Michigan · Rabbit · 2026–27 Edition
Michigan Rabbit Season 2026–27: Dates & Bag Limits
01 — Seasons
| Season | Zone | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Cottontail rabbit and snowshoe hare | Statewide | Sep 15 – Mar 31 |
02 — Bag limits
| Daily (cottontail and/or snowshoe hare, combined) | 5 |
|---|---|
| Possession (cottontail and/or snowshoe hare, combined) | 10 |
03 — Shooting hours
Legal light on opening day (September 15, 2026) 06:51 — 20:21
Rule: One-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset — stated directly for small game (including rabbit and hare) on MDNR's small-game regulations summary page; matches Michigan's general statewide hunting-hours rule, no rabbit-specific exception found. Sunrise/sunset shift daily — the times above are computed for opening day; use your local Michigan sun times for any other date.
04 — License
Rabbit hunters in Michigan need a Michigan hunting license.
Michigan hunting license cost →
Where to hunt public land in Michigan — WMAs by county & access rules →
05 — FAQ
When does rabbit season start in Michigan?
The 2026–27 opener is September 15, 2026. See the table above for the full window.
When does rabbit season end in Michigan?
The 2026–27 closing date is March 31, 2027.
Is there a closed season on rabbit in Michigan?
Yes — see the dates above. Outside that window, taking rabbit is closed in Michigan.
How many rabbits can you shoot in Michigan per day?
2026–27 bag limits: Daily (cottontail and/or snowshoe hare, combined) — 5. Possession (cottontail and/or snowshoe hare, combined) — 10. 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 Michigan?
On opening day (September 15, 2026) legal light runs 06:51 to 20:21. The rule is: One-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset — stated directly for small game (including rabbit and hare) on MDNR's small-game regulations summary page; matches Michigan's general statewide hunting-hours rule, no rabbit-specific exception found. Sunrise and sunset shift daily, so work the offset against your local Michigan sun times for any other date.
Can I hunt rabbits on my own land in Michigan without a license?
A Michigan resident, their spouse, and their children may hunt small game without a license on farmland they're actually domiciled on. Deer and turkey aren't covered, and owning land you don't live on doesn't qualify.
Verified · Michigan Department of Natural Resources · Last verified 2026-08-14
Publisher's note. michigan.gov blocks this project's normal fetch tool directly (confirmed again this session — HTTP 403), so the official small-game regulations page was read through a text-extraction proxy (r.jina.ai) of the same michigan.gov URL, which returned the live page content: 'Cottontail rabbit hunting | Statewide | Sept. 15 – March 31', 'Snowshoe hare hunting | Statewide | Sept. 15 – March 31', shooting hours 'one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset' (matches Michigan's general statewide rule — no rabbit-specific exception found), and bag/possession 'Cottontail rabbit and/or snowshoe hare | 5 | 10' — a single COMBINED limit covering both species together, not 5 each. No zone split, no youth day, and no permit/lottery language found for rabbit or hare. Confidence is slightly reduced versus a direct first-party fetch because of the proxy step, but the content matches multiple independent secondary sources (eRegulations, search aggregation) exactly.