Mississippi · Squirrel · 2026–27 Edition
Mississippi Squirrel Season 2026–27: Dates & Bag Limits
01 — Seasons
| Season | Zone | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Youth season | Private lands and authorized state/federal lands | Sep 24 – Sep 30 |
| Fall season | Statewide | Oct 1 – Feb 28 |
| Spring season | Statewide | May 15 – Jun 1 |
02 — Bag limits
| Fall — Daily | 8 (regardless of species) |
|---|---|
| Youth (private/authorized lands) — Daily | 8 (regardless of species) |
| Spring — Daily | 4 (regardless of species) |
| Possession | None published. MDWFP prints no possession column for small game at all - its Small Game table has exactly two data columns, Season Dates and Daily Bag Limit, while the Migratory Game Birds table on the same page does carry a Possession Limit column. Third-party sites cite 24 for the fall season; that figure appears nowhere in the MDWFP source |
03 — Shooting hours
Legal light on opening day (September 24, 2026) 06:18 — 19:21
Rule: One-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset — MDWFP states this once as the rule for resident game, which covers squirrel. Mississippi's MIGRATORY birds run a different rule (half an hour before sunrise to sunset), so the two do not share hours. Sunrise/sunset shift daily — the times above are computed for opening day; use your local Mississippi sun times for any other date.
04 — License
Squirrel hunters in Mississippi need a Mississippi hunting license.
Mississippi hunting license cost →
Where to hunt public land in Mississippi — WMAs by county & access rules →
05 — FAQ
When does squirrel season start in Mississippi?
The 2026–27 opener is September 24, 2026. See the table above for the full window.
When does squirrel season end in Mississippi?
The 2026–27 closing date is June 1, 2027.
Is there a difference between fox and gray squirrel rules in Mississippi?
See the bag limit table above — most states run one combined limit across both species, but this is worth confirming against Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks before you hunt.
How many squirrels can you shoot in Mississippi per day?
2026–27 bag limits: Fall — Daily — 8 (regardless of species). Youth (private/authorized lands) — Daily — 8 (regardless of species). Spring — Daily — 4 (regardless of species). Possession — None published. MDWFP prints no possession column for small game at all - its Small Game table has exactly two data columns, Season Dates and Daily Bag Limit, while the Migratory Game Birds table on the same page does carry a Possession Limit column. Third-party sites cite 24 for the fall season; that figure appears nowhere in the MDWFP source. 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 Mississippi?
On opening day (September 24, 2026) legal light runs 06:18 to 19:21. The rule is: One-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset — MDWFP states this once as the rule for resident game, which covers squirrel. Mississippi's MIGRATORY birds run a different rule (half an hour before sunrise to sunset), so the two do not share hours. Sunrise and sunset shift daily, so work the offset against your local Mississippi sun times for any other date.
Can I hunt squirrels on my own land in Mississippi without a license?
Mississippi exempts only the resident in whom the land's record title is vested — not their spouse, children, or a tenant. The standard resident license already bundles deer and turkey, so the exemption covers those too, though a separate fall turkey permit may still apply.
Verified · Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks · Last verified 2026-08-14
Publisher's note. Fetched directly from MDWFP's squirrel-hunting page and cross-checked against its hunting-seasons-and-bag-limits page and general hunting-rules page, both also fetched directly. All three agree on three 2026-27 segments: a youth season (Sept. 24–30, 2026, private lands and authorized state/federal lands only, daily 8), a fall season (Oct. 1, 2026 – Feb. 28, 2027, daily 8), and a spring season (May 15 – June 1, 2027, daily 4) — confirming the two-plus-segment pattern flagged for this state. None of MDWFP's own pages state a possession limit for squirrel anywhere — the season/bag-limit page and the general-regulations page both list only daily bag limits, and the general-regulations page's single mention of squirrel is an unrelated boating-while-hunting rule. A Mississippi administrative-code proposal PDF (sos.ms.gov) that might carry the formal rule text 404'd, and Cornell's mirror of 33 Miss. Code R. 205-5.9 covers only the separate 'spillway' special hunt (different shooting hours and shotgun-only method), not the general season. Third-party aggregators (not MDWFP) claim a possession limit of 24 for the fall season, apparently assuming the standard 3x-daily multiplier, but that could not be verified against any MDWFP source, so it is left unconfirmed rather than guessed. Shooting hours for the general squirrel season were likewise not found on any MDWFP page reached (only the unrelated spillway-hunt hours were), so shootingHours was omitted at the time; it was added in a later check (verified 2026-08-16) from MDWFP's resident-game rule, and that block is now in this file. UPDATE 2026-08-27: the possession field is now an answer rather than an open question, by the same evidence used for rabbit/mississippi on the same day. The MDWFP Small Game table carries exactly two data columns, Season Dates and Daily Bag Limit, and no possession column anywhere - while the Migratory Game Birds table printed below it on the same page does have one. That contrast inside one document shows Mississippi sets no possession limit for small game, so the third-party figure of 24 has no source in the regulations.