Duck Season Dates 2026-27: Every State, Zone and Split

Duck season dates for 2026-27 open as early as Sept. 1 in Alaska and run to Jan. 31 in 26 states, the latest day federal rules allow.

Originally published: October 26, 2026

Duck season dates are the days a state lets you hunt ducks, coots and mergansers, set zone by zone inside limits the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service publishes for each flyway. For 2026-27 the earliest lower-48 zones opened Sept. 26, and several states wait until Thanksgiving week. Each state picks its own splits, so neighbors on the same river can hunt different weekends. The right date is the one printed for your zone, not the one your buddy across the county line is hunting.

Most duck hunters know their opener cold. Ask when the second split starts and you get a long pause (and a phone fished out of a wader pocket). So here are all 50 states, read from each state’s own 2026-27 rules.

Duck Season Dates by Flyway

Find your state in its flyway table: Mississippi, Central, Atlantic or Pacific. Dates run into 2027, so “Dec. 5–Jan. 31” ends Jan. 31, 2027. Colorado, Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming split at the Continental Divide and appear in two tables.

Mississippi Flyway

Fourteen states. Regular duck, coot and merganser seasons from each state’s 2026-27 rules, read Oct. 18, 2026. Youth, teal-only and falconry days are left out; scaup seasons and limits are often shorter.

Central Flyway

Ten states. High Plains zones get 23 extra days (97 in all), which is why zones from the Texas Panhandle to eastern Montana run longer. Nebraska’s Jan. 6–27 days cover only its High Plains unit. Texas’s 6-duck bag is from the Texas Parks and Wildlife 2026-27 county season pages.

Atlantic Flyway

Seventeen states. Calendars in Connecticut and Massachusetts, which close Sundays, and in the other states on the federal Sunday list (see the FAQ) can span more than 60 days because closed Sundays do not count. Most Atlantic states allow 4 mallards (2 hens); Georgia allows 2 (1 hen).

Pacific Flyway

Eight states plus the western parts of four split states. Alaska sets its own zone limits, up to 10 ducks in its Northern Zone.

Hawaii has no duck season. No duck appears on the game bird tables for any of its six hunting islands (Hawaii Administrative Rules, Chapter 13-122).

How the Federal Rules Set Your Season

Ducks cross state lines (and a couple of national borders), so states do not get a free hand. The Fish and Wildlife Service’s harvest model turns breeding counts into season lengths, and for 2026 it picked the “liberal” package in all four flyways, per its Adaptive Harvest Management 2026 report. Every package closes Jan. 31.

The same report set the bag at 6 in the Mississippi and Central flyways (4 and 5 mallards, no more than 2 hens) and 7 in the Pacific (2 hens). Pintail got a 3-bird limit everywhere, while scaup stayed restrictive, which is why so many states allow 1 scaup for part of the season. The August 2026 Mississippi Flyway frameworks cap redheads at 2 and wood ducks at 3. Remember, a state can be tighter than the federal number, never looser.

The opening side has a limit too. Maryland’s proposal quotes the federal framework: “A 60-day season may be held between the Saturday nearest September 24 and January 31.” In 2026 that Saturday was Sept. 26, and no lower-48 zone in our tables opened earlier.

When Does Duck Season Open?

Counting each state’s earliest zone, 9 states open in September (Alaska on Sept. 1, Maine’s North Zone on Sept. 28, the rest on Sept. 26), 30 in October and 9 in November. Every November state is in the South, from Florida and Georgia west to Arkansas and Louisiana.

Kentucky writes its opener into the regulation: the season begins “on Thanksgiving Day for four (4) consecutive days,” then runs Dec. 7 through Jan. 31, under 301 KAR 2:221. Missouri’s South Zone, Mississippi and Alabama also open Thanksgiving weekend. Think about it: the turkey gets carved and the decoys go out before the pie is gone.

Why Your Zone Has Splits

A split is a closed stretch between segments, and most zones in these tables use two or three segments. Arkansas runs three: Nov. 21–29, Dec. 10–23 and Dec. 26–Jan. 31.

Zone lines and split choices are fixed for a multi-year period, generally five years, under the Service’s frameworks, and 2026-27 starts a new one.

Shells, Plugs and Shooting Hours

Having worked behind the counter for over 20 years, I get asked every fall what a duck gun needs that a dove gun does not. Two things, both federal law. The gun cannot hold more than three shells, so the plug goes back in (50 CFR 20.21(b)), and under 20.21(j) you cannot even possess shells loaded with anything but approved nontoxic shot. Not just the ones in the gun. ALL of them. Our sister site covers 12-gauge shotgun shells and the steel-shot rule load by load.

Shooting hours run from one-half hour before sunrise to sunset in most states, including Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota and Arizona. Public ground changes that: Arkansas WMAs stop at noon in the regular season, and Alabama’s Mobile-Tensaw Delta and Oklahoma’s wetland development units quit at 1 p.m.

Federal refuges layer their own rules on top, and our report on the 2026 refuge hunting rule covers what changed. The state hunting season and regulation hub links every state agency, and deer hunters can line these dates up with our deer season dates for the top deer states.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the latest duck season can close?

Jan. 31. That is the federal closing date in every flyway for 2026-27, and 26 states hunt at least one zone to it. The youth and veteran days some states hold in early February are separate.

How many ducks can you shoot in a day?

Six in the Atlantic, Mississippi and Central flyways and seven in the Pacific. Inside that total come species caps such as 2 hen mallards in most states, 3 pintails and 2 redheads. Alaska runs its own zone limits.

Why are my duck season dates different from the next state’s?

Each state picks its own dates inside the same federal window, and many split into zones. Ohio’s three zones all open Oct. 17 but close Dec. 27, Jan. 10 and Jan. 31. The flyway decides how many days; the state decides which ones.

Do I need a duck stamp?

Yes, at 16 or older, as Colorado’s and Utah’s rules spell out. Federal law also requires HIP registration, and states such as Colorado and Vermont add their own waterfowl stamp.

Can I hunt ducks on Sundays?

Outside a handful of Atlantic states, yes. The federal Atlantic Flyway frameworks name Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina and Pennsylvania as states where a statewide Sunday ban closes those days, and Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts say with their dates that Sundays are closed.

So find your row, circle your split, and put the plug back in before the first flight shows up. The ducks will not wait while you read the booklet in the parking lot.

Sources: USFWS, “Adaptive Harvest Management 2026 Hunting Season”; USFWS, “General Decision Frameworks, Atlantic Flyway”; USFWS, “General Decision Frameworks, Mississippi Flyway”; USFWS, “Administrative Flyways”; eCFR, 50 CFR 20.21; Maryland DNR, “2026-27 Migratory Game Bird Season Proposals”; Minnesota DNR, “Waterfowl hunting seasons are on the horizon”; Hawaii DLNR, hunting rules; each state’s 2026-27 regulations, linked in the tables.

James Nicholas

NFA Firearms Manufacturer & Professional Gunsmith The XDMAN has a talent for taking complex firearms subject matter and breaking it down into an easy-to-understand format that all experience levels can relate to. James is an 07/02 NFA Firearms Manufacturer, a Professional Gunsmith with over 20 years of experience, and a Firearms Writer, Photographer and Firearms Expert. Connect with him on Instagram, X, and Facebook as @therealxdman.

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