Fall With Kids in Fargo-Moorhead
The pumpkin patch with dates actually posted, North Dakota's youth hunting seasons, and what the state requires before a kid can carry one.
Fall here is short and it is the season most worth planning, because almost all of it runs on dates somebody else sets. This page carries the ones that are published and confirmed — a patch that has posted its coming season, and the state's youth hunting calendar straight from the agency that sets it. Where an operator has not posted yet, they are simply not here: a patch showing last September's hours is not a plan, it is a page nobody updated.
Pumpkin patches
One patch within easy reach has posted its coming season. The others still show last year's dates or older, so they are left out rather than listed with hours that have expired.
Buffalo River Pumpkin PatchGlyndon, MN
East on Highway 10, and the one nearby patch with the coming season posted. Weekends only, with a petting zoo, game area, duck races and a general store included in the gate fee; the horse-drawn ride and barrel cars cost extra. One thing to settle before the last trip of the year — their own page gives two different closing dates, the 26th of October in the admission block and the 31st at the top, so call ahead if you are planning that final weekend.
- Opens: 26 September
- Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 10 am–6 pm
- Gate: $7 per person; 1 year and under free
- Rides: Horse-drawn $4; barrel cars $2
- Also listed: Special hours 15–16 October, noon–6 pm
Drive 24 min · 14 mi from downtown Fargo — Google Maps, September 22, 2026
Visit ↗Read on the venue's own site September 21, 2026
Youth hunting seasons
North Dakota Game and Fish publishes these on a department page with a year selector, marking each season Finalized or Tentative. Every date below was read from a row reading Finalized. The seasons are statewide.
Youth deerStatewide
Ten days in September, well ahead of the regular gun season, for mule and white-tailed deer.
- Dates: 18–27 September
- Status: Finalized
Read on the venue's own site August 21, 2026
Youth waterfowl, ducksStatewide
A single weekend, and the earliest of the three.
- Dates: 19–20 September
- Status: Finalized
Read on the venue's own site August 21, 2026
Youth pheasantStatewide
One weekend at the start of October, a week before the regular pheasant season opens.
- Dates: 3–4 October
- Status: Finalized
Read on the venue's own site August 21, 2026
The regular deer gun seasonAll units
The biggest fall tradition in the state, and the thing a lot of family calendars are built around. Seventeen days in November. The part that catches people out is at the other end of the year: the lottery application deadline for this season was the 3rd of June, months before it opens, so the time to think about next year is spring.
- Dates: 6–22 November
- Status: Finalized
Read on the venue's own site August 21, 2026
What the state requires first
This is the part that is genuinely hard to find. It is the agency's requirement rather than our advice, and it is stated here the way they state it.
Who needs hunter education
Game and Fish puts it plainly: by law, persons born after 1961 must take a certified hunter education course before obtaining a firearm or bow hunting license, and proof of certification has to be presented when buying or applying for one. Courses run by other states and Canadian provinces count. There are exceptions — people hunting exclusively on land they are the record title owner or operator of, and anyone who obtains an apprentice hunting license.
- Applies to: Anyone born after 1961
- Proof: Required when buying or applying for a license
Read on the venue's own site August 21, 2026
Under 12, and the age-eleven exception
By state law youth under the age of 12 may hunt only under direct supervision of a parent, guardian, or an adult authorized by their parent or guardian, and must hold the appropriate licenses for what they are hunting. There is one exception worth knowing: a youth who turns 11 before the end of the calendar year may receive a whitetail doe license valid for the youth hunting season and the regular deer gun season without having taken the course first.
- Under 12: Direct supervision by a parent, guardian or authorized adult
- Turning 11 this year: Whitetail doe license without the course
Read on the venue's own site August 21, 2026
The two courses
Two routes to certification, and the agency notes they cannot be combined — you finish one or the other. The traditional course is entirely in a classroom and costs nothing. The hybrid splits the work between home study and two in-person sessions, one before the online portion starts and one at the end for testing. Availability depends on certified volunteer instructors, so the class schedule is worth checking early rather than in September.
- Traditional: Free; 14+ hours in person; must turn 11 by year end to enroll
- Hybrid: $24.95; 6+ hours in person plus 10+ online; must turn 12 by year end
Read on the venue's own site September 22, 2026
The rest of the season
Evergreen guides that come into their own once it cools off.
If a kid is going to hunt here, the education course is the gate, not the license. North Dakota requires it of anyone born after 1961 before they can hold a firearm or bow license — and the traditional classroom version is free, opening to youth who turn 11 before the end of the calendar year. So the year they turn 11 is when to start looking for a class, not the year they want to hunt.
Every place on this page was read on its own website, and the date beside each one is the day we read it. What that date does and does not promise.
From the blog: I Checked Four Pumpkin Patches. Three Were Selling Last Year.
More in this section: Things To Do in Fargo-Moorhead