# Small Game Hunting Begins Sept. 1 in Michigan



## Outdoor Hub (Aug 10, 2011)

Small game hunting season begins Sept. 1 with the opening of the early Canada goose season and continues until rabbit and hare season ends on March 31. Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologists across the state say hunters should find conditions similar to last year  with a couple of improved opportunities  in Michigans wood lots, farm fields and wetlands.

*Rabbits*

Season: Cottontail rabbits and varying (or snowshoe) hare can be hunted from Sept. 15  March 31, statewide. The daily bag limit is five in combination with a possession limit of 10.

Outlook: Roughly 83,000 hunters pursue rabbits and hares in Michigan. Cottontail populations, as always, are good throughout their range over much of the state. Look for thick cover, such as briar patches and brush piles, often adjoining agricultural fields. Snowshoe hare populations, which are cyclical, are down somewhat because of declining habitat. Look for early-successional forests (such as aspen stands), and low-lying swamps with blow-downs and brush piles in the northern two-thirds of the state.

*Squirrels*

Season: Sept. 15  March 1. Hunters may bag five per day with 10 in possession.

Outlook: Both fox and gray squirrels are at moderate to high levels across much of the state. Look for areas that had good acorn or nut production last year or in wood lots adjoining corn fields. Take advantage of post deer-season hunting in January and February. About 83,000 hunters pursue squirrels each year.

*Ruffed Grouse*

Season: Sept. 15  Nov. 14 and Dec. 1  Jan. 1, statewide. The bag limit is five per day/10 in possession in the northern two-thirds of the state, three per day/six in possession in Zone 3 (southern Michigan).

Outlook: Grouse populations are cyclical, typically rising and falling over a 10-year period, and indications are that we are at or near a peak. Grouse are denizens of early-successional forests  young to moderate-aged aspen stands (with trees of a diameter ranging from a cue stick to a baseball


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