| Window | Dates | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Season | 15 SEP – 29 OCT 2026 | 45d |
As publishedSept 15-Oct 29, 2026 (statewide)
Statewide.Requires a free woodcock stamp, which itself includes the federal HIP (Harvest Information Program) endorsement. Shotguns must be plugged to hold no more than 3 shells. Cannot be hunted from an elevated platform/stand (migratory-bird restriction).
Michigan's own hunting-guide framing groups woodcock with ruffed grouse rather than giving it a separate range description, and the real sub-state answer is the same for both: the Grouse Enhanced Management System (GEMS), 19 named DNR sites spanning the Upper Peninsula and the northern Lower Peninsula, each intensively managed for young aspen/alder forest with dedicated hunter walk-in trails. The agricultural southern Lower Peninsula (Zone 3 for grouse, and the state's core pheasant/quail range) lacks the young-forest habitat type entirely and is not part of this network. MI DNR's own woodcock hunting season is statewide by regulation (Sept. 15-Oct. 29), but the species' real habitat is concentrated in the northern two-thirds of the state. This is a habitat-targeting claim, not a density map. Michigan publishes no state-specific singing-ground survey breakdown by region; only the federal USFWS woodcock report applies, and no 2026 edition has been released. The DNR's own GEMS site map organizes named sites by peninsula (Upper vs. Lower), a genuine sourced basis for splitting the single prior region into two below.
Michigan woodcock numbers are down over the last decade, at -2.37% per year from 2016 to 2026 on the Singing-ground Survey. Michigan carries more survey routes than any other state in the Central Region, so its figure rests on a wider base than most. The long-term record runs at -0.83% per year since 1968, so the recent decade is the steeper part of a long decline.
Recent decade down 2.37% per year on the Central Region's largest route sample.
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