BirdTrout
Open the map
Wisconsin Hunting Regulations 2026
Season dates, bag limits and legal hours for the 6 upland birds WDNR publishes as data, from September 12, 2026 to June 1, 2027 — compiled here so you can read them in one screen instead of a PDF.
Last updated 2026-09-24 · rebuilt nightly from WDNR data · 2026 season year
- Season dates
- Bag limits
- Hunting hours
- Licences and stamps
- Zones
- Special regulations
- Where to hunt
- What this page does not cover
- Official documents
Season dates by species
WDNR's own dates for the 2026 season year, read from WDNR's season dates. A zoned species has no statewide date and is listed by zone.
| Species | Zone | Opens | Closes | Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ruffed grouse | Zone A | September 12, 2026 | January 3, 2027 | 114 |
| Ruffed grouse | Zone B | October 17, 2026 | December 8, 2026 | 53 |
| Wild turkey (fall) | Statewide | September 12, 2026 | January 3, 2027 | 114 |
| American woodcock | Statewide | September 19, 2026 | November 2, 2026 | 45 |
| Northern bobwhite | Statewide | October 17, 2026 | December 9, 2026 | 54 |
| Ring-necked pheasant | Statewide | October 17, 2026 | January 3, 2027 | 79 |
| Wild turkey (spring) | Statewide | April 21, 2027 | April 27, 2027 | 7 |
| April 28, 2027 | May 4, 2027 | 7 | ||
| May 5, 2027 | May 11, 2027 | 7 | ||
| May 12, 2027 | May 18, 2027 | 7 | ||
| May 19, 2027 | May 25, 2027 | 7 | ||
| May 26, 2027 | June 1, 2027 | 7 |
Bag limits, stamps and the per-species rules
Everything WDNR publishes for each bird, and — where it publishes nothing — the word “not verified” rather than a number.
Ruffed grouse Bonasa umbellusHunter orangeBag not verified
- Season
-
Zone A — September 12, 2026 to January 3, 2027
Zone B — October 17, 2026 to December 8, 2026 - Daily bag
- Not published on a citable WDNR page. We leave it blank rather than guess — read it in the Wisconsin Small Game Hunting Regulations.
- Hunter orange
- Required — see the rule below.
- Wisconsin requires blaze orange or fluorescent pink only while a firearm deer season is in progress — but then it applies to small game hunters too. This app flags orange as required for the whole season because missing it during gun deer season is the dangerous error. Check the gun deer dates.
- WDNR sets the daily bag at five birds in Zone A and two in Zone B. This app shows one bag limit per species and cannot yet give a different one per zone, so the figure is left empty rather than printed wrong in half the state — take the one for the zone you are standing in.
- Zone A is the northern and central forest; Zone B the south-east. The boundary is WDNR's own zone polygons, from season_zones_wi.geojson, and the map resolves which side of it you are on — so the dates shown are the ones for where you are standing.
Wild turkey (fall) Meleagris gallopavoHunter orangeBag not verified
- Season
- September 12, 2026 to January 3, 2027
- Daily bag
- Not published on a citable WDNR page. We leave it blank rather than guess — read it in the Wisconsin Small Game Hunting Regulations.
- Hunter orange
- Required — see the rule below.
- Also required
- Wild turkey stamp
- Wisconsin requires blaze orange or fluorescent pink only while a firearm deer season is in progress — but then it applies to small game hunters too. This app flags orange as required for the whole season because missing it during gun deer season is the dangerous error. Check the gun deer dates.
- Some states let a turkey hunter out of blaze orange. Wisconsin does not: the exemption here is for waterfowl hunters, so a fall turkey hunter afield while a firearm deer season is open wears it like everybody else.
- The limit is one turkey per harvest authorization, not a number of birds a day. A hunter holding more than one authorization may take more than one bird, so no daily figure is shown above — the authorizations in your pocket are the limit.
- One turkey of any age or sex per harvest authorization — either sex, unlike spring, which is bearded or male birds only.
