FROM THE WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES

With millions of acres of public land available across the state, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) simplifies finding a hunting spot with the free Hunt Wild Wisconsin mobile app and online tools.

The DNR’s Hunt Wild Wisconsin mobile app has everything hunters need in one place, including maps, cover types, shooting hours and chronic wasting disease (CWD) testing locations.

Hunt Wild Wisconsin app users can find new public lands to explore, brush up on the regulations and listen to hunting season podcasts. With mobile mapping, up-to-the-minute shooting hours and much more, the DNR gives hunters the tools to focus on what’s important – enjoying time outdoors.

Additional online public land mapping tools include:

• Fields and Forest Lands Interactive Game Bird Hunting Tool (FFLIGHT). Locate young aspen and alder habitat, woodcock and ruffed grouse hunting areas, pheasant-stocked public hunting grounds and public-access dove fields.
• Voluntary Public Access-Habitat Incentive Program (VPA-HIP) interactive map. Funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, VPA-HIP provides landowners financial incentives to open their properties year-round to public hunting access. Hunters should read the guidelines for accessing VPA properties.
• Map of lands enrolled in Managed Forest Law and Forest Crop Law – especially useful for scouting locations in the central and northern forests.
• Public Access Lands Atlas. The atlas includes all DNR properties as well as nearly all federal and county-owned lands. Hunters should contact landowners beforehand to verify hunting is allowed.

From the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in the north to the prairies of southern Wildlife Areas and everything in between, Wisconsin hunters have some of the best public land access east of the Mississippi River.

For more information on public lands in Wisconsin, visit the DNR Public Access Lands webpage.