Climbing & hunting at Devils Lake this weekend

With the weather being near perfect, I was thinking of heading up to Devils Lake this weekend. What do I need to know now that it's hunting season? Would it be wise to wear blaze orange? Are any areas closed?

Man I was hoping to read that you were going to climb w/ a gun and snipe animals from the belay.

It looks like most of the climbing is in areas closed off to hunters. The DNR page is pretty informative and has a decent map of what's open and what isn't. That being said it wouldn't hurt to bring some blaze orange with. There are still a quarter million trigger happy hunters in the woods.

Devils Lake Info & Map

Gov. Dodge is crawling with hunters. Be safe folks.

Jeremy, here is a direct link to this year's map . You want to avoid East of the Quarry (incl. the Old Sandstone, where we regularly see hunters using the climbers' trail), Steinke Basin, and especially the South Bluff bouldering. By next weekend there will be a lot less hunting pressure, if you want to visit any of these areas.

No need for orange at the East or West Bluff.

Thanks everyone. I think we're going to hit up Box Canyon and maybe Balanced Rock Wall tomorrow. It's near to the lake and fairly deep into the closed area.

I'm still baffled as to how someone can mistake a human for a deer and shoot them.

Red Tagger wrote:I'm still baffled as to how someone can mistake a human for a deer and shoot them.

That doesn't happen that often. But depending on the state law, deer hunters are probably using high powered rifles. If they miss, the bullet can go for a LONG way.

This year's map of areas open to hunting and trapping

It is that time of year again! For those who have been following the shifting boundaries over the years, notice that bouldering areas that overlook the Lake on the S Bluff are now closed to hunting ... but you should still probably be wearing blaze orange if you go to the Reserve.

Also the areas E & W of the Quarry are closed to hunting.

The Sandstone, and Steinke basin are open to hunting as they always have been. In my decades of experience, that mostly means you don't want to show up toooo early in the morning ....