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When does Michigan's 2025–26 northern bobwhite season open?
Last updated 2026-09-24 · from MDNR data · 2025–26 licence year
Michigan's 2025–26 northern bobwhite season runs October 20, 2025 to November 14, 2025, on dates that depend on the zone. Michigan zones this season: 1 of 2 zones open, and the dates differ between them. The best of it is October and November — The whole of a very short season. Michigan's population is small enough that finding a covey is the hard part, not timing it. Legal hours are one half-hour before sunrise until sunset. No statewide Sunday closure for small game. A few counties restrict firearm hunting on private land under PA 319 of 1994 — not mapped here.
The dates
MDNR's own dates for the 2025–26 licence year, read from MDNR. Michigan lists this season as Northern bobwhite.
| Zone | Opens | Closes | Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open counties | October 20, 2025 | November 14, 2025 | 26 |
| Closed to quail | Closed season — Michigan shuts this zone | ||
The best weeks
The whole of a very short season. Michigan's population is small enough that finding a covey is the hard part, not timing it.
Peak: October and November. From this app's Michigan methods file.
Shooting hours
- Legal hours
-
One half-hour before sunrise until sunset. Michigan's small-game rule, and the one this app's hunt planner draws every day against. It is not “until half an hour after sunset” — that is the waterfowl rule in some states and it is not this one. Waterfowl and turkey run on their own hours. MDNR
- Sundays
- No statewide Sunday closure for small game. A few counties restrict firearm hunting on private land under PA 319 of 1994 — not mapped here.
The other questions
- How to hunt northern bobwhite in Michigan
- Where to hunt northern bobwhite in Michigan
- Michigan northern bobwhite regulations, 2025–26
- Michigan northern bobwhite hunting report
- Northern bobwhite hunting in Michigan — the whole picture
- Northern bobwhite — biology, range and how it is hunted