Minnesota elk license application deadline nears for northwest hunters

The pool is tiny, the rules are tight and the deadline is approaching fast for anyone in Beltrami County and the rest of northwest Minnesota hoping to draw an elk tag. Minnesota hunters have until Tuesday, July 7, to apply for one of 12 elk licenses the Department of Natural Resources is offering this year, with the Grygla herd open for hunting for the first time since 2012.

The DNR said the larger 2026 aerial survey counts justified expanding harvest opportunity. The licenses are split across three recognized herds in northwest Minnesota, Grygla, Kittson Central and Kittson Northeast, also called Caribou-Vita, and across seven seasons. Seasons A through F run Sept. 12-20, while Season G runs Sept. 26-Oct. 4.

Only three of the licenses are either-sex tags and nine are antlerless. Two licenses are reserved for applicants with 10 or more years of elk application history, and one tag is set aside for eligible agricultural landowners in Zone 30, the Caribou-Vita area. That reservation structure leaves only a handful of openings for the general applicant pool, which is why the application window matters so much for hunters who have waited years for a chance.

Applicants must use the DNR’s new electronic licensing system this year, and landowner applicants must create a land profile and certify they meet eligibility requirements. The application fee is $5 and is non-refundable. For selected applicants, the total license cost is $288.

The DNR manages elk as a limited resource in the northwest corner of the state, where the animals once ranged from Rushford to Roseau. Its aerial surveys help set harvest quotas and monitor population trends in Kittson, Marshall, Roseau and Beltrami counties, making the yearly count a direct driver of how many hunters get access and where.

A recent DNR aerial survey report said elk trends varied by block, with increases in the Grygla and Kittson Central blocks and no elk observed on the Minnesota side of the Caribou-Vita block during that survey. Earlier DNR reporting counted 233 elk in the 2025 survey across the Grygla, Kittson Central and Caribou-Vita herds, a snapshot that helps explain why the state can tighten or loosen access from one year to the next.

Paul Burr said, "This will be the first time since 2012 that the Grygla herd has been open to hunting." For hunters across Beltrami County and the broader north-central region, that change marks one of the most consequential elk decisions in years.