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When does Minnesota's 2026 sharp-tailed grouse season open?
Last updated 2026-09-24 · from MN DNR data · 2026 season year
Minnesota's 2026 sharp-tailed grouse season runs September 19, 2026 to November 30, 2026, on dates that depend on the zone. Minnesota zones this season: 1 of 2 zones open, and the dates differ between them.
The dates
MN DNR's own dates for the 2026 season year, read from MN DNR. Minnesota lists this season as Sharp-tailed grouse.
| Zone | Opens | Closes | Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northwest zone boundary not mapped | September 19, 2026 | November 30, 2026 | 73 |
| East-central zone | Closed season — Minnesota shuts this zone | ||
The best weeks
This app carries no agency-sourced peak for sharp-tailed grouse in Minnesota, 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
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not carried MN DNR publishes Minnesota's small game shooting hours in the hunting regulations booklet rather than as a sentence on a page this build reads, and this app holds no copy of it. We do not retype it from memory: the states on this site do not agree with each other about when the day ends — Michigan closes at sunset, Virginia a half-hour after it — so a rule carried across a state line is exactly how a hunter gets a citation. Read the booklet before opening day. MN DNR
The other questions
- How to hunt sharp-tailed grouse in Minnesota
- Where to hunt sharp-tailed grouse in Minnesota
- Minnesota sharp-tailed grouse regulations, 2026
- Minnesota sharp-tailed grouse hunting report
- Sharp-tailed grouse hunting in Minnesota — the whole picture
- Sharp-tailed grouse — biology, range and how it is hunted