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Where to hunt american woodcock near Gaylord, Michigan

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

There are 23 public units within 40 miles of Gaylord, Michigan that hold ground where american woodcock is recorded — 367,729 acres of it. The most of it is in Atlanta State Forest Area, 15.3 miles out, with 152,217 recorded acres. The closest is Pigeon River Country State Forest Area at 8.7 miles. The season runs September 15, 2025 to October 29, 2025 — 45 days afield, bag 3 per day, 9 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 Gaylord

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 american woodcock 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
Atlanta State Forest Area part of the unit State forest 15.3 152,217 163,506 41% stronghold, 53% regular, 7% present
Huron National Forest part of the unit National forest 25 100,041 100,041 100% regular
Pigeon River Country State Forest Area State forest 8.7 61,340 103,170 59% stronghold, 41% present
Kirtland Warbler Unit Clear Lake State forest 23.3 19,202 19,202 82% stronghold, 18% regular
Kirtland Warbler Unit Lovells State forest 14.8 9,902 9,902 100% regular
Kirtland Warbler Unit Manistee State forest 18.3 6,930 6,930 100% stronghold
Cadillac State Forest Area part of the unit State forest 36.1 4,127 12,695 33% stronghold, 67% occasional
Kirtland Warbler Unit N Branch State forest 20.7 2,755 2,755 100% regular

23 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 American woodcock.

SegmentOpensClosesDays
Statewide September 15, 2025October 29, 202545
Open today
Shut
Bag limit
3 per day, 9 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

Wet alder runs, damp aspen bottoms and shrub swamp — soft ground the bird can probe for worms. Woodcock cover is often two hundred yards of a creek bottom rather than a whole block of forest.

Hunt the low wet ground inside grouse country, and hunt it again after a cold front: this is a migratory bird and a covert that was empty on Tuesday can hold a flight on Friday. Birds sit tight and flush straight up through the alders.

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

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