- Three things, and all three: a turkey hunting licence for the season you are hunting, a wild turkey stamp, and an unfilled harvest authorization valid for the season, period and zone you are in.
- One fall harvest authorization comes with the fall turkey licence at no extra cost, and you choose the zone when you buy it. Where a zone has quota left, bonus authorizations go on sale in August at ten dollars for residents and fifteen for non-residents, one per hunter per day.
- Wisconsin runs seven turkey management zones, and they do not change the dates — every zone opens and shuts on the same day. What a zone decides is which authorization you may hold and how many WDNR issues there, so pick the zone you will actually hunt when you apply or buy.
- Dogs are legal for fall turkey. They are not legal in spring.
- Baiting turkeys is illegal. Hunting over agricultural crops and over wildlife food plots that were planted and left standing is not baiting.
- Fall turkey runs on WDNR's deer, bear, elk and small game shooting-hours table. Spring turkey runs on the migratory bird table, which starts earlier in the morning — they are not the same hours.
- Wisconsin's other turkey season is spring, and it is the bigger hunt: six one-week periods from 21 April to 1 June 2027, with a youth hunt on 17 and 18 April. Authorizations are drawn by zone and by period, and the application closes on 10 December.
American woodcock Scolopax minorHunter orangeBag not verified
- Season
- September 19, 2026 to November 2, 2026
- Daily bag
- Not published on a citable WDNR page. We leave it blank rather than guess — read it in the Wisconsin Small Game Hunting Regulations.
- Hunter orange
- Required — see the rule below.
- Also required
- HIP registration
- Wisconsin requires blaze orange or fluorescent pink only while a firearm deer season is in progress — but then it applies to small game hunters too. This app flags orange as required for the whole season because missing it during gun deer season is the dangerous error. Check the gun deer dates.
- Woodcock is a migratory bird, so its limit is set federally and published on WDNR's migratory bird table rather than the upland one. This app does not carry that table, so no figure is shown.
- Migratory bird: a federal HIP registration is required in addition to the small game licence.
Northern bobwhite Colinus virginianusHunter orange
- Season
- October 17, 2026 to December 9, 2026
- Daily bag
- 5, 15 in possession
- Hunter orange
- Required — see the rule below.
- Wisconsin requires blaze orange or fluorescent pink only while a firearm deer season is in progress — but then it applies to small game hunters too. This app flags orange as required for the whole season because missing it during gun deer season is the dangerous error. Check the gun deer dates.
- Possession is three times the daily bag, which is the rule WDNR states for upland birds rather than a separate figure for this species.
- Opening day starts at 9:00 a.m., not at first light.
- The season is written statewide and the bird is not: bobwhite hangs on in the far south-west of Wisconsin, at the northern edge of its range, and is thin even there.
Ring-necked pheasant Phasianus colchicusHunter orangeBag not verified
- Season
- October 17, 2026 to January 3, 2027
- Daily bag
- Not published on a citable WDNR page. We leave it blank rather than guess — read it in the Wisconsin Small Game Hunting Regulations.
- Hunter orange
- Required — see the rule below.
- Also required
- Pheasant stamp
- Wisconsin requires blaze orange or fluorescent pink only while a firearm deer season is in progress — but then it applies to small game hunters too. This app flags orange as required for the whole season because missing it during gun deer season is the dangerous error. Check the gun deer dates.
- One rooster a day on the opening Saturday and Sunday, then two a day for the rest of the season. Possession is three times the daily bag. The figure is left empty above because it changes partway through the season and a single number would be wrong at one end or the other.
- Opening day starts at 9:00 a.m., not at first light.
- Roosters only. A pheasant stamp is required to hunt on land stocked by WDNR.
Wild turkey (spring) Meleagris gallopavoHunter orangeBag not verified
- Season
- April 21, 2027 to April 27, 2027 · April 28, 2027 to May 4, 2027 · May 5, 2027 to May 11, 2027 · May 12, 2027 to May 18, 2027 · May 19, 2027 to May 25, 2027 · May 26, 2027 to June 1, 2027
- Daily bag
- Not published on a citable WDNR page. We leave it blank rather than guess — read it in the Wisconsin Small Game Hunting Regulations.
