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Where to hunt american woodcock near Houghton, Michigan

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

There are 9 public units within 40 miles of Houghton, Michigan that hold ground where american woodcock is recorded — 191,248 acres of it. The most of it is in Ottawa National Forest, 24.2 miles out, with 108,317 recorded acres. The closest is Baraga State Forest Area at 4.4 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 Houghton

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
Ottawa National Forest part of the unit National forest 24.2 108,317 118,753 31% stronghold, 60% regular, 4% present, 4% occasional
Baraga State Forest Area part of the unit State forest 4.4 46,091 82,228 56% regular, 15% present, 29% occasional
Baraga Plains State Wildlife Management Area State game area 29.1 11,541 13,363 86% regular, 14% present
Sturgeon, Michigan (Ottawa) Wild And Scenic River Study Area Wild & scenic river corridor 33.6 9,447 9,455 100% regular
Sturgeon, Michigan (Ottawa Nf) Wild and Scenic River Wild & scenic river corridor 24.1 7,194 7,194 100% regular
Sturgeon River Sloughs State Wildlife Area State game area 5.7 5,540 6,656 83% regular, 17% occasional
Ontonagon, Michigan Wild and Scenic River part of the unit Wild & scenic river corridor 37.1 2,907 2,907 100% stronghold
Military Hill Purchase Unit part of the unit National forest 39.6 116 116 100% stronghold

9 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

Open the hunting map →Public land and bird cover, drawn for the bird you are after.