Indiana · Squirrel · 2026–27 Edition
Indiana Squirrel Season 2026–27: Dates & Bag Limits
01 — Seasons
| Season | Zone | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Squirrel season | Statewide | Aug 15 – Jan 31 |
02 — Bag limits
| Daily | 5 — gray and fox squirrel combined |
|---|---|
| Possession | 10 |
| Hunter orange | Required November 1 – January 31, when squirrel season overlaps deer season |
| Other squirrels | American red squirrel: open year-round, no bag limit. Southern flying squirrel: fully protected, no hunting. Shooting into dreys (leaf nests) is illegal |
03 — Shooting hours
No shooting-hours restriction — legal at any hour during the open season.
Rule: No statewide shooting-hours restriction on squirrel. 312 IAC 9-3-17 (Squirrels) sets season dates and hunter-orange requirements only, with no time-of-day clause.
04 — License
Squirrel hunters in Indiana need an Indiana hunting license.
Indiana hunting license cost →
Where to hunt public land in Indiana — WMAs by county & access rules →
05 — FAQ
When does squirrel season start in Indiana?
The 2026–27 opener is August 15, 2026. See the table above for the full window.
When does squirrel season end in Indiana?
The 2026–27 closing date is January 31, 2027.
Is there a difference between fox and gray squirrel rules in Indiana?
See the bag limit table above — most states run one combined limit across both species, but this is worth confirming against Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Fish & Wildlife before you hunt.
How many squirrels can you shoot in Indiana per day?
2026–27 bag limits: Daily — 5 — gray and fox squirrel combined. Possession — 10. Hunter orange — Required November 1 – January 31, when squirrel season overlaps deer season. Other squirrels — American red squirrel: open year-round, no bag limit. Southern flying squirrel: fully protected, no hunting. Shooting into dreys (leaf nests) is illegal. 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 Indiana?
There is no shooting-hours restriction — squirrel may legally be hunted at any hour during the open season in Indiana. The rule is: No statewide shooting-hours restriction on squirrel. 312 IAC 9-3-17 (Squirrels) sets season dates and hunter-orange requirements only, with no time-of-day clause.
Can I hunt squirrels on my own land in Indiana without a license?
Indiana farmland owners (resident or nonresident) and the spouse/children living with them may hunt, fish, and trap without a license on land they own; a resident lessee who actually farms it gets the same right. This applies to farmland only — non-farm acreage doesn't qualify — and a nonresident owner needs to be from a state that grants Indiana landowners the same right, plus carry proof of ownership.
Verified · Indiana Department of Natural Resources · Last verified 2026-08-13
Publisher's note. Every in.gov domain refused an automated connection this round, so the official 2026-27 Hunting & Trapping Seasons PDF could not be opened directly. Dates and limits below come from two independent secondary sites that both explicitly cite the same in.gov PDF and match Indiana's stable multi-year pattern (Aug 15–Jan 31, 5/10) — treat as needing a direct in.gov confirmation before fully relying on the bag/possession figures. SHOOTING HOURS: checked 312 IAC 9-3-17 (Squirrels) directly — it sets season dates and hunter-orange requirements only, no time-of-day restriction. EXPLICIT shootingHours MARKER (2026-08-27): this file now carries shootingHours.unrestricted = true. Simply omitting the field did NOT work and had been silently wrong on the live page: the season templates read season.shootingHours ?? meta.shootingHours, so an absent block fell through to the state-level default in states.json and the page printed a computed sunrise/sunset window plus a rule the law does not impose - while the licence section right below it said the opposite. The templates now honour the marker and print the no-restriction sentence instead. The original reasoning stands: Indiana imposes no statewide hunting-hours limit on squirrel, so any offset — including 0/0 — would state a restriction the law does not impose.