- Hunter orange
- Required — see the rule below.
- Also required
- Wild turkey stamp
- Wisconsin requires blaze orange or fluorescent pink only while a firearm deer season is in progress — but then it applies to small game hunters too. This app flags orange as required for the whole season because missing it during gun deer season is the dangerous error. Check the gun deer dates.
- The limit is one turkey per harvest authorization, not a number of birds a day. A hunter holding more than one authorization may take more than one bird, so no daily figure is shown above — the authorizations in your pocket are the limit.
- Bearded or male birds only, unlike the fall season, which takes either sex.
- Six one-week periods, and they run back to back with no gap: 21 to 27 April, 28 April to 4 May, 5 to 11 May, 12 to 18 May, 19 to 25 May, and 26 May to 1 June. Your harvest authorization names one of them, and it is the only week it is good for.
- Three things, and all three: a turkey hunting licence for the season you are hunting, a wild turkey stamp, and an unfilled harvest authorization valid for the season, period and zone you are in.
- Authorizations are drawn on a cumulative preference system. Applications cost three dollars and close on 10 December; whatever the drawing does not award is sold afterwards as bonus authorizations, first come first served, at ten dollars for residents and fifteen for non-residents.
- Wisconsin runs seven turkey management zones, and they do not change the dates — every zone opens and shuts on the same day. What a zone decides is which authorization you may hold and how many WDNR issues there, so pick the zone you will actually hunt when you apply or buy.
- A youth hunt runs on 17 and 18 April, ahead of Period A, for hunters under 16 accompanied by an adult. It is not open to everyone, so it is not in the dates above.
- Dogs are not legal for spring turkey. Live and electronic decoys are not legal in either season.
- Baiting turkeys is illegal. Hunting over agricultural crops and over wildlife food plots that were planted and left standing is not baiting.
- Spring turkey runs on WDNR's migratory bird shooting-hours table, not the small game one — it starts earlier in the morning than the fall season does.
- These are 2027 dates and they are current, not stale: WDNR's book is the Fall 2026 to Spring 2027 regulations, and spring 2027 is the half of that season year still to come.
Legal shooting hours
WDNR publishes Wisconsin's shooting hours as a table by date rather than as a single sentence, and this app holds no copy of that table. We do not retype it here from memory: the hours move by a few minutes every week of the season, and a wrong minute at either end of the day is a citation. Read the table in the regulations before opening day. WDNR's hunting regulations →
Licence requirements
What a small-game hunter has to be carrying. Prices are deliberately absent: they change without notice and are the field this page would be wrong about first.
| Document | Who needs it | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Small game licence | Everyone hunting small game | Bought through Go Wild, WDNR's licence system. |
| Hunter education certificate | Anyone born on or after 1 January 1973 | Or a mentored hunting licence, which requires a qualified mentor within arm's reach. |
| Federal HIP registration | Woodcock and every other migratory bird | Free registration with the federal harvest survey. |
| Pheasant stamp | Pheasant hunters on WDNR-stocked land | Required in addition to the small game licence to hunt land the state stocks. |
Buy through Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources's own portal. We do not sell licences and we do not take a fee on one.
Zone maps
The part of a small-game regulation that is actually spatial. Everything else on this page is the same rule in every county; these are not.
Ruffed grouse 2 zones
| Zone | Season |
|---|---|
| Zone A | September 12, 2026 – January 3, 2027 |
| Zone B | October 17, 2026 – December 8, 2026 |
Wisconsin's grouse zone boundary is not mapped in this app. The dates above are per zone and correct; which zone you are standing in is a question we cannot yet answer, and a zone guessed from a latitude is how a hunter ends up two weeks early. Read the boundary at WDNR.
