Watch the fall color changes, canoe, and hunt
along the Gunflint Trail while at
Hungry Jack Lodge Resort & Campground

Warm days, cool nights and no bugs makes fall one of the finest seasons to “get away from it all” at Hungry Jack Lodge.

Fall Colors

The Gunflint Trail is one of the most beautiful areas to visit and to see the fall color changes whether you prefer to see them by land or water. People come to the Gunflint Trail area from hundreds of miles and many states away just to see the sweeping vistas of aspen and pine that are unsurpassed in colors. Though the drive up the “North Shore” in fall is beautiful it doesn’t compare to what you will see in the Sawtooth Mountain area of Hungry Jack Lodge.

Driving up the Gunflint Trail through the Sawtooth Mountains gives you many mountain top views looking out over miles and miles of trees sporting their full palette of fall colors. Words and photos cannot express the pure beauty of the various colors. And, because there is a mixture of pine and aspen, the contrasts between the colors is truly breathtaking.

Hiking & Canoeing during the Fall

Hiking during the fall is really great. There are no insects to bother you and you very likely will not work up a sweat, no matter how difficult the terrain. This is also true of canoeing and portaging too. During the summer months it often gets warm when you are portaging and have a canoe over the top of your head. That’s not the case in the fall months.

Fall Fishing

As with all seasons, the fishing is excellent on Hungry Jack Lake as well as other lakes in the surrounding area and the BWCA. Due to a lack of bugs the fish are ravenous and fishing is great. With the hot days of summer over fish are are more active than during the hottest days of the year. The lakes are devoid of boats other than an occasional canoe and those that come up to take advantage of these great last few weeks of outstanding fishing.

Hunting Grouse, Bear, and Moose at Hungry Jack Lodge

The heavily wooded areas surrounding Hungry Jack Lodge and in the BWCA provide some of the best grouse hunting available anywhere in the United Sates. Being in “bear country,” Hungry Jack Lodge and Campground makes an excellent “base camp” for bear hunters during bear hunting season whether you will be hunting inside or outside of the BWCA. Because there are not extremely high numbers of deer in the area the Gunflint Trail is not considered a “hot spot.”

During the fall Hungry Jack Lodge and Campground offers outstanding opportunities for hunters in Minnesota. Grouse is the bird of choice for small game hunters and big game such as bear and moose thrive in the lake studded aspen and pine forests of the Hungry Jack Lodge and Gunflint Trail areas of northeastern Minnesota.

Grouse Hunting
Minnesota is the top ruffed grouse-producing state in the U.S. No other state harvests as many ruffed grouse each fall or provides as much public hunting land. Surrounding Hungry Jack Lodge and Campground you will find heavy amounts of aspen trees, which is the preferred habitat for grouse. Though also found in oak, maple, and other woods, ruffed grouse in Minnesota prefer aspen (also called popple). As a result of the excellent success that grouse hunters have at Hungry Jack Lodge and Campground, it’s no wonder that grouse hunters return year after year for unparalleled grouse hunting, great food and of course the unequaled hospitality. Rarely if ever are grouse hunters disappointed.

Hunting licenses for grouse can be purchased at Hungry Jack Lodge.

The following are excerpts are from an article by Tom Dickson of Helena, Montana:

“Just as birders dream of a midwinter trip to Costa Rica, and trout anglers pine for Montana rivers, ruffed grouse hunters across the United States fantasize about spending an October weekend in northern Minnesota.”

“In Minnesota during the good years, you can have up to 40 or sometimes even 50 flushes per day,” he says. “That’s just unheard of anywhere else in the country. When you add that to all your public forest land, Minnesota really is the nation’s best ruffed grouse state.”

“Minnesota is awash in aspen and other grouse habitat, much of it in county, state, and national forests. In fact, Minnesota has more grouse habitat than any other state. According to the DNR’s ruffed grouse management plan draft, 11.5 million of the state’s 16.3 million acres of forest are grouse habitat.”

Below you will find excepts from the Minnesota DNR 2007 Grouse surveys which was published June 25, 2007.

“Annual harvest varies from approximately 150,000 to 1.4 million birds and averages 500,000 birds.”

“Based upon the drum count index, ruffed grouse densities in northeastern Minnesota during spring 2007 were likely greater than spring densities during 2001–2006. It appears that this is the second year of a cyclical increase in the population.”

“The Northeast survey region was the only one in which counts increased.”

Bear Hunting
Black Bear licenses/permits are available to both residents and non-residents of Minnesota by application and drawing. For more information about Minnesota licenses and permits for black bear and season dates please visit the Minnesota DNR website.

Moose Hunting
Moose hunting permits are for residents of Minnesota only and there is a “lottery” drawing for the few permits which are available each year.

Please visit the State of Minnesota DNR website for the most current hunting regulations, seasons, and more.