California · Squirrel · 2026–27 Edition
California Squirrel Season 2026–27: Dates & Bag Limits
01 — Seasons
| Season | Zone | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Tree squirrel — archery & falconry only | Subset of the general-season counties (30 counties, incl. Kern County east of I-5 — see source note for the full list) | Aug 1 – Sep 11 |
| Tree squirrel — general season | 46 of 58 counties (see source note); no open season in the remaining dozen counties concentrated in Southern California and the eastern desert basin | Sep 12 – Jan 31 |
02 — Bag limits
| Daily | 4 |
|---|---|
| Possession | 4 |
| "No Open Season" zone (Imperial, Inyo, Kern west of I-5, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Ventura) | No open season — take prohibited year-round |
03 — Shooting hours
Legal light on opening day (August 1, 2026) 05:33 — 20:33
Rule: One-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset for all resident small game mammals — tree squirrels are named in the T14 CCR §257 definition of resident small game — per 14 CCR §310. Sunrise/sunset shift daily — the times above are computed for opening day; use your local California sun times for any other date.
04 — License
Squirrel hunters in California need a California hunting license — Nonlead ammunition is required statewide for taking any wildlife with a firearm in California, including tree squirrels. Ground squirrels are a different, unprotected nongame species and are not covered by this game season.
California hunting license cost →
Where to hunt public land in California — WMAs by county & access rules →
05 — FAQ
When does squirrel season start in California?
The 2026–27 opener is August 1, 2026. See the table above for the full window.
When does squirrel season end in California?
The 2026–27 closing date is January 31, 2027.
Is there a difference between fox and gray squirrel rules in California?
See the bag limit table above — most states run one combined limit across both species, but this is worth confirming against California Department of Fish and Wildlife before you hunt.
How many squirrels can you shoot in California per day?
2026–27 bag limits: Daily — 4. Possession — 4. "No Open Season" zone (Imperial, Inyo, Kern west of I-5, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Ventura) — No open season — take prohibited year-round. Limits are set per zone and per permit — check the agency's own regulations before you hunt.
What time can you start shooting squirrel in California?
On opening day (August 1, 2026) legal light runs 05:33 to 20:33. The rule is: One-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset for all resident small game mammals — tree squirrels are named in the T14 CCR §257 definition of resident small game — per 14 CCR §310. Sunrise and sunset shift daily, so work the offset against your local California sun times for any other date.
Can I hunt squirrels on my own land in California without a license?
No — California requires a hunting license regardless of land ownership. The one landowner-specific carve-out is a narrow depredation-permit process for wild pigs causing damage, which is not a general hunting license.
Verified · California Department of Fish and Wildlife · Last verified 2026-08-14
Publisher's note. Official '2026-2027 California Mammal Hunting Regulations' PDF (cover reads 'UPDATED JULY 1, 2026'), downloaded directly and read with pdftotext since the file is too large for a single fetch; text corroborated against the same season table published on the CDFW webpage wildlife.ca.gov/Hunting/Small-Game and against California Code of Regulations Title 14 §§257, 307, 310, 311 via a Cornell LII mirror of §307. Tree squirrel (genus Sciurus and Tamiasciurus) has its own footprint under §307(a)-(d) that is NOT statewide: the general season (second Saturday in September through the last Sunday in January) is open only in Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Kings, Lake, Lassen, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Modoc, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Yolo, Yuba, and the portion of Kern County east of Interstate 5 — 46 of 58 counties. Per §307(d), 'tree squirrels may not be taken at any time in the balance of the state,' i.e. there is a genuine 'No Open Season' zone (as labeled on CDFW's own Tree Squirrel Hunt Zones map, DocumentID 109005) covering Imperial, Inyo, Kern west of I-5, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties — a dozen counties that, because they include most of Southern California and the eastern desert basin, make up close to half the state's land area even though they're a minority of counties by count. The archery/falconry-only season (first Saturday in August through the day before the general season) runs in a smaller subset of the general-season counties: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Del Norte, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Modoc, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Yuba, and Kern County east of I-5 — it excludes Alameda, Colusa, Contra Costa, Kings, Mendocino, Merced, Monterey, Sacramento, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Stanislaus and Yolo, which get the general season only. Ground squirrels (a different genus, e.g. Otospermophilus) are not covered by §307's tree-squirrel definition at all; CDFW's nongame-mammal provision lists 'rodents' as takeable year-round without limit but explicitly excludes tree (and flying) squirrels from that carve-out, confirming tree squirrel is the regulated game species and ground squirrel sits in a separate nongame/pest track this file does not cover. Shooting hours (§310) explicitly cover 'all resident small game mammals,' and §257 defines resident small game to include tree squirrels by name.