Current/Upcoming Seasons

• Early Antlerless Firearm: Sept. 16-17, 2017
• Liberty Hunt: Sept. 16-17, 2017
  • Youth and Hunters With Disabilities
• Cottontail rabbit/snowshoe hare: Sept. 15 – March 31
• Squirrel, fox and gray: Sept. 15 – March 1
• Ruffed grouse: Sept. 15 – Nov. 14 and Dec. 1 – Jan. 1
• Woodcock: Sept. 23 – Nov. 6
• Early goose: Sept. 1 – 30 (See waterfowl digest for additional details)

Put that base license to work!

Ruffed grouse, cottontail rabbit, snowshoe hare, and both fox and gray squirrel seasons are open statewide, and all you need is your base license! For woodcock season, make sure to grab your free woodcock stamp.

Learn more about ruffed grouse hunting.
Learn more about rabbit/hare hunting.
Learn more about squirrel hunting.

2017 Grouse and Woodcock Status Report Available

The 2017 Michigan Ruffed Grouse and American Woodcock Status Report now is available. Since the 1950s, these surveys and reports have provided the Department of Natural Resources with the preseason population status of ruffed grouse and woodcock.

Data collected from hunter cooperator surveys, mail harvest surveys, and spring breeding surveys contribute valuable information about grouse and woodcock populations. The hunter cooperator survey is made possible through data collected by volunteer hunters and shared with the DNR. Those interested in helping the DNR monitor grouse and woodcock populations can volunteer to complete a hunter cooperator survey. It's as simple as downloading the cooperator form and providing details regarding their hunt.

Also, if you are a woodcock enthusiast, we encourage you to attend the 11th Woodcock Symposium Oct. 24-27 at the Ralph A. MacMullan Conference Center in Roscommon, Michigan.

Where to Hunt

GEMS - Grouse Enhanced Management Sites

• GEMS are large blocks of land, open to hunting, that have hunter walking trails winding throughout. The sites are managed to have young timber, which makes them ideal places to hunt and see wildlife due to the thick cover and great food sources provided.

Mi-HUNT

• No matter where you are in Michigan, you can find public hunting land. This interactive map application that now works on mobile devices, contains the most up-to-date information to help you plan your next hunting trip, and includes both public hunting land and private land open to the public for hunting.

HAP - Hunting Access Program

• Private lands open to public hunting through the Hunting Access Program. HAP is a voluntary land leasing program. The DNR leases lands from private landowners to provide additional hunting areas for hunters living in, or near, areas of high urban development and limited public land.

Wetland Wonders

• Michigan's Wetland Wonders are the seven premier managed waterfowl hunt areas in the state. These areas, scattered across the southern Lower Peninsula, were created in the 1960s to provide exceptional waterfowl hunting opportunities, and are still managed today to provide waterfowl habitat for nesting and migration and for the benefit of other wetland wildlife.

Questions?
Call 517-284-WILD (9453)