Colorado greater prairie-chicken season 2026-27: dates, units and bag limits
Greater prairie-chicken is open in Colorado from October 1, 2026 to January 31, 2027, GMUs 93, 97, 98, 100, 101, 102, 103 and 109 (the brochure also opens Morgan County and ground east of Colo. 71 and south of Colo. 14 and US 138, which is not mapped). This page has the 2026-27 dates, the daily bag and possession limits, the licences you need and the rules that apply, read from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife brochure.
2026-27 season dates and limits
| Season | Dates | Where | Daily bag | Possession |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater prairie-chicken season | October 1, 2026 to January 31, 2027 | GMUs 93, 97, 98, 100, 101, 102, 103 and 109 (the brochure also opens Morgan County and ground east of Colo. 71 and south of Colo. 14 and US 138, which is not mapped) | 2 | 6 |
Shooting hours: Half an hour before sunrise to sunset.
Units we can plan for greater prairie-chicken
The legal area is as the brochure words it in the table above. These are the units inside it that our maps cover: a unit missing from a list may still be open, so check the brochure.
Greater prairie-chicken season: GMUs 93, 97, 98, 100, 101, 102, 103 and 109 (the brochure also opens Morgan County and ground east of Colo. 71 and south of Colo. 14 and US 138, which is not mapped)
8 units: 93, 97, 98, 100, 101, 102, 103, 109.
The brochure prints the possession limit as 6 per year; the regulation says a possession limit of 6. The stricter reading is 6 for the whole season.
Licences and stamps
- Colorado small game licence
- Colorado Habitat Stamp
- Harvest Information Program (HIP) number for this season
Rules for greater prairie-chicken
- Shotgun (10 gauge or smaller, no slugs, three shells at most), bow or crossbow only. No rifles or handguns.
- Keep one fully feathered wing or the head on each bird until you are home.
Do not mistake these for greater prairie-chicken
- Lesser prairie-chicken (protected or closed: never shoot): Paler and a little smaller, in south-east Colorado (Prowers, Baca, Kiowa and Cheyenne counties). In the hand or in flight in autumn it is very hard to tell apart. Use the map. Never hunt prairie-chickens outside the open north-east units, and take extra care in GMU 109.
- Plains sharp-tailed grouse (protected or closed: never shoot): Pointed tail with white outer feathers and V marks on the breast. A prairie-chicken has a square dark tail and bars across the whole breast and belly. No season for sharp-tails on the plains.
- Hen pheasant (protected or closed: never shoot): Long pointed tail, plain mottled brown. Only cock pheasants are legal, and not before 14 November.
How to hunt greater prairie-chicken
- Walk grass and sand sage near corn in the middle of the day, or wait on the line between the grass and the grain at first and last light.
- Late-season birds flush far out.
Where to walk for greater prairie-chicken in your unit
FilledTag finds the patches of the right habitat for your date on public land in the unit you choose, each with legal parking and the walk from the truck. Small game plans are free for the first 75 hunters, then $9.99.
Get my free plan See a sample planWhat a map cannot tell you
- Nearly all of this country is private. the planner offers only the public ground it can show is open.
- Morgan County and the highway-bounded part of the open area are not mapped and are not offered.
- Walk-In Access parcels are not in the planner.
Source
2026 Colorado Small Game & Waterfowl brochure (corrections 21 Aug 2026), pages 5, 7 and 10; CPW regulations chapter W-3 (07/16/2026): https://cpw.widen.net/s/bklvf2bjmw/colorado-small-game--waterfowl-brochure. Read October 2, 2026. Rules change every year, and corrections are issued during the season: read the current brochure before you hunt.