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Where to hunt ruffed grouse near Escanaba, Michigan

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

There are 15 public units within 40 miles of Escanaba, Michigan that hold ground where ruffed grouse is recorded — 303,260 acres of it. The most of it is in Hiawatha National Forest, 5.2 miles out, with 187,804 recorded acres. The closest is Hiawatha National Forest at 5.2 miles. The season runs September 15, 2025 to January 1, 2026 — 93 days afield, 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 Escanaba

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 ruffed grouse 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.

MDNR names no geographic restriction on this season, so no unit is excluded for being outside one.
Season geography read against the published rule on 2026-08-23.

UnitClassMilesRecorded acresAcres in rangeWhere the records are
Hiawatha National Forest part of the unit National forest 5.2 187,804 326,047 58% regular, 42% present
Crystal Falls State Forest Area part of the unit State forest 30.8 61,193 61,193 100% regular
Shingleton State Foreset Area part of the unit State forest 21 28,020 35,204 80% regular, 20% present
Sturgeon, Michigan (Hiawatha Nf) Wild and Scenic River Wild & scenic river corridor 20.7 8,393 8,393 100% regular
Sturgeon, Michigan (Hiawatha Nf) Wild And Scenic River Study Area part of the unit Wild & scenic river corridor 31.9 5,788 5,788 100% regular
Hayward Lake to North Lake Floodings State Wildlife Management Area State game area 29.5 3,185 3,185 100% regular
Au Train Basin State Wildlife Management Area part of the unit State game area 33.9 2,424 5,426 45% regular, 55% present
Natural Area Carney Fen State game area 28.5 2,329 2,329 100% regular

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 Ruffed grouse.

SegmentOpensClosesDays
Segment 1 September 15, 2025November 14, 202561
Segment 2 December 1, 2025January 1, 202632
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.

What to walk when you get there

Aspen and mixed brush between about five and twenty years old — cut-over ground rather than big timber, thick enough that you cannot see far into it. The best of it is an edge: young cut against older hardwood, or the alder seam where the cut runs down to wet ground.

Walk the edges slowly and stop often; a stopped hunter is what makes a tight bird lose its nerve. Birds hold in the thick and flush loud, and most shots are inside twenty-five yards through cover, which is why open chokes and light loads are the tradition.

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.

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