Minnesota no trespassing sign requirements: posting land the law backs up

What a posted sign has to have

The rule is Minn. Stat. 97B.001, subd. 4. It lets the owner, occupant or lessee of private land, or the authorized manager of public land, prohibit outdoor recreation on that land by posting signs. “Outdoor recreation” in the statute is broad: hunting, fishing, trapping, boating, hiking, camping and winter sports all count. The signs have to meet four conditions, and they go up once each year.

Two of those lines deserve a closer read. On wording, “No Trespassing” itself leaves nothing to argue about. A sign that only says “No Hunting” invites the question of whether trapping, hiking or riding is covered too. On letter height, the statute lists two inch letters as its own requirement and asks only that the name and number be “legible.” The DNR’s plain-language summary is simpler: letters on the sign must be at least two inches high. We set every line at two inches or more, so the question never comes up.

Two inch letters decide the size of the sign

This is where posted signs most often fall short, and it is plain arithmetic: two inch capital letters are wide. We measured the usual lines at exactly two inches tall.

So a sign 12 inches wide cannot hold the word TRESPASSING on one line at the legal height, in either face. If you already own small signs, check the letters with a tape measure. For new signs, two layouts work:

• 12 × 18 in, hung wide

  The smallest size we would make. In a condensed face it holds NO TRESPASSING, a name and a phone number in three lines, every letter at two inches.

• 18 × 24 in, hung wide

  Room to stack NO over TRESPASSING at three inches in a condensed face, or at two inches in a standard bold, with the name and number below at two inches. Use this size along a road or a field edge, where people read it from a truck.

Our letter height calculator and sign viewing distance calculator show how far a given letter size reads.

How many signs your land needs

The interval method puts a sign every 1,000 feet along the boundary, or every 500 feet in woods where the line is not clear. Around a closed boundary that is the perimeter divided by the interval, rounded up. For square parcels:

Real parcels are rarely square, and an irregular boundary is longer than a square one around the same acreage, so count from your actual line. The statute’s other method, posting the primary corners of each parcel plus every access road and trail where it enters, usually takes fewer signs: four corners on a square forty, plus the gates. It is legal, and corners you can only reach through agricultural land do not need a sign. The interval method puts a sign in front of anyone who crosses your line anywhere, which is the whole point of posting.

The 2026 change: purple paint, plus corner signs

A 2026 amendment (Laws 2026, chapter 95) added a second way to post, in effect since August 1, 2026. Instead of the line of signs, you may paint purple marks on trees along the perimeter. Each mark has to be at least three feet off the ground, on a tree at least one inch wide, in a strip at least eight inches tall.

Two things surprise people. First, the statute sets no spacing for the paint marks, unlike the 1,000 and 500 foot rules for signs. Second, paint does not replace signs entirely: you still post signs once each year that mark the primary corners of the area. The paint stands in for the line of signs between the corners. The statute does not spell out what those corner signs must say, so we build them to the same standard as any posted sign: the words, two inch letters, a name and a number. We do not sell paint. We do make the corner signs.

Farmland is protected without signs. Woods and wetland are not.

Subdivision 2 of the same statute says nobody may enter agricultural land for outdoor recreation without permission, posted or not. The statute defines agricultural land as land that is plowed or tilled, has standing crops or crop residue, sits inside a maintained livestock fence, is planted native or introduced grassland or hay land, or is planted to short rotation woody crops.

That leaves the ground that most needs posting: woods, brush, wetland, and grass that was never planted or fenced. It is also where boundary lines are hardest to see, which is why the statute tightens the interval to 500 feet in woods where the line is not clear. A sign at the field road still helps on farmland, because it answers the question before a stranger has to know the law. Our farm and ag signage guide covers the rest of the signs a working farm uses.

What posting changes, and what it doesn’t

• Wounded game

  A hunter on foot may enter land that is not posted to retrieve a lawfully shot wounded animal, then must leave immediately (subd. 5). Posting removes that allowance.

• Hunting dogs

  Anyone on foot and without a firearm may enter private land to retrieve a hunting dog, posted or not, and must leave immediately after (subd. 6).

• Telling someone in person

  Personal notice works with or without signs. Someone told not to come back may not remain or return for outdoor recreation for one year (subd. 3).

• The 500 foot rule

  Without written permission, nobody may fire a gun within 500 feet of a building occupied by people or livestock, on another person’s private land or a public road right-of-way. That applies whether or not the land is posted (subd. 7).

• Your signs are protected

  Tearing down, cutting or destroying a sign posted under the statute is a violation of its own (subd. 8).

What ignoring the signs costs

Under Minn. Stat. 97A.315, a trespass violation is a misdemeanor. It becomes a gross misdemeanor when the person knowingly disregards signs prohibiting trespass, trespasses after being personally told not to, or is convicted more than once in three years. The DNR’s own summary puts it bluntly: fines up to $3,000 and a revoked license. A conviction while hunting, or doing anything else that needs a game and fish license, voids that license, and a gross misdemeanor conviction bars a license to take game for two years. Riding an ATV, off-road vehicle or snowmobile onto land in violation carries a set minimum fine as well.

Notice how the stiffer penalty is written: “knowingly disregards signs prohibiting trespass.” The signs are the notice. That is the practical case for posting carefully.

Building a posted sign that lasts outside

A posted sign hangs on a tree or a post through sun, sleet and wind for a year at a time, so the material matters more than the design.

• Aluminum

  Our default: .040 aluminum printed for outdoor use, with holes punched at the corners or the top for nails or screws. It holds its shape and its holes through a Minnesota winter.

• Reflective aluminum

  For signs along a road or a field approach, where headlights find them before sunrise.

• Coroplast

  The budget option for a season or two, such as a short hunting lease. Lighter and less durable; our rigid sign materials guide compares them.

Every sign on a property carries the same name and number, so it is one design printed in quantity. Since the statute’s clock is “once each year,” walk the line every fall before the season opens and replace anything missing, faded or damaged.

We design posted signs in Buffalo, MN and produce them with trusted print partners for landowners, farms and hunting leases across Wright County and Central Minnesota. See metal signs and rigid signs for materials, or tell us how many you need. One plain reminder: we print signs, we do not practice law. Nothing here is legal advice. Confirm the current text with the Office of the Revisor of Statutes, and ask the DNR, your county sheriff or an attorney about your own land.