Michigan Waterfowl Season Dates 2026–27 by Zone

Always verify current regulations with the Michigan DNR before you hunt. We built this page from the official 2026 Michigan Waterfowl Hunting Regulations Summary and checked it on November 11, 2026. Rules can change mid-season, and the DNR's page is the only version that counts in front of a conservation officer. This page is a plain-English guide, not legal advice.

The single most common way Michigan duck hunters get dates wrong is mixing up zones. A Livingston County hunter who runs up to Saginaw Bay for a weekend can cross from the South Zone into the Middle Zone in a couple of hours, and the duck calendars in those two zones are different. So we put everything on one page, zone by zone, with the bag limits and the zone line spelled out.

The 2026–27 season at a glance

All dates below come straight from the DNR's "Waterfowl hunting season dates" table for 2026. Goose seasons that run past New Year's end in early 2027.

Statewide seasons

North Zone (all of the Upper Peninsula)

Middle Zone

South Zone

*The South Zone goose dates exclude the Allegan County and Muskegon County Wastewater System goose management units, which have their own calendars (below).

Goose management units (GMUs)

Where the Middle Zone ends and the South Zone begins

The North Zone is simple: it's the whole Upper Peninsula. The Middle/South line is where people get tripped up. In the DNR's words, it starts in Lake Michigan at the Wisconsin border, due west of the mouth of Stony Creek in Oceana County, and then runs roughly like this:

1. East along the south shore of Stony Creek to Scenic Drive, then Scenic Drive to Stony Lake Road.
2. East on Stony Lake and Garfield roads to M-20.
3. East on M-20 to the U.S. 10 Business Route in Midland, then onto U.S. 10.
4. East on U.S. 10, crossing what the DNR text calls "U.S. 75" (the I-75 corridor), to M-25 west of Bay City.
5. East along M-25 through Tuscola County and into Huron County, then southeast on M-25 near Huron City (locally North Shore Road) to the centerline of Willow Creek.
6. North along Willow Creek to Lake Huron, then due east to the Canadian border.

What that means in practice: if you live in the southern Lower Peninsula's bottom tier — Livingston, Washtenaw, Oakland, Wayne, Monroe, Jackson, Ingham and so on — your home water is South Zone. Much of Saginaw Bay's west shore north of the M-25 / U.S. 10 corridor, including Nayanquing Point near Linwood, sits in the Middle Zone. Fish Point near Unionville is the one we'd double-check on a map before every trip, because the line runs right through that part of the Thumb. The DNR's managed-area reservation table gives a good tell: Fish Point and Nayanquing Point hold their opening-weekend reserved hunts on Oct. 3–4 (the Middle Zone opener), while Pointe Mouillee, Harsens Island and Shiawassee River hold theirs on Oct. 17–18 (the South Zone opener).

If you're hunting anywhere near the line, pull up the DNR's zone map and description on the waterfowl regulations page rather than trusting memory — including ours. Check that page before you go.

I hunt in Livingston and Ingham counties — both South Zone — and I also hunt Saginaw Bay, the Shiawassee Flats, and Fish Point. That last one sits close to the Middle/South line, which is why the map check above matters on those trips.

Daily bag limits (all zones)

These are the 2026 limits from the DNR summary.

Ducks: 6 total per day, with these species caps inside the six:

• Mallards: 4, no more than 2 of which may be hens
• Wood ducks: 3
• Northern pintail: 3
• Redheads: 2
• Canvasbacks: 2
• Black ducks: 2
• Scaup: 1 or 2, depending on zone and date (table below)

Scaup by zone and date:

Mergansers: 5 per day, only 2 of which may be hooded mergansers.

Dark geese: 5 per day in any combination of Canada, white-fronted and brant, only 1 of which may be a brant.

Light geese: 20 per day in any combination of snow, blue-phase snow and Ross's geese.

Other migratory birds: coots 15, common gallinule 1, Virginia and sora rails 25 combined, Wilson's snipe 8.

