Michigan Dove Season 2026: Why There Isn’t One

01 — Why there is no season

Every state bordering Michigan runs a dove season — Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin all open on September 1 under the same federal framework Michigan itself could use. Michigan is the outlier, and it is an outlier by a direct vote of its own residents, not an oversight.

The Michigan Legislature added mourning dove to the state's game list in 2004. Opponents gathered enough signatures to force a statewide referendum, and in November 2006 voters rejected the hunting season by a wide margin — roughly 69% to 31%. Under Michigan law, a referendum result stands until voters reverse it themselves; the legislature cannot simply re-pass the same law. A 2016 act went further and wrote that limit into statute directly, barring the Natural Resources Commission from adding any species to the game list that voters have already rejected by referendum.

House Bill 5068, introduced in the Michigan Legislature in 2025, would open a dove season again — its existence confirms that no season exists today. This page will be updated if that changes.

02 — What the Michigan DNR lists instead

The Michigan DNR's small-game hunting page lists ruffed grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, pheasant, quail, rabbit and hare, woodcock, squirrel and crow as the state's small-game species. Mourning dove does not appear on that page at all — not as closed, not as restricted, simply absent, which is the DNR's own confirmation that it is not treated as game here.

If you are after webless migratory birds in Michigan, woodcock is the closest equivalent open season, and it runs under its own dates and bag limit — check the DNR's small-game regulations for the current year before you go.