't be left overnight at WMAs or WPAs. I haven't seen anything official about other types of lands. I did see something to the effect that they're essentially frowned upon at SNAs, but it didn't seem like they explicitly weren't allowed.

[218er]

It is illegal to leave personal property on wma lands overnight. Trail cameras fall under that veil. Stupid law in my book. It is what it is, I guess.

[Swamp Stache]

Thanks for all the replies. Looks like the spotting scope will continue to get a good summer workout.

[dan]

In Superior national forest I have ran trail cameras and have talked to CO's about them and they have never mentioned them being illegal. Talking to a warden at one of my bait sites last year he mentioned that every bear bait he checks has a camera at it and he takes the card out and deletes the pictures of himself and puts it back so the hunters don't know they are being watched. I said "you can do that?" he said yep, the law allows that if the camera is on public property he can do that... Apparently he can't if its on private. My point is, if its illegal they sure are not pursuing citations for it in superior national forest. And they seem to be very stringent on everything else... Guess I will have to find out before next bear season.

[BRoth82]

In Superior national forest I have ran trail cameras and have talked to CO's about them and they have never mentioned them being illegal. Talking to a warden at one of my bait sites last year he mentioned that every bear bait he checks has a camera at it and he takes the card out and deletes the pictures of himself and puts it back so the hunters don't know they are being watched. I said "you can do that?" he said yep, the law allows that if the camera is on public property he can do that... Apparently he can't if its on private. My point is, if its illegal they sure are not pursuing citations for it in superior national forest. And they seem to be very stringent on everything else... Guess I will have to find out before next bear season.

From what I read and talking to my sister who is a CO, it's only illegal on WMA and WPA land, so you should be fine in State forest areas.

[dan]

In Superior national forest I have ran trail cameras and have talked to CO's about them and they have never mentioned them being illegal. Talking to a warden at one of my bait sites last year he mentioned that every bear bait he checks has a camera at it and he takes the card out and deletes the pictures of himself and puts it back so the hunters don't know they are being watched. I said "you can do that?" he said yep, the law allows that if the camera is on public property he can do that... Apparently he can't if its on private. My point is, if its illegal they sure are not pursuing citations for it in superior national forest. And they seem to be very stringent on everything else... Guess I will have to find out before next bear season.

From what I read and talking to my sister who is a CO, it's only illegal on WMA and WPA land, so you should be fine in State forest areas.

Superior is federal land, not state, right?

[Drich]

Wonder if all federal land is not treated the same.

Here is a link for hunting in national forests: https://www.fs.usda.gov/visit/know-befo ... go/hunting . It basically says to follow state law.
Here is a link for one particular national wildlife refuge: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Sherburne/vi ... tions.html

[BRoth82]

In Superior national forest I have ran trail cameras and have talked to CO's about them and they have never mentioned them being illegal. Talking to a warden at one of my bait sites last year he mentioned that every bear bait he checks has a camera at it and he takes the card out and deletes the pictures of himself and puts it back so the hunters don't know they are being watched. I said "you can do that?" he said yep, the law allows that if the camera is on public property he can do that... Apparently he can't if its on private. My point is, if its illegal they sure are not pursuing citations for it in superior national forest. And they seem to be very stringent on everything else... Guess I will have to find out before next bear season.

From what I read and talking to my sister who is a CO, it's only illegal on WMA and WPA land, so you should be fine in State forest areas.

Superior is federal land, not state, right?

Yes I believe so, the same reason you can leave stands up over night as well.

[Lockdown]

I will send my local CO a text and see what he says. I’m 99% sure they’re illegal on WPA’s and WMA’s. Here in west central MN we don’t have any forest land…

[Lockdown]

The best thing to do would be contact your local CO and see if they care. They don’t have to enforce that law they don’t want to.

When Tyler and I had talked to the warden when he killed his buck this year, we mentioned packing the buck out. (In MN you are required to take EVERYTHING. All bones, hide, literally nothing left behind except the gut pile. I emailed DNR about it in the past) But this warden said he was ok with it