Possession limits are three times the daily bag: 18 ducks, 15 dark geese, 60 light geese.

Two rules worth repeating from the DNR summary: you can't take more than one daily limit in a day, and you have to make a reasonable effort to retrieve any bird you kill or wound and count it in your bag.

Shooting hours

Regular waterfowl hours are one half-hour before sunrise to sunset. The early teal season is the exception: sunrise to sunset.

The DNR publishes a day-by-day hours table for "Zone A" and a map showing how many minutes to add for other parts of the state. Times are Eastern and already adjusted for daylight saving time; hunters in Gogebic, Iron, Dickinson and Menominee counties (Central time) subtract an hour. For example, the Zone A table lists 6:48 a.m. – 5:21 p.m. for Nov. 11, 2026 and 7:23 a.m. – 5:10 p.m. for Dec. 13, the last day of the main South Zone duck season.

We have not reproduced the minute offsets for each area of the state here. Check the hunting-hours map on the DNR waterfowl regulations page for your spot before you go.

The South Zone late split and the February goose window

Two short windows matter a lot to southern Michigan hunters:

• Dec. 26–27, 2026: the South Zone duck, coot and merganser split. It's the last duck weekend of the year in the south, and on open big water it's a diver window. See our late-season Great Lakes diver guide.
• Feb. 6–15, 2027: South Zone dark and light goose hunting reopens (outside the Allegan and Muskegon GMUs).

Between Dec. 27 and Jan. 3, South Zone goose hunting stays open while duck season is closed, so know which birds you can shoot before a flock comes in.

What about 2027?

The DNR and its Citizens Waterfowl Advisory Committee publish proposed opening days to help hunters plan. For 2027 they are:

These are proposals only. The DNR says they hold only if federal duck season frameworks don't change, and final 2027 duck dates won't be set until spring 2027. The full 2027–28 calendar, bag limits and managed-area draw schedules have not been published as of November 11, 2026. Check the DNR waterfowl regulations page before you plan around any 2027 date. We'll update this page when the final calendar is out — or you can get the cheat sheet and updates by email.

Licenses you need before any of these dates

Short version for a Michigan resident 16 or older: a base license, a Michigan waterfowl license (which includes your HIP registration), and a federal duck stamp. Youth, nonresident, apprentice and mentored rules differ. We cover all of it, with 2026 prices, in our Michigan waterfowl license and gear checklist.

Plan the hunt around the calendar

A few planning notes that follow directly from the dates above:

• Managed waterfowl area draws follow the zone calendars. The Pointe Mouillee, Harsens Island and Shiawassee River draws run during South Zone duck season, and Fish Point and Nayanquing Point follow the Middle Zone. See our Michigan managed waterfowl areas guide.
• Shiawassee is two different places with two rule sets. The national wildlife refuge dropped its weekly drawing for 2026; the state game area next door didn't. See Shiawassee NWR vs. Shiawassee River SGA.
• Public land near home. If you're in Livingston, Washtenaw or Oakland County, our SE Michigan public-land duck hunting guide covers which state game and recreation areas are open, and the early-September closures in several recreation areas.

Disclaimer: Always verify current regulations with the Michigan DNR (michigan.gov/waterfowl) and, on federal land, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before every hunt. The Marsh Brief is an independent site and is not affiliated with the Michigan DNR or USFWS. Last verified November 11, 2026.

Sources

• Michigan DNR, 2026 Waterfowl Hunting Regulations Summary (season dates, GMUs, bag limits, scaup table, proposed 2027 openers, hunting hours, zone boundary, reserved hunt table): https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/managing-resources/laws/regulations/waterfowl — retrieved Nov. 11, 2026
• Michigan DNR, 2026 Michigan Waterfowl Hunting Regulations Summary (PDF digest): https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/-/media/Project/Websites/dnr/Documents/LED/digests/2026-Waterfowl-Hunting-Regs-Summary.pdf