Special regulations
-
Hunter orange · whenever any open firearm deer season is open
At least 50% of clothing above the waist, and any head covering, must be blaze orange or fluorescent pink any time a firearm deer season is in progress. This applies to small game and archery hunters, not only to deer hunters. Waterfowl hunters are exempt.
Exempt: waterfowl. - Ruffed grouse
Wisconsin requires blaze orange or fluorescent pink only while a firearm deer season is in progress — but then it applies to small game hunters too. This app flags orange as required for the whole season because missing it during gun deer season is the dangerous error. Check the gun deer dates. - Ruffed grouse
WDNR sets the daily bag at five birds in Zone A and two in Zone B. This app shows one bag limit per species and cannot yet give a different one per zone, so the figure is left empty rather than printed wrong in half the state — take the one for the zone you are standing in. - Ruffed grouse
Zone A is the northern and central forest; Zone B the south-east. The boundary is WDNR's own zone polygons, from season_zones_wi.geojson, and the map resolves which side of it you are on — so the dates shown are the ones for where you are standing. - Wild turkey (fall)
Some states let a turkey hunter out of blaze orange. Wisconsin does not: the exemption here is for waterfowl hunters, so a fall turkey hunter afield while a firearm deer season is open wears it like everybody else. - Wild turkey (fall)
The limit is one turkey per harvest authorization, not a number of birds a day. A hunter holding more than one authorization may take more than one bird, so no daily figure is shown above — the authorizations in your pocket are the limit. - Wild turkey (fall)
One turkey of any age or sex per harvest authorization — either sex, unlike spring, which is bearded or male birds only. - Wild turkey (fall)
Three things, and all three: a turkey hunting licence for the season you are hunting, a wild turkey stamp, and an unfilled harvest authorization valid for the season, period and zone you are in. - Wild turkey (fall)
One fall harvest authorization comes with the fall turkey licence at no extra cost, and you choose the zone when you buy it. Where a zone has quota left, bonus authorizations go on sale in August at ten dollars for residents and fifteen for non-residents, one per hunter per day. - Wild turkey (fall)
Wisconsin runs seven turkey management zones, and they do not change the dates — every zone opens and shuts on the same day. What a zone decides is which authorization you may hold and how many WDNR issues there, so pick the zone you will actually hunt when you apply or buy. - Wild turkey (fall)
Dogs are legal for fall turkey. They are not legal in spring. - Wild turkey (fall)
Baiting turkeys is illegal. Hunting over agricultural crops and over wildlife food plots that were planted and left standing is not baiting. - Wild turkey (fall)
Fall turkey runs on WDNR's deer, bear, elk and small game shooting-hours table. Spring turkey runs on the migratory bird table, which starts earlier in the morning — they are not the same hours. - Wild turkey (fall)
Wisconsin's other turkey season is spring, and it is the bigger hunt: six one-week periods from 21 April to 1 June 2027, with a youth hunt on 17 and 18 April. Authorizations are drawn by zone and by period, and the application closes on 10 December. - American woodcock
Woodcock is a migratory bird, so its limit is set federally and published on WDNR's migratory bird table rather than the upland one. This app does not carry that table, so no figure is shown. - American woodcock
Migratory bird: a federal HIP registration is required in addition to the small game licence. - Northern bobwhite
Possession is three times the daily bag, which is the rule WDNR states for upland birds rather than a separate figure for this species. - Northern bobwhite
Opening day starts at 9:00 a.m., not at first light. - Northern bobwhite
The season is written statewide and the bird is not: bobwhite hangs on in the far south-west of Wisconsin, at the northern edge of its range, and is thin even there. - Ring-necked pheasant
One rooster a day on the opening Saturday and Sunday, then two a day for the rest of the season. Possession is three times the daily bag. The figure is left empty above because it changes partway through the season and a single number would be wrong at one end or the other. - Ring-necked pheasant
Roosters only. A pheasant stamp is required to hunt on land stocked by WDNR. - Wild turkey (spring)
Bearded or male birds only, unlike the fall season, which takes either sex. - Wild turkey (spring)
Six one-week periods, and they run back to back with no gap: 21 to 27 April, 28 April to 4 May, 5 to 11 May, 12 to 18 May, 19 to 25 May, and 26 May to 1 June. Your harvest authorization names one of them, and it is the only week it is good for. - Wild turkey (spring)
Authorizations are drawn on a cumulative preference system. Applications cost three dollars and close on 10 December; whatever the drawing does not award is sold afterwards as bonus authorizations, first come first served, at ten dollars for residents and fifteen for non-residents. - Wild turkey (spring)
A youth hunt runs on 17 and 18 April, ahead of Period A, for hunters under 16 accompanied by an adult. It is not open to everyone, so it is not in the dates above. - Wild turkey (spring)
Dogs are not legal for spring turkey. Live and electronic decoys are not legal in either season. - Wild turkey (spring)
Spring turkey runs on WDNR's migratory bird shooting-hours table, not the small game one — it starts earlier in the morning than the fall season does. - Wild turkey (spring)
These are 2027 dates and they are current, not stale: WDNR's book is the Fall 2026 to Spring 2027 regulations, and spring 2027 is the half of that season year still to come.
