Agency-listedND Game and Fish · dispersedFree

Chase Lake WMA (Stutsman County)

Drive-up · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND · 47.03939, -99.40082
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North Dakota Game & Fish lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.

Chase Lake Wildlife Management Area is 2,702 acres of state wildlife land in Stutsman County, managed by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, and you may camp on it free. That is not a rumour off a listing site -- it is how the state rule works: North Dakota Administrative Code 30-04-02-01 opens every WMA to 'public hunting, fishing, and trapping, or other compatible public use', and 30-04-02-11 sets the only real limit, 'camping for longer than ten consecutive days on any wildlife management area is prohibited'. There is no camping fee and, unlike South Dakota and Oklahoma, North Dakota does NOT make you buy a license or a conservation pass just to be on the land. Now the honest part: this is primitive dispersed camping on a wildlife area, not a campground. Assume NO toilets, NO drinking water, NO tables, NO fire rings and no marked sites unless you happen to find them. You may gather downed wood for a campfire, but you may not mow or cut vegetation to clear a campsite, you may not leave a trailer or tent set up unless you are actually sleeping in it, and you may not dump holding tanks on the area. Vehicles must stay on the constructed roads, established trails and parking areas that a passenger car would normally use -- do not drive out across the grass. Camping is also prohibited on any WMA where it is posted as such at the road entry, so READ THE SIGN at the entrance you use; the posted sign beats anything we can tell you here. These are working wildlife areas, so expect hunters in season and plan your visibility accordingly. The pin is a representative point inside the unit boundary, not a campsite -- you will need to find your own spot off an established access. Confirm current rules with ND Game and Fish at (701) 328-6300 before you go.

USGS topo — contours & terrain
USGS topographic map of Chase Lake WMA (Stutsman County)
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Aerial image of Chase Lake WMA (Stutsman County)
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Weather outlook — at Chase Lake WMA (Stutsman County)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,825 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Chase Lake WMA (Stutsman County)NIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.

Everything you need — measured from Chase Lake WMA (Stutsman County) · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND

15 MI30 MI60 MIYOUR CAMPN ↑Farmers Union Oil Company · Fuel · 8 miFT &V grocery store · Grocery · 8 miGMenards · Hardware · 34 miHMechanic · 23 miMMedina Laundramat · Laundry · 11 miLKulm Community Clinic · Urgent care · 55 mi+Pettibone post office · Mail · 8 mi@S & R Truck Plaza · EV fast charger · 33 miEV
Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer
Nearest of each
  • FFuel8 mi
  • GGrocery8 mi
  • @Mail8 mi
  • LLaundry11 mi
  • MMechanic23 mi
  • EVEV fast charger33 mi
  • HHardware34 mi
  • +Urgent care55 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: fuel & food sit about 8 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 33-mi run (and back).

Not within 60 mi: Water, Dump, Propane. Plan those before you head up.

One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗

The site — Chase Lake WMA (Stutsman County)

Access
Drive-up
Land
North Dakota Game & Fish · dispersed
Elevation
1,825 ft
State
ND
Coordinates
47.03939, -99.40082
Cost
Free

Nearby & resupply — around Chase Lake WMA (Stutsman County) · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND (OpenStreetMap)

  • Water featureMud Lake (water) · nearby
  • Nearest townPettibone · ~7.8 mi
  • Drinking waternone within 10 mi
  • FuelFarmers Union Oil Company · ~7.8 mi
  • Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
  • GroceriesT &V grocery store · ~7.8 mi

EV charging — from Chase Lake WMA (Stutsman County) · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)

Nearby restrooms — around Chase Lake WMA (Stutsman County) · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Open Chase Lake WMA (Stutsman County) elsewhere

Other camps near Chase Lake WMA (Stutsman County)

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

How we know this — Chase Lake WMA (Stutsman County)

Stay limit
10 nights (camping up to 10 consecutive days)
Area rules
Trailers, campers, motor homes, or tents may not be left on any wildlife management area unless used for daily lodging. Camping is prohibited on those wildlife or fish management areas where posted at public road entry points. Mowing of vegetation for campsites is prohibited on wildlife management areas.
Source
North Dakota Game & Fish (wildlife management areas)
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
Free primitive camping authorised by BINDING RULE, not by a listing: NDAC 30-04-02-01 & -11 (ndlegis.gov/information/acdata/pdf/30-04-02.pdf) + gf.nd.gov/wma. NDAC 30-04-02-01 grants open public use with no license/pass precondition; 30-04-02-11 permits camping up to 10 consecutive days and creates no camping fee (all dollar amounts in the chapter are violation penalties). Camping-prohibited and Thursday-Monday-only WMA lists taken verbatim from gf.nd.gov/wma (2025 PLOTS Guide text), downloaded raw and string-matched locally rather than via a search summary. Boundary/acreage/county: ND state ArcGIS Wildlife_Management_Areas FeatureServer/0 (2702 ac, 1 parcel(s); largest parcel used). Coordinate: representative interior point (centroid), verified point-in-polygon against the unit boundary, WGS84. NOT a surveyed campsite. Ingest 2026-07-20 15:25:23.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.

What we don’t know about Chase Lake WMA (Stutsman County)

A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.

Before you go — Chase Lake WMA (Stutsman County)

Been here? Tell us what changed. This page is built from public records, so the fastest way it gets better is somebody who has actually pulled in. Road washed out, site gone, gate locked, or it is exactly as described — all of it useful. Send a report →