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When does Michigan's 2025–26 ring-necked pheasant season open?

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

Michigan's 2025–26 ring-necked pheasant season runs October 10, 2025 to January 1, 2026, on dates that depend on the zone. Michigan zones this season: 4 of 5 zones open, and the dates differ between them. The best of it is October — The opening week, before the roosters have learned to run. It gets harder every day after that. 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 Ring-necked pheasant.

ZoneOpensClosesDays
Zone 1 pheasant unit October 10, 2025October 31, 202522
Zone 1 unit — partly open boundary not mapped October 10, 2025October 31, 202522
Zone 1 — closed to pheasantClosed season — Michigan shuts this zone
Zone 2 — northern Lower Peninsula October 20, 2025November 14, 202526
Zone 3 — southern Lower Peninsula October 20, 2025November 14, 202526
December 1, 2025January 1, 202632

The best weeks

The opening week, before the roosters have learned to run. It gets harder every day after that.

Peak: October. 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

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