Section 10.06. Hunting hours.

 

(1)   General hunting. All hunting hours, when specified in this chapter, mean Central Standard Time, and the daily opening (a.m.) and closing (p.m.) hours listed shall apply to the entire state.

(2)   Hunting zones.

(a) General. Two general hunting hour areas are established as follows: Northern area: all of the following counties and all counties north of them; Pierce, Dunn, Eau Claire, Clark, Marathon, Shawano, Oconto, and Door. Southern area: remainder of state. In addition, the following zones are established across the northern and southern areas:

Zone

A—all that part of the state lying east of 88 ° -00F longitude.

B—all that part of the state lying between 88 ° -00F and 89 ° -00F long.

C—all that part of the state lying between 89 ° -00F and 90 ° -00F long.

D—all that part of the state lying between 90 ° -00F and 91 ° -00F long.

E—all that part of the state lying between 91 ° -00F and 92 ° -00F long.

F—all that part of the state lying west of 92 ° -00F longitude.

(b) General prohibition. Except as provided in subs. (6) to (9) , no person may hunt or shoot any game species for which an open season is prescribed on any day during the open season before the a.m. times or after the p.m. times established in sub. (5) .

(5)   Hunting hours. Hunting hours for bear, bow deer, deer with firearms, elk and small game are 30 minutes before sunrise through 20 minutes after sunset. Hunting hours for migratory game birds are 30 minutes before sunrise to sunset except for teal during a season for hunting teal species only. The hours for hunting teal during a teal-only season shall be sunrise through 7:00 p.m. except on the first day when hunting hours begin at 9:00 a.m. All pheasant hunting starts at 9:00 a.m. on the first day of the pheasant hunting season established in s. NR 10.01 (2) (c) . The department shall establish the specific opening and closing times annually in the hunting regulations pamphlets. Opening and closing times for zone A southern and northern areas shall be based on astronomical data collected by the U.S. naval observatory, Washington D.C., 20392-5420 for Sheboygan, Wisconsin and Powers, Michigan, respectively. The hunting hours for the other zones shall be obtained by adding minutes to the Zone A a.m. and p.m. columns as follows: - See PDF for table

(6)   Pheasant hunting. Except as provided in this subsection, pheasant hunting hours are those hunting hours established for small game in sub. (5) . Pheasant hunting hours shall close at 2:00 p.m. on weekdays within the posted boundaries of the following state wildlife areas beginning the third day of the pheasant hunting season established in s. NR 10.01 (2) (c) and continuing through November 3:

(a) Allenton (Washington county)

(b) Brooklyn (Dane and Green counties)

(c) C.D. "Buzz" Besadny (Kewaunee county)

(d) Dunnville (Dunn county)

(e) Eldorado Marsh (Fond du Lac county)

(f) Goose Lake (Dane county)

(g) Grand River (Green Lake and Marquette counties)

(h) Holland (Brown county)

(i) Horicon (Dodge county)

(j) Jackson Marsh (Washington county)

(k) Killsnake (Calumet and Manitowoc counties)

(L) Mazomanie (Dane county)

(m) Mud Lake (Columbia county)

(n) Mud Lake (Dodge county)

(o) New Munster (Kenosha county)

(p) Nichols Creek (Sheboygan county)

(q) Pine Island (Columbia and Sauk counties)

(s) Theresa (Dodge and Washington counties)

(t) Tichigan (Racine county)

(u) Vernon (Waukesha county)

(v) White River (Green Lake and Marquette counties)

(7)   Wild turkey hunting. The hunting hours for pursuing wild turkeys shall be the same as the hours established in sub. (5) except that spring season hunting hours shall close at sunset daily.

(8)   Exceptions. There are no hunting hour restrictions for pursuing coyote, fox, raccoon and all wild animals for which no closed season is established except as follows:

(a) Bear, deer, and elk seasons. Hunting hours established in sub. (5) shall apply to archers and crossbow hunters pursuing any species during the black bear season established in s. NR 10.01 (3) (g) , during the archery and crossbow deer seasons established in s. NR 10.01 (3) (em) and (ep) , and during the elk season established in s. NR 10.01 (3) (i) .

