Maine · Rabbit · 2026–27 Edition
Maine Rabbit Season 2026–27: Dates & Bag Limits
01 — Seasons
| Season | Zone | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Snowshoe Hare | Statewide (all Wildlife Management Districts) | Sep 26 – Mar 31 |
02 — Bag limits
| Snowshoe hare — daily | 4 |
|---|---|
| Snowshoe hare — possession | 8 |
| Cottontail rabbit | No open season for hunting statewide in 2026-27 — cottontail is closed in Maine this season |
03 — Shooting hours
Legal light on opening day (September 26, 2026) 05:58 — 18:55
Rule: Half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset — Maine's general rule, whose exceptions are coyote, raccoon and migratory game birds, not snowshoe hare or cottontail. NOTE: Maine's legal hunting hours are calculated from sunrise/sunset in BANGOR (Eastern Standard Time) and applied statewide, so the times do not track local sunrise in far western or northern Maine. Sunrise/sunset shift daily — the times above are computed for opening day; use your local Maine sun times for any other date.
04 — License
Rabbit hunters in Maine need a Maine hunting license.
Where to hunt public land in Maine — WMAs by county & access rules →
05 — FAQ
When does rabbit season start in Maine?
The 2026–27 opener is September 26, 2026. See the table above for the full window.
When does rabbit season end in Maine?
The 2026–27 closing date is March 31, 2027.
Is there a closed season on rabbit in Maine?
Yes — see the dates above. Outside that window, taking rabbit is closed in Maine.
How many rabbits can you shoot in Maine per day?
2026–27 bag limits: Snowshoe hare — daily — 4. Snowshoe hare — possession — 8. Cottontail rabbit — No open season for hunting statewide in 2026-27 — cottontail is closed in Maine this season. 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 Maine?
On opening day (September 26, 2026) legal light runs 05:58 to 18:55. The rule is: Half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset — Maine's general rule, whose exceptions are coyote, raccoon and migratory game birds, not snowshoe hare or cottontail. NOTE: Maine's legal hunting hours are calculated from sunrise/sunset in BANGOR (Eastern Standard Time) and applied statewide, so the times do not track local sunrise in far western or northern Maine. Sunrise and sunset shift daily, so work the offset against your local Maine sun times for any other date.
Can I hunt rabbits on my own land in Maine without a license?
A Maine resident and their immediate family may hunt without a license on land they're legally entitled to possess and actually live on, if it's 10 or more contiguous acres. Moose still needs a license regardless of land ownership.
Verified · Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife · Last verified 2026-08-14
Publisher's note. MDIFW's official season-dates-and-bag-limits HTML page, fetched directly and readable (the companion '26-MDIFW-6-Hunting-Season-2026-27.pdf' on the same site failed to parse as text and was not used). The page lists cottontail rabbit under 'No Open Season for Hunting' for 2026-27 — cottontail is closed statewide, so this file covers snowshoe hare instead, the only legal rabbit-family game in Maine this season. Hare season (Sept. 26, 2026 – Mar. 31, 2027, daily bag 4, possession 8) applies uniformly across all Wildlife Management Districts; no island- or WMD-specific exception (e.g. Vinalhaven) was listed for 2026-27. No hare-specific shooting-hours rule was found on this page or elsewhere this round, so shootingHours is omitted here and the site's general Maine rule (half hour before sunrise to half hour after sunset, per the state registry) applies as the fallback.