Slayton-Talcot Lake area wildlife

Hunters, trappers and wildlife watchers in Murray, Nobles, Pipestone and Rock counties benefit from the management, habitat and oversight work of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' Slayton area wildlife staff.

Area Wildlife Supervisor Bill Schuna along with one staff member oversee a work area totaling 1.5 million acres of public and private land. This work area includes 119 state Wildlife Management Areas totaling some 20,000 acres and four designated wildlife lakes. The area is known for a wide array of species including pheasant, deer, waterfowl, doves, wild turkey and furbearers.

What we do

At work for you

Slayton area wildlife staff treat a lake with rotenone in the winter to kill fish, thus improving shallow lakes habitat.

• Annually harvesting several thousand pounds of native grass seed and native flower seed for public land restoration projects.
• Monitoring, maintaining and managing 44 water control structures on wetlands and shallow lakes covering 5,913 acres, plus monitoring and maintaining 31 impoundments/dikes covering 433 acres on WMA lands.
• Monitoring and conducting water level management as necessary on four designated wildlife Lakes (Lake Maria, North Bader, South Badger and Round lakes.
• Preparing and updating management plans for area WMAs and providing habitat management technical assistance for private landowners throughout the work area.
• Annually developing, maintaining or improving about 30 user facilities (parking lots, gates, trails, etc.); maintaining three miles of access roads; conducting site cleanups; and maintaining about 30 miles of boundary on the Slayton area WMAs.
• Responding to major nuisance wildlife cases, including problem geese, deer and beaver. We also answer numerous phone calls related to other nuisance animal complaints such as wood chucks, skunks, etc.