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Where to hunt northern bobwhite near Lansing, Michigan
Last updated 2026-09-24 · seasons from MDNR · 2025–26 licence year
There are 15 public units within 40 miles of Lansing, Michigan that hold ground where northern bobwhite is recorded — 22,455 acres of it. The most of it is in Waterloo State Wildlife Area, 28.2 miles out, with 5,732 recorded acres. The closest is Windsor Township State Game Area at 5.6 miles. The season runs October 20, 2025 to November 14, 2025 — on dates that depend on the zone, bag 5 per day, 10 in possession, read against the 2025–26 licence year from MDNR. Public-land boundaries here are PAD-US, which records who manages a parcel rather than where the line runs or whether a unit carries a local closure — check with MDNR before you park.
Public land within 40 miles of Lansing
Distance is measured to the nearest edge of a unit rather than to its middle, in a straight line — this app carries no road network and will not print a drive time it cannot compute. A unit whose ground reaches inside the circle is listed for the acreage that is inside it, never for its statewide total.
Ordered by recorded acres — how much of each unit lies inside subbasins where northern bobwhite is recorded at regular strength or better — rather than by how big the unit is. The biggest block in a state is often not in the half of it the bird is in. PAD-US splits a forest into many parcels, so acreage is summed over the unit's name, and the share is measured against the unit's drawn boundary rather than a centroid: a national forest can be two polygons across half a peninsula.
Season boundary drawn
Narrowed to ground MDNR opens a season on (Open counties),
which leaves 15 eligible
units.
Boundary: county lines (Census TIGER). The order names counties rather than describing a boundary, so the county edges are the rule itself and not a simplification of it.
Season geography read against the published rule on
2026-08-23.
| Unit | Class | Miles | Recorded acres | Acres in range | Where the records are |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waterloo State Wildlife Area | State game area | 28.2 | 5,732 | 5,732 | 100% regular |
| Dansville State Game Area | State game area | 15.7 | 4,755 | 4,755 | 100% regular |
| Rose Lake State Wildlife Area | State game area | 8.8 | 4,073 | 4,073 | 100% regular |
| Gregory State Game Area | State forest | 28.5 | 2,817 | 2,817 | 100% regular |
| Portland State Game Area | State game area | 14.6 | 2,374 | 2,374 | 100% regular |
| Unadilla State Wildlife Area | State game area | 28.6 | 1,161 | 1,161 | 100% regular |
| Chelsea State Game Area part of the unit | State game area | 39 | 499 | 499 | 100% regular |
| Windsor Township State Game Area | State game area | 5.6 | 298 | 357 | 83% regular, 17% present |
15 units clear the circle in all and the 8 holding the most recorded ground are named. The rest are ground a reader would drive past something better to reach.
A unit marked part of the unit has ground outside the circle as well, and the acreage here is only what is inside it. PAD-US records who manages a parcel, not where its line runs on the ground and not whether it carries a local closure: context, not permission. Check the unit with MDNR before you park.
Season and limits
MDNR's dates for the 2025–26 licence year, read from MDNR. Michigan lists this season as Northern bobwhite. It is zoned, and a circle drawn round a town is not a zone — check which zone a unit falls in before you go.
| Zone | Opens | Closes | Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open counties | October 20, 2025 | November 14, 2025 | 26 |
| Closed to quail | Closed season | ||
- Open today
- Shut
- Bag limit
- 5 per day, 10 in possession
- Hunter orange
- requiredSmall game hunters must wear a hunter-orange cap, hat, vest, jacket or rain gear as the outermost garment, visible from all sides. Camouflage counts if it is at least 50% orange.
- Shooting hours
- One half-hour before sunrise until sunset.
- 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 Department of Natural Resources opens quail in 27 counties — Branch, Calhoun, Clinton, Eaton, Genesee, Gratiot, Hillsdale, Huron, Ingham, Ionia, Jackson, Kent, Lapeer, Lenawee, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Montcalm, Oakland, Saginaw, St. Clair, St. Joseph, Sanilac, Shiawassee, Tuscola, Washtenaw and Wayne — and states that quail may be taken in those counties only. Wildlife Conservation Order 3.504(2), read August 2026.
- Section 3.504(3) lets the Department's director close any or all of those counties by interim order on the June breeding quail survey. An interim order is not carried in this app — check the digest for the county you are hunting.
- Effectively gone from Michigan outside a few southern counties — 1,769 recorded observations statewide against the grouse's 36,948.
What to walk when you get there
Broomsedge and native warm-season grass with bare ground under it, brushy field borders, and the edge of a cut field against a hedgerow. Quail need to walk under the cover, not through it, which is why manicured ground holds none.
Hunt the edges of managed early-succession fields and the borders between crop and brush. Coveys hold in a few known spots and use them year after year; the singles after a covey rise scatter into the thickest nearby cover.
Written for this app rather than read off an agency page — the cover a bird uses does not change at a state line. Everything above that is a date, a limit or an acreage names the source it came from.
Read next
- Where to hunt northern bobwhite in Michigan — every unit, ranked
- Northern bobwhite hunting in Michigan — season, limits and range
- How to hunt northern bobwhite in Michigan
- Northern bobwhite — biology, range and how it is hunted
- Michigan hunting regulations