Colorado northern bobwhite season 2026-27: dates, units and bag limits

Northern bobwhite is open in Colorado from November 14, 2026 to January 31, 2027, in the areas listed below. 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

Shooting hours: Half an hour before sunrise to sunset.

Units we can plan for northern bobwhite

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.

Quail season, south-east: east of I-25 and south of I-70 (I-25 to Byers) and US 36 (Byers to Kansas); also the parts of Pueblo, Fremont, Huerfano, El Paso and Las Animas counties west of I-25

22 units: 113, 119, 120, 121, 122, 124, 125, 126, 127, 130, 132, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147.

8 a day and 24 in possession of each quail species.

Quail season, north-east: east of I-25 and north of I-70 (I-25 to Byers) and US 36 (Byers to Kansas)

10 units: 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 95, 96, 97, 98.

8 a day and 24 in possession of each quail species. The South Platte bobwhite country is in this shorter season.

Quail season, west of I-25: west of I-25, except the parts of Pueblo, Fremont, Huerfano, El Paso and Las Animas counties, which stay open to 31 January

111 units: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 86, 131, 161, 171, 181, 191, 201, 211, 214, 231, 301, 361, 371, 411, 421, 431, 441, 444, 471, 481, 500, 501, 521, 551, 561, 581, 681, 682, 691, 711, 741, 751, 771, 791, 861.

The five counties are not mapped, so the shorter season is used for every unit west of I-25.

Licences and stamps

• Colorado small game licence
• Colorado Habitat Stamp
• Harvest Information Program (HIP) number for this season

Rules for northern bobwhite

• 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.
• Quail hunting is prohibited on Horsethief Canyon State Wildlife Area.

Do not mistake these for northern bobwhite

• Hen pheasant (protected or closed: never shoot): Three times the size, with a long pointed tail. Never legal.
• Meadowlarks and other songbirds flushed from grass (protected or closed: never shoot): A bobwhite covey bursts up together with a loud whirr and scatters low. A single bird fluttering up from grass is not a quail.
• Scaled quail (different season or permit): Grey with a white-tipped crest. Legal in the same season with its own limit of 8.

How to hunt northern bobwhite

• Walk the brushy edges of the river bottom, plum thickets and weedy field corners, with a dog if you have one.
• After the covey flush, mark the singles and walk them up one at a time. Leave a covey once it is down to a few birds.
• Shots are low and fast. Know where your partners and dog are.

What a map cannot tell you

• The South Platte State Wildlife Areas have their own rules and closed dates (some close on the plains rifle deer opening weekends). Read the property's page.
• Walk-In Access parcels are not in the planner.

Source

2026 Colorado Small Game & Waterfowl brochure (corrections 21 Aug 2026), pages 3, 5, 7 and 11; 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.