2023 Minnesota Statutes

97B.071 CLOTHING AND GROUND BLIND REQUIREMENTS; BLAZE ORANGE OR BLAZE PINK.

(a) Except as provided in rules adopted under paragraph (d), a person may not hunt or trap during the open season where deer may be taken by firearms under applicable laws and ordinances, unless the visible portion of the person's cap and outer clothing above the waist, excluding sleeves and gloves, is blaze orange or blaze pink. Blaze orange or blaze pink includes a camouflage pattern of at least 50 percent blaze orange or blaze pink within each foot square. This section does not apply to migratory-waterfowl hunters on waters of this state or in a stationary shooting location or to trappers on waters of this state.

(b) Except as provided in rules adopted under paragraph (d), and in addition to the requirement in paragraph (a), a person may not take small game other than turkey, migratory birds, raccoons, and predators, except while trapping, unless a visible portion of at least one article of the person's clothing above the waist is blaze orange or blaze pink. This paragraph does not apply to a person when in a stationary location while hunting deer by archery or when hunting small game by falconry.

(c) A person in a fabric or synthetic ground blind on public land must have:

(1) a blaze orange safety covering on the top of the blind that is visible for 360 degrees around the blind; or

(2) at least 144 square inches of blaze orange material on each side of the blind.

(d) The commissioner may, by rule, prescribe an alternative color in cases where paragraph (a) or (b) would violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, Public Law 103-141.

(e) A violation of paragraph (b) does not result in a penalty, but is punishable only by a safety warning.

History:

1986 c 386 art 2 s 15; 1993 c 196 s 1; 1993 c 269 s 13; 1994 c 623 art 1 s 30; 1994 c 632 art 2 s 26; 1996 c 410 s 39; 2000 c 473 s 9; 2008 c 368 art 2 s 43; 2012 c 277 art 1 s 54; 2017 c 93 art 2 s 94; 2023 c 60 art 4 s 57