Kentucky · Rabbit · 2026–27 Edition
Kentucky Rabbit Season 2026–27: Dates & Bag Limits
01 — Seasons
| Season | Zone | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern Zone — segment 1 | Eastern Zone | Nov 1 – Nov 13 |
| Eastern Zone — segment 2 | Eastern Zone | Nov 16 – Jan 31 |
| Western Zone | Western Zone | Nov 16 – Feb 10 |
02 — Bag limits
| Daily | 4 |
|---|---|
| Possession | 8 |
03 — Shooting hours
Legal light on opening day (November 1, 2026) 06:36 — 17:42
Rule: One-half hour before sunrise through sunset, per KDFWR's Rabbit Hunting page. Sunrise/sunset shift daily — the times above are computed for opening day; use your local Kentucky sun times for any other date.
04 — License
Rabbit hunters in Kentucky need a Kentucky hunting license.
Kentucky hunting license cost →
Where to hunt public land in Kentucky — WMAs by county & access rules →
05 — FAQ
When does rabbit season start in Kentucky?
The 2026–27 opener is November 1, 2026. See the table above for the full window.
When does rabbit season end in Kentucky?
The 2026–27 closing date is February 10, 2027.
Is there a closed season on rabbit in Kentucky?
Yes — see the dates above. Outside that window, taking rabbit is closed in Kentucky.
How many rabbits can you shoot in Kentucky per day?
2026–27 bag limits: Daily — 4. Possession — 8. Limits are set per zone and per permit — check the agency's own regulations before you hunt.
What time can you start shooting rabbit in Kentucky?
On opening day (November 1, 2026) legal light runs 06:36 to 17:42. The rule is: One-half hour before sunrise through sunset, per KDFWR's Rabbit Hunting page. Sunrise and sunset shift daily, so work the offset against your local Kentucky sun times for any other date.
Can I hunt rabbits on my own land in Kentucky without a license?
Kentucky resident farmland owners — or their spouse or dependent children — may hunt (not trap) and fish that land without a license; resident tenants living there and their dependent children get the same right. Season dates, zone rules, bag limits, and telecheck reporting still apply.
Verified · Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources · Last verified 2026-08-27
Publisher's note. Re-verified 2026-08-27. fw.ky.gov returns 403 to automated fetchers, so the official 2026-27 Hunting Poster PDF was read through a text-extraction proxy of the same official URL. Its Small Game block confirms both zone rows exactly: 'Rabbit | Eastern Zone | Nov. 1-13 and Nov. 16, 2026 - Jan. 31, 2027' and 'Western Zone | Nov. 16, 2026 - Feb. 10, 2027'. The poster prints hunting and trapping dates side by side; this file carries the hunting column, and the trapping windows (Eastern Nov. 16 - Jan. 31, Western Nov. 16 - Feb. 10) are deliberately not modeled. The split in the Eastern Zone is not a mistake in the data: Kentucky closes rabbit season for two days, Nov. 14-15, 2026, which is the opening weekend of modern gun deer season. The same two-day gap appears on the poster for squirrel and quail. It is modeled here as two segments rather than one continuous window. What the poster does NOT carry is bag and possession limits or shooting hours - the poster is a dates-only document. Those three values in this file (daily 4, possession 8, one-half hour before sunrise through sunset) come from KDFWR's dedicated Rabbit Hunting page, checked separately and in agreement with the poster on the dates. Neither source distinguishes cottontail from swamp rabbit; Kentucky treats rabbit as one undifferentiated category, unlike Oklahoma in this same batch.