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Where to hunt ruffed grouse near Shawano, Wisconsin
Last updated 2026-09-24 · seasons from WDNR · 2026 season year
There are 10 public units within 40 miles of Shawano, Wisconsin that hold ground where ruffed grouse is recorded — 235,014 acres of it. The most of it is in Nicolet National Forest, 23.4 miles out, with 168,182 recorded acres. The closest is Scattered Forest Lands at 6.8 miles. The season runs September 12, 2026 to January 3, 2027 — on dates that depend on the zone, read against the 2026 season year from WDNR. 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 WDNR before you park.
Public land within 40 miles of Shawano
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.
Season boundary drawn
Narrowed to ground WDNR opens a season on (Zone A, Zone B),
which leaves 10 eligible
units.
Boundary: WI DNR Bureau of Wildlife Management, WM_RUFFED_GROUSE_MGMT_ZONES (the agency's own polygons; NR 10.33 is a map, not a description)
Season geography read against the published rule on
2026-08-23.
| Unit | Class | Miles | Recorded acres | Acres in range | Where the records are |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicolet National Forest part of the unit | National forest | 23.4 | 168,182 | 174,638 | 96% regular, 4% present |
| Oconto County Forest part of the unit | County forest | 12.6 | 37,969 | 41,483 | 92% regular, 8% present |
| Marinette County Forest part of the unit | County forest | 32.2 | 16,156 | 16,156 | 100% regular |
| Langlade County Forest part of the unit | County forest | 29.5 | 5,813 | 16,385 | 35% regular, 65% present |
| Governor Earl Peshtigo River State Forest part of the unit | State forest | 38.6 | 2,890 | 2,890 | 100% regular |
| Peshtigo Brook Wildlife Area | State wildlife area | 24.3 | 2,238 | 2,238 | 100% regular |
| Green Bay West Shores Wildlife Area part of the unit | State wildlife area | 28.4 | 1,359 | 4,088 | 33% regular, 50% present, 17% occasional |
| Scattered Forest Lands part of the unit | State forest | 6.8 | 349 | 545 | 64% regular, 36% present |
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 WDNR before you park.
Season and limits
WDNR's dates for the 2026 season year, read from WDNR. Wisconsin lists this season as Ruffed grouse. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zone A | September 12, 2026 | January 3, 2027 | 114 |
| Zone B | October 17, 2026 | December 8, 2026 | 53 |
- Open today
- Open in Zone A
- Bag limit
- not shown No single bag limit is shown for this species here — read the notes below and check the current WDNR regulations before you go.
- Hunter orange
- requiredAt least 50% of clothing above the waist, and any head covering, must be blaze orange or fluorescent pink any time a firearm deer season is in progress. This applies to small game and archery hunters, not only to deer hunters. Waterfowl hunters are exempt.
- Shooting hours
- not carried
- Wisconsin requires blaze orange or fluorescent pink only while a firearm deer season is in progress — but then it applies to small game hunters too. This app flags orange as required for the whole season because missing it during gun deer season is the dangerous error. Check the gun deer dates.
- WDNR sets the daily bag at five birds in Zone A and two in Zone B. This app shows one bag limit per species and cannot yet give a different one per zone, so the figure is left empty rather than printed wrong in half the state — take the one for the zone you are standing in.
- Zone A is the northern and central forest; Zone B the south-east. The boundary is WDNR's own zone polygons, from season_zones_wi.geojson, and the map resolves which side of it you are on — so the dates shown are the ones for where you are standing.
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.
Read next
- Where to hunt ruffed grouse in Wisconsin — every unit, ranked
- Ruffed grouse hunting in Wisconsin — season, limits and range
- How to hunt ruffed grouse in Wisconsin
- Ruffed grouse — biology, range and how it is hunted
- Wisconsin hunting regulations