Kansas · Rabbit · 2026 Edition
Kansas Rabbit Season 2026: Dates & Bag Limits
01 — Seasons
| Season | Zone | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Rabbit — cottontail & jackrabbit | Statewide | Jan 1 – Dec 31 |
02 — Bag limits
| Daily | 10 |
|---|---|
| Possession | 30 |
| Running with dogs | A separate 'running' (pursuit without killing) season is open March 1–November 1 each year — the full taking season above already covers this window |
03 — Shooting hours
Legal light on opening day (January 1, 2026) 07:19 — 17:22
Rule: One-half hour before sunrise to SUNSET — K.A.R. 115-3-2(c): 'Legal hours for the hunting and taking of rabbits, hares, and squirrels shall be from 1/2 hour before sunrise to sunset during established hunting seasons.' No after-sunset margin, unlike Kansas deer (half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset). Running and box-trapping rabbits/hares is separately allowed 24 hours a day during established running seasons. Sunrise/sunset shift daily — the times above are computed for opening day; use your local Kansas sun times for any other date.
04 — License
Rabbit hunters in Kansas need a Kansas hunting license.
Where to hunt public land in Kansas — WMAs by county & access rules →
05 — FAQ
When does rabbit season start in Kansas?
Kansas runs rabbit season year-round — there's no opening day to wait for.
When does rabbit season end in Kansas?
It doesn't — Kansas has no closed season on rabbit, per Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.
Is there a closed season on rabbit in Kansas?
No — rabbit can be hunted in Kansas every day of the year, subject to the bag limit and legal shooting hours above.
How many rabbits can you shoot in Kansas per day?
2026 bag limits: Daily — 10. Possession — 30. Running with dogs — A separate 'running' (pursuit without killing) season is open March 1–November 1 each year — the full taking season above already covers this window. Limits are set per zone and per permit — check the agency's own regulations before you hunt.
Can I hunt rabbits on my own land in Kansas without a license?
A Kansas resident, or an immediate family member living with them, is exempt on land they own or lease for agricultural purposes — no minimum acreage applies. Deer still needs its own permit regardless.
Verified · Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks · Last verified 2026-08-14
Publisher's note. Confirmed directly on two official KDWP pages (ksoutdoors.gov's normal fetch path returns HTTP 403 to automated tools this round, so both were read via a text-rendering proxy of the same live pages, not a cache): the Cottontail & Jack Rabbits species page states the season runs 'January 1 - December 31' statewide with a daily bag limit of 10 and possession limit of 30, and the 'When to Hunt' seasons page confirms this as 'Open Season for Taking Rabbits: January 1 through December 31 each year' plus a separate, narrower 'Open Season for Running Rabbits [with dogs, without killing]: March 1-November 1 each year' — noted below, not modeled as its own method since it sits entirely inside the year-round taking season and would not change the outer window. Per this repo's convention, the 2026-01-01–2026-12-31 window is written as an ordinary dated method, not the separate yearRound:true flag. No rabbit-specific shooting-hours statement was found — KDWP states explicit shooting hours for big game, upland game birds, and migratory birds on the 'When to Hunt' page, but the Small Game / Rabbit entry has no such line, so shootingHours is omitted here rather than assumed.