How do you hunt ruffed grouse in Michigan?

How to hunt ruffed grouse in Michigan

Last updated 2026-09-24 · from MDNR data · 2025–26 licence year

Ruffed grouse in Michigan is hunted in aspen and mixed brush between about five and twenty years old. Walk the edges slowly and stop often; a stopped hunter is what makes a tight bird lose its nerve. Birds hold in the thick and flush loud, and most shots are inside twenty-five yards through cover, which is why open chokes and light loads are the tradition. MDNR describes the cover as: Young aspen and mixed brushland 5–20 years old, and the edges where it meets older timber. Dogs are legal for this species in Michigan. Michigan's 2025–26 ruffed grouse season runs September 15, 2025 to January 1, 2026 — 93 days afield.

The cover

Aspen and mixed brush between about five and twenty years old — cut-over ground rather than big timber, thick enough that you cannot see far into it. The best of it is an edge: young cut against older hardwood, or the alder seam where the cut runs down to wet ground.

MDNR on the cover: Young aspen and mixed brushland 5–20 years old, and the edges where it meets older timber.

How it is hunted

Walk the edges slowly and stop often; a stopped hunter is what makes a tight bird lose its nerve. Birds hold in the thick and flush loud, and most shots are inside twenty-five yards through cover, which is why open chokes and light loads are the tradition.

Dogs

A close-working flushing or pointing dog is the difference between finding birds and walking past them. Wide-ranging dogs lose birds in cover this thick.

Dogs legal: Yes, for this species in Michigan.
Dogs closed: April 16 – July 7
Dog training: July 8 – April 15. The closed season needs a DNR Wildlife Division permit.

Equipment

Legal devices: Bow, Crossbow, Firearm, Slingshot
Gauge: not regulated
Choke: not regulated
Shot: not regulated
Capacity: Six shells in barrel and magazine combined for a semi-automatic, unless it is .22-caliber or smaller rimfire.

Prohibited: Snares, traps, cages, nets, pitfalls or deadfalls
Prohibited: Spears, fully automatic firearms, airbows, or mechanical devices other than bows, crossbows, firearms and slingshots
Prohibited: Cartridges containing tracer or explosive bullets
Prohibited: Drugs, poisons, anticoagulants, stupefying substances, smoke, gas or explosives

Read from 2026 Michigan Small Game Hunting Regulations Summary, Equipment regulations pp. 34-38, Hunting methods pp. 40-42.

The cover, tactics and dog notes above are written for this app — not an agency description and not a regulation. Everything that is a rule carries the page it was read from.

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