Illinois · Squirrel · 2026–27 Edition
Illinois Squirrel Season 2026–27: Dates & Bag Limits
01 — Seasons
| Season | Zone | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Squirrel season | Statewide | Aug 1 – Feb 15 |
02 — Bag limits
| Daily | 5 fox and gray squirrels (including black color phase), in any combination |
|---|---|
| Possession | 10 total, except opening day when the limit is 5 in possession |
03 — Shooting hours
Legal light on opening day (August 1, 2026) 05:25 — 20:40
Rule: Half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset — printed on the squirrel row of the digest's upland and small game table. Illinois splits this by group: squirrel counts as 'Small Game' and gets both half-hour margins, while rabbit counts as 'Upland Game' and runs sunrise to sunset only. Sunrise/sunset shift daily — the times above are computed for opening day; use your local Illinois sun times for any other date.
04 — License
Squirrel hunters in Illinois need an Illinois hunting license — Squirrel season closes statewide during Illinois' firearm deer season segments (2026: Nov 20–22 and Dec 3–6) — but only in counties that are open to firearm deer hunting. Counties with archery-only deer seasons (mostly the Chicago-area collar counties) have no squirrel closure during those dates. Check IDNR's current county deer-season list before hunting squirrel in late November/early December.
Illinois hunting license cost →
Where to hunt public land in Illinois — WMAs by county & access rules →
05 — FAQ
When does squirrel season start in Illinois?
The 2026–27 opener is August 1, 2026. See the table above for the full window.
When does squirrel season end in Illinois?
The 2026–27 closing date is February 15, 2027.
Is there a difference between fox and gray squirrel rules in Illinois?
See the bag limit table above — most states run one combined limit across both species, but this is worth confirming against Illinois Department of Natural Resources before you hunt.
How many squirrels can you shoot in Illinois per day?
2026–27 bag limits: Daily — 5 fox and gray squirrels (including black color phase), in any combination. Possession — 10 total, except opening day when the limit is 5 in possession. 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 Illinois?
On opening day (August 1, 2026) legal light runs 05:25 to 20:40. The rule is: Half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset — printed on the squirrel row of the digest's upland and small game table. Illinois splits this by group: squirrel counts as 'Small Game' and gets both half-hour margins, while rabbit counts as 'Upland Game' and runs sunrise to sunset only. Sunrise and sunset shift daily, so work the offset against your local Illinois sun times for any other date.
Can I hunt squirrels on my own land in Illinois without a license?
Illinois owners residing on, or bona fide tenants of, farmland — plus their children, parents, and siblings who live there too — may hunt any legal game on that land without a license. Deer and turkey run through a separate free Resident Landowner/Tenant Permit Program requiring 40 contiguous acres (20 in CWD counties).
Verified · Illinois Department of Natural Resources · Last verified 2026-08-14
Publisher's note. Illinois Administrative Code Title 17, Part 690 (Squirrel Hunting), read via the Illinois General Assembly's own JCAR code portal (ilga.gov), states the statewide season as 'August 1 through February 15 (except closed during firearm deer seasons, as set by 17 Ill. Adm. Code 650, in those counties open to firearm deer hunting)' with a daily limit of five fox/gray squirrels (including black phase) in any combination and a possession limit of ten (five on opening day). This was cross-checked against IDNR's own 'Season Dates - Rules of Thumb' PDF (dnr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/dnr/conservation/wildlife/documents/season-dates-rules-of-thumb.pdf), which states the identical squirrel rule of thumb and gives the 2026 firearm deer season as the Friday–Sunday immediately before Thanksgiving plus the first four-day weekend after Thanksgiving (i.e., Nov 20–22 and Dec 3–6, 2026, per IDNR's deer-firearm page). CRITICAL NUANCE CONFIRMED: the squirrel closure during firearm deer season is county-dependent in the sense that it applies only in counties that are open to firearm deer hunting in the first place — archery-only counties (mostly the Chicago-area collar counties) see no squirrel closure at all, while every other county closes squirrel hunting on the same statewide firearm-deer dates. This differs from rabbit, where a prior pass on this project found no such closure applies. No official county-by-county firearm-deer-open list was pulled into this file — the mechanism, not a specific county list, is what's documented here, per instructions. A prior rabbit-data pass on this project found NO closure for rabbit specifically, confirming squirrel and rabbit are NOT treated identically in Illinois. Shooting hours: 17 Ill. Adm. Code 550 states a half-hour-before-sunrise-to-half-hour-after-sunset rule, but that section's title covers raccoon/opossum/skunk/fox/coyote/bobcat/woodchuck hunting on department sites, not squirrel — repeated attempts to pull the text of Part 690's own sections (690.10/690.20/690.30) did not surface a squirrel-specific hours clause, so shootingHours is omitted here rather than assumed to carry over from a different part.