How do you hunt wild turkey in Michigan?

How to hunt wild turkey in Michigan

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

Wild turkey in Michigan is hunted in mature hardwoods that carry mast. Locate first and call second. Fall hunting is often a matter of finding a flock, scattering it and calling it back together; spring hunting is working a gobbler off the roost from a set-up he can walk to without crossing anything. MDNR describes the cover as: Open hardwood with a mast crop — oak and beech — broken by fields and log landings to feed and strut in. Dogs are legal for this species in Michigan. Michigan's 2025–26 wild turkey season runs September 15, 2025 to November 14, 2025, on dates that depend on the zone.

The cover

Mature hardwoods that carry mast — oak ridges and beech — against open ground: pasture, food plot, log landing or field edge where birds strut and feed. Roost trees are usually the biggest timber near water.

MDNR on the cover: Open hardwood with a mast crop — oak and beech — broken by fields and log landings to feed and strut in.

How it is hunted

Locate first and call second. Fall hunting is often a matter of finding a flock, scattering it and calling it back together; spring hunting is working a gobbler off the roost from a set-up he can walk to without crossing anything.

Dogs

Dogs are legal for fall turkey in some states and not in others, and the rule is the state's rather than a preference — the regulations page for each state carries it.

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, Shotgun, Muzzleloading shotgun
Gauge: not regulated
Choke: not regulated
Shot: No. 4 shot or smaller. The rule is 'use or carry afield', so larger shot in a vest pocket is the violation.
Capacity: No shell capacity restriction for turkey.

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 Fall Turkey Hunting Regulations Summary, Equipment regulations pp. 22-24, Hunting methods p. 27.

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.

The other questions

By region

Open the hunting map →Public land and bird cover, drawn for the bird you are after.