Can You Pick Up Shed Antlers in Minnesota? 2027 Rules

Q: Is it legal to pick up shed antlers in Minnesota?

Minnesota wildlife management areas allow shed antlers to be collected for personal use. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources puts it this way: "Shed antlers may be collected for personal use."

Q: When is shed hunting season in Minnesota?

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources lists its Minnesota shed rules without dated closures, so they hold year round. The weeks that matter most are the ones when antlers drop.

Q: Do I need a permit to collect sheds in Minnesota?

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources's published shed rules name no permit, course or license for collecting. Landowner permission and the land manager's own rules still apply wherever you walk.

Q: When do deer shed antlers in Minnesota?

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources names white-tailed deer, moose and elk among the antlered animals of Minnesota. For whitetails, Iowa Department of Natural Resources puts the drop at mid January to mid March: "Whitetail deer have about a two-month shedding period in Iowa, beginning mid-Jan. and ending mid-March."

Q: Who sets the shed antler rules in Minnesota?

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The rules here were read from its own pages on September 21, 2026, and each one links to the page it came from. Rules change between winters, so the agency page is the one to check before a trip.

Agency statement

Rule type

from Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

4

Rules quoted

each linked to the agency page

None named

Course or permit

in the agency rules quoted below

September 21, 2026

Rules read

from the agency page

The rule

Shed antler rules in Minnesota

Agency statement

Scientific and Natural Areas are the exception: collecting of any kind is off limits there, and the DNR spells out that shed deer antlers stay where they fall. Moose and elk sit beside white-tailed deer among the antlered animals the DNR names.

Wildlife management areas

Shed antlers may be collected for personal use on WMAs.

Shed antlers may be collected for personal use.

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, read September 21, 2026. Read it at the source

Scientific and Natural Areas

Collecting is not allowed on Scientific and Natural Areas, and the DNR says this includes shed deer antlers.

Leave plants, animals, rocks, and other natural elements (this includes shed deer antlers) in place to fulfill their life cycle and role in the environment.

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, read September 21, 2026. Read it at the source

Courses, sale and state land

More Minnesota shed rules

Buying and selling sheds

The DNR regulations book says antlers of lawfully taken game animals may be possessed, transported, bought or sold; it does not address selling naturally shed antlers specifically.

A person may possess, transport, buy, or sell these parts of lawfully taken game animals except for migratory game birds, which cannot be bought or sold: adipose (fatty) tissue, bones (including skulls), hooves, antlers, sinews, teeth, hides, claws.

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, read September 21, 2026. Read it at the source

State wildlife land

Shed antlers may be collected for personal use on WMAs; the DNR lists no seasonal closure for it.

Shed antlers may be collected for personal use.

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, read September 21, 2026. Read it at the source

When antlers drop

When deer shed antlers in Minnesota

For white-tailed deer, Iowa Department of Natural Resources puts the drop at mid January to mid March.

Whitetail deer have about a two-month shedding period in Iowa, beginning mid-Jan. and ending mid-March.

Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Read it at the source

A large elk antler lying in green grass with snow covered mountains in the distance — An elk shed on the National Elk Refuge, Wyoming, with the Tetons behind. Elk winter range in the West is where most dated shed closures fall, because the closures exist for the animals wintering there. “Shed Antler on the National Elk Refuge (53662858076)”, USFWS Mountain Prairie, Public domain

Minnesota shed antler questions

Is it legal to pick up shed antlers in Minnesota?

When is shed hunting season in Minnesota?

Do I need a permit to collect sheds in Minnesota?

Can you sell shed antlers in Minnesota?

The DNR regulations book says antlers of lawfully taken game animals may be possessed, transported, bought or sold; it does not address selling naturally shed antlers specifically. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources: "A person may possess, transport, buy, or sell these parts of lawfully taken game animals except for migratory game birds, which cannot be bought or sold: adipose (fatty) tissue, bones (including skulls), hooves, antlers, sinews, teeth, hides, claws."

Can I collect sheds on state wildlife land in Minnesota?

When do deer shed antlers in Minnesota?

Who sets the shed antler rules in Minnesota?

Shed antler rules in other states

Minnesota deer seasonArchery and firearms dates for Minnesota, read from Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.Minnesota deer rutWhen bucks breed in the fall, months before those antlers drop.Shed antler rules by stateEvery state's shed rule, the dated western closures and when each species drops.

A bull moose with broad palmate antlers walking across a snowy flat — A bull moose near Soda Butte, Yellowstone. Colorado Parks and Wildlife dates the moose drop from November through January, the earliest of the antlered animals it names. Photo: Jacob W. Frank, NPS. “Bull moose near Soda Butte (b95e1acc-f297-4abd-8b01-bd4f25a9a6a5)”, Jacob W. Frank, Public domain

Compiled September 21, 2026. Every rule above is republished from Wildlife management area rules, Minnesota DNR and the other Minnesota Department of Natural Resources pages linked beside each quote, read on September 21, 2026. Rules change between winters, so the agency page is the one to check before a trip. Every state is in the national shed antler guide.