Working Paper 105 · Trophy GeographyMinnesota · 87 counties · Trophy Index · October 2026 snapshot
Minnesota Deer Counties Ranked: Four Counties Score 100, Houston Follows at 97
FDR Research Desk · Published FDR county analysis · Agency sources and methods linked below
Hennepin, Ramsey, Anoka and Washington occupy the first four places in Minnesota's Trophy Index. All four display 100. Houston follows at 97, ahead of Dakota at 94 and Wabasha at 93. The result puts the acreage calculation squarely in the story: this ranking measures documented trophy history per estimated bow-huntable acre. It does not reward a county simply for having a large amount of deer country.
KEY FINDINGS
- Hennepin heads the Minnesota order. Ramsey, Anoka and Washington follow, with all four displaying 100 after scoring and rounding.
- Houston is next at 97. Dakota follows at 94, then Wabasha, Chisago and Olmsted at 93.
- All 87 counties are rated. This is a Trophy Index comparison, separate from Minnesota DNR's harvest reporting by Deer Permit Area.
Minnesota county finder
Where does your county rank?
Derived FDR scores on a national 0 to 100 scale. History: 2011 through 2025. Captured October 5, 2026. Order uses the underlying rate before rounding. Zero is a valid score. Not rated means the model has no qualifying bow-huntable acreage.
10 of 87 entries shown
| State rank | County | Trophy Index |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hennepin | 100 |
| 2 | Ramsey | 100 |
| 3 | Anoka | 100 |
| 4 | Washington | 100 |
| 5 | Houston | 97 |
| 6 | Dakota | 94 |
| 7 | Wabasha | 93 |
| 8 | Chisago | 93 |
| 9 | Olmsted | 93 |
| 10 | Winona | 92 |
01County comparison
Four 100s, followed closely by Houston
Hennepin leads the underlying order, followed by Ramsey, Anoka and Washington. The rounded scores cannot express the distinctions among them, so a reader should treat the four displayed 100s as the same top band. A 100 is the upper end of FDR's national relative scale. It is not a percentage chance of taking a buck.
Houston's 97 makes it the first county below that group. Dakota is sixth at 94. Wabasha, Chisago and Olmsted each display 93, followed by Winona at 92. A list that stops after the metropolitan leaders would leave out much of the state's strongest result under this measure.
02County comparison
The top ten cutoff hides some close comparisons
Sherburne is eleventh with a 90. Scott and Fillmore follow at 89, then Isanti and Goodhue at 88. The gap between Winona in tenth and Fillmore in thirteenth is three displayed points. There is no abrupt change in the index at the familiar top ten boundary.
For someone comparing Houston, Wabasha, Winona and Fillmore, the table gives all four a high national score: 97, 93, 92 and 89. It does not establish that the property available in Houston is better than the one available in Fillmore. Keep the county comparison, but ask what the actual tract adds to it.
03County comparison
Beltrami, St. Louis and Itasca show a different result
Beltrami ranks sixty-second at 40, St. Louis sixty-eighth at 32 and Itasca eightieth at 24. Those are substantial differences from the leaders, not rounding effects. They describe the concentration of documented trophy history in this model. They are not estimates of the number of deer living in each county.
The acreage denominator helps explain why county size alone cannot settle the ranking. Spreading the same documented history across more qualifying habitat would lower its rate. That arithmetic does not prove a biological explanation for any county's position. Reporting patterns and the habitat estimate also affect what the score can tell us.
04County comparison
Use the county list with Minnesota's permit-area map
The Minnesota DNR deer statistics page links the agency's harvest reports. Detailed harvest reporting uses Deer Permit Areas, which do not match county boundaries. A permit-area total cannot be assigned wholesale to a county inside it. The Trophy Index and the agency harvest report therefore need to stay on their own maps.
The county finder covers all 87 counties. Compare your existing opportunity with another tract you could realistically hunt, then check the permit area and access for those properties. DNR's Walk-In Access information is one official starting point for an access search. The acres used to calculate this ranking do not establish permission.
05Basis of this report
Sources and method
Derived Trophy Index snapshot dated October 5, 2026. The history window is 2011 through 2025, adjusted by estimated bow-huntable acres and scaled nationally. Reporting and selection patterns can influence the history. This model measures neither the living herd nor hunter effort, and modeled habitat is not a permission map.
Compare the other states in the FDR county report series.
NOTES AND SOURCES
- Derived FDR scores on a national 0 to 100 scale. History: 2011 through 2025. Captured October 5, 2026. Order uses the underlying rate before rounding. Zero is a valid score. Not rated means the model has no qualifying bow-huntable acreage.
Fully Drawn Research is an independent data analysis desk, not affiliated with any state wildlife agency, transportation agency, mapping provider or outfitter. FDR county scores and interpretations are independent analysis. A county ranking does not evaluate an individual property.
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