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When does Virginia's 2026–27 ruffed grouse season open?

Last updated 2026-09-24 · from VDWR data · 2026–27 licence year

Virginia's 2026–27 ruffed grouse season runs October 24, 2026 to February 13, 2027, on dates that depend on the zone. Virginia zones this season: 1 of 2 zones open, and the dates differ between them. Legal hours are one half-hour before sunrise to one half-hour after sunset. Virginia allows Sunday hunting, with two exceptions: not within 200 yards of a house of worship, and not for deer or bear with dogs.

The dates

VDWR's own dates for the 2026–27 licence year, read from VDWR. Virginia lists this season as Ruffed grouse.

ZoneOpensClosesDays
West of I-95 boundary not mapped October 24, 2026February 13, 2027113
East of I-95Closed season — Virginia shuts this zone

The best weeks

This app carries no agency-sourced peak for ruffed grouse in Virginia, so none is claimed here. Within the dates above, the two weeks either side of the leaf drop are the traditional answer in the northern states and the first hard frost is the southern one — both are hunters' rules of thumb rather than anything an agency published.

Shooting hours

Legal hours
One half-hour before sunrise to one half-hour after sunset.
Not Michigan's rule. Virginia gives you the extra half-hour at the end of the day that Michigan does not, and this app's hunt planner draws the Michigan line — so the shaded evening on the planner is conservative here rather than wrong. Spring turkey runs on its own hours: until 12 noon for the first sixteen days, then to sunset. VDWR
Sundays
Virginia allows Sunday hunting, with two exceptions: not within 200 yards of a house of worship, and not for deer or bear with dogs.

The other questions

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