Colorado snowshoe hare season 2026-27: dates, units and bag limits
Snowshoe hare is open in Colorado from October 1, 2026 to February 28, 2027, statewide. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snowshoe hare season | October 1, 2026 to February 28, 2027 | statewide | 10 | 20 |
Shooting hours: Half an hour before sunrise to sunset.
Licences and stamps
- Colorado small game licence
- Colorado Habitat Stamp
- Harvest Information Program (HIP) number for this season
Rules for snowshoe hare
- Any rifle or handgun, a shotgun holding no more than three shells, bow, crossbow, air gun or slingshot.
- West of I-25 during the regular rifle deer and elk seasons, no centerfire rifle larger than .23 calibre for small game unless you hold an unfilled deer or elk licence for that season.
- No dogs for this animal while a regular deer, elk, pronghorn or moose season is open on that land.
- Wear gloves to handle and skin it, and cook the meat through. Rabbits, hares and rodents carry tularemia; leave any animal that looks sick.
- Do not shoot from, on or across a public road. No rifle, handgun or bow within 50 feet of the road centre line.
- Orange or pink is not required for small game, but big game seasons are open around you. Wear it.
Do not mistake these for snowshoe hare
- Canada lynx (protected or closed: never shoot): A cat, not a hare, but it lives on snowshoe hares and is in the same dense spruce-fir, above all in GMUs 55, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 74 to 81, 551, 681, 711 and 751. State endangered. Know what you are shooting at in thick timber.
- White-tailed jackrabbit (different season or permit): Also turns white, but lives in open parks and sagebrush, is larger and has much longer ears. Its own limit of 10.
How to hunt snowshoe hare
- Still-hunt dense young conifer and willow edges, a few steps at a time. Look for runways, round droppings and twigs cut at a clean 45 degree angle.
- Tracks on fresh snow are the best sign. Hunt the morning after a snowfall.
Where to walk for snowshoe hare 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.
Check my hunt See a sample planWhat a map cannot tell you
- What matters most is how thick the understory is, and no map layer shows it.
- Walk-In Access parcels and private land are not in the planner.
Source
CPW regulations chapter W-3, Furbearers and Small Game (07/16/2026, effective 1 Sept 2026); 2026 Colorado Small Game & Waterfowl brochure, pages 3 to 5 and 9: https://cpw.widen.net/s/kmpdszcx6j/ch03. Read October 2, 2026. Rules change every year, and corrections are issued during the season: read the current brochure before you hunt.