(b) Gun deer season. Hunting hours established in sub. (5) shall apply statewide to archer, crossbow and gun hunters pursuing any species, except migratory game birds listed in s. NR 10.01 (1) , during the period beginning on the Saturday preceding the Thanksgiving day holiday and continuing for 9 consecutive days in the central farmland and forest deer management zones established in s. NR 10.28 (4) .

(9)   Daily migratory bird rest period.

(a) Hunting hours for certain species shall close at 1:00 p.m. daily within the posted boundaries of the following state wildlife areas on the following dates:

1. George W. Mead Wildlife Area (Wood, Portage, and Marathon Counties) for waterfowl beginning on the third day of the duck hunting season in s. NR 10.01 and continuing for 16 days.

2. Zeloski Unit of the Lake Mills Wildlife Area (Jefferson County) for migratory birds beginning on Sept 1 and continuing through the 16 th day after the opening weekend of the duck season established in s. NR 10.01 except that normal statewide hunting hours apply on the opening weekend of the duck season.

1-2-56 ; emerg. am. (4), eff. 9-10-99; am. (4), Register, December, 1999, No. 528 , eff. 1-1-00; emerg. am. (8) (b), eff. 8-4-00; am. (2) (a), (b), (6), (7), (8) (a) and (b), r. (3) and (4), r. and recr. (5), Register, September, 2000, No. 537 , eff. 11-18-00; r. Table in (5), Register August 2001 No. 548 ; CR 03-016 : am. (8) (a) Register August 2003 No. 572 , eff. 9-1-03; CR 03-018 : am. (5) and (8) (a) Register November 2003 No. 575 , eff. 1-1-04; CR 04-020 : am. (8) (a) Register August 2004 No. 584 , eff. 9-1-04; CR 04-046 : am. (8) (b) Register September 2004 No. 585 , eff. 10-1-04; CR 06-012 : am. (7) Register December 2006 No. 612 , eff. 2-1-07; CR 07-015 : renum. (6) (m) to (t) to be (6) (n) to (p) and (r) to (v), cr. (6) (m) and (q) Register September 2007 No. 621 , eff. 2-1-08; CR 08-021 : am. (8) (b) Register November 2008 No. 635 , eff. 12-1-08; EmR0824 : emerg. am. (5), eff. 8-30-08; CR 08-061 : am. (5) Register December 2008 No. 636 , eff. 1-1-09; CR 09-015 : cr. (9) Register October 2009 No. 646 , eff. 2-1-10; CR 10-020 : r. (6) (r) Register October 2010 No. 658 , eff. 2-1-11; CR 10-051 : am. (2) (b) Register December 2010 No. 660 , eff. 1-1-11; CR 11-007 : am. (6) (intro.) Register October 2011 No. 670 , eff. 2-1-12; EmR1313 : emerg. r. (9) (b), eff. 9-6-13; CR 13-052 : r. (9) (b) Register March 2014 No. 699 , eff. 4-1-14; EmR1420 : emerg. am. (5), (8) (a), (b), eff. 9-12-14; CR 13-071 : am. (5), (8) (a), (b) Register July 2015 No. 715 , eff. 8-1-15; CR 15-024 : am. (5) Register November 2015 No. 719 , eff. 2-1-16; CR 15-052 : am. (5) Register January 2016 No. 721 , eff. 2-1-16.

Note

The deer hunting with firearms hours do not apply to persons hunting coyote, fox, raccoon, or other wild animals for which no closed season has been established during the muzzle-loader season, an extended gun deer season or the extended gun season dates following the 9-day deer gun season in a metro deer management unit or in the southern farmland deer management zone. Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 For a complete history of s. NR 10.06 from 1-2-56 through 1-1-04 see the History note following s. NR 10.06 published in Register November 2003 No. 575 . Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1