Youth hunts, apprentice and mentored licences, dog training seasons, and the ORV rules on state land are all real regulations and none of them is covered here. They are in the Wisconsin Small Game Hunting Regulations, and they are listed again under what this page does not cover so a reader does not take the silence for “no rule”.
Where to hunt
The hunting-legal public land BirdTrout draws in Wisconsin — 507 units, about 4,969,547 acres. This is not every public parcel: national wildlife refuges, military land and city parks are all public and none is here, because hunting them is restricted, closed, or decided unit by unit.
| Land class | Units | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| County forest | 47 | 2,360,239 |
| National forest | 4 | 1,526,746 |
| State forest | 121 | 553,014 |
| State wildlife area | 335 | 529,548 |
PAD-US says who manages a parcel, not where its boundary runs on the ground and not whether a unit carries a local closure. Context, not permission. WDNR's public land →
Open the live map in hunt mode → — the same land, drawn, with observed bird occurrence, upland cover and a wind-and-weather read on the day you are going. Per-species pages are the next thing planned; today the depth is in the app.
Recent changes
Nothing has moved since the previous build. This page is rebuilt nightly and this section fills in the night a season date, a bag limit or a required stamp changes.
What this page does not cover
Named rather than left silent. Every line below is a real Wisconsin season or rule that is not in the data behind this page, so its absence here says nothing at all about it.
- White-tailed deer — archery, crossbow, gun, muzzleloader and the holiday hunt
- Waterfowl — duck and goose, and the north/south zone split
- Sharp-tailed grouse, which WDNR has closed for this season
- Bear, bobcat, and the other drawn-permit species
- Rabbit, squirrel and the other small game with dates on the same WDNR page
- Youth hunts, mentored hunting rules, and dog training seasons
- ATV and UTV rules on state and county forest land
And WDNR publishes no bag limit we could cite for Ruffed grouse, Wild turkey (fall), American woodcock, Ring-necked pheasant, Wild turkey (spring) — those fields are blank above on purpose.
The official documents
We do not reproduce WDNR's digest or its licence pages. These are the originals, and they are the authority.
-
Wisconsin Small Game Hunting Regulations →
The document this page is a searchable compilation of -
WDNR season dates →
The page every date above was read from -
Buy a Wisconsin hunting licence →
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, official portal -
WDNR hunting regulations →
Including any in-season change or emergency order
Verify before you hunt. This page is our best-effort compilation from
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources data, rebuilt nightly and current as of 2026-09-24. It is not
legal advice and it is not the regulation. Emergency orders, in-season changes, county
ordinances and the rules an agency writes in prose rather than publishes as data will not
all be here. Check the current rules at
WDNR before you go,
and tell us what is wrong here —
hello@birdtrout.com.
Open the hunting map →Hunting zones, public land and bird cover, drawn.