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Where to hunt american woodcock near Sandusky, Michigan
Last updated 2026-09-24 · seasons from MDNR · 2025–26 licence year
There are 10 public units within 40 miles of Sandusky, Michigan that hold ground where american woodcock is recorded — 31,377 acres of it. The most of it is in Deford State Game Area, 17.3 miles out, with 10,395 recorded acres. The closest is Minden City State Game Area at 9.9 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 Sandusky
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.
| Unit | Class | Miles | Recorded acres | Acres in range | Where the records are |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deford State Game Area | State game area | 17.3 | 10,395 | 10,395 | 100% regular |
| Tuscola State Game Area | State game area | 24.8 | 9,100 | 9,100 | 100% regular |
| Vassar State Game Area | State game area | 31.6 | 3,391 | 3,391 | 100% regular |
| Minden City State Game Area | State game area | 9.9 | 2,910 | 7,852 | 37% regular, 63% occasional |
| Murphy Lake State Game Area | State game area | 31.7 | 2,359 | 2,697 | 87% regular, 13% occasional |
| Sanilac State Game Area | State game area | 16.6 | 1,437 | 1,437 | 100% regular |
| Cass City State Game Area | State game area | 17.2 | 1,202 | 1,202 | 100% regular |
| Gagetown State Game Area | State game area | 23 | 314 | 1,343 | 23% regular, 77% occasional |
10 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.
| Segment | Opens | Closes | Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statewide | September 15, 2025 | October 29, 2025 | 45 |
- 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.
- Federally set — woodcock is a migratory bird, so the season is a US Fish and Wildlife framework Michigan selects within, not a state season.
- The stamp is free but it is not optional, and it registers you with HIP.
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
- Where to hunt american woodcock in Michigan — every unit, ranked
- American woodcock hunting in Michigan — season, limits and range
- How to hunt american woodcock in Michigan
- American woodcock — biology, range and how it is hunted
- Michigan hunting regulations