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When does Virginia's 2026–27 american woodcock season open?

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

Virginia's 2026–27 american woodcock season runs November 11, 2026 to January 18, 2027 — 45 days afield. 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 American woodcock.

SegmentOpensClosesDays
Segment 1 November 11, 2026December 1, 202621
Segment 2 December 26, 2026January 18, 202724

The best weeks

This app carries no agency-sourced peak for american woodcock 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.

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