Guides
Season dates and migration timing, verified
Reference guides for planning a season: when duck seasons open in every state, when the migration actually moves, and deeper timing guides for North Dakota, Arkansas, Missouri, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, the states the DuckCast forecast watches nightly. Season dates cite the state agencies directly, and where a state has not published its dates yet, the guide says so rather than guessing.
Duck Season Dates 2026-27, State by State
Every US state's duck season in one place: verified 2026-27 dates where agencies have published them, September teal openers, zone structures, and the official regulations link for all 50 states.
Updated August 21, 2026
When Do Ducks Migrate South? Flyway-by-Flyway Timing
Blue-winged teal leave in September, gadwall and wigeon ride the first fronts, mallards follow the freeze line into December and green-winged teal outstay them. What actually triggers the duck migration, how far ducks go, when they come back north, and when the push reaches each flyway.
Updated September 2, 2026
Duck Migration Map and Report: How to Read One
What a duck migration map can and cannot tell you. How hunter-report maps, radar and forecast maps differ, how to read DuckCast's live regional map, and where the nightly radar check fits.
Updated September 11, 2026
Is There a BirdCast for Duck Hunters? What DuckCast Adds
BirdCast is real radar science built for birdwatchers and conservation, not hunters. What it can and cannot tell you about ducks specifically, where Ducks Unlimited's migration map fits, and what a forecast built for hunting actually adds.
Updated September 11, 2026
September Teal Season 2026: Dates, Limits, and Why It Exists
Blue-winged teal migrate before any regular duck opener, which is the whole reason the early September teal season exists. 2026 dates, limits, and how to hunt the earliest ducks of the year.
Updated September 2, 2026
North Dakota Duck Season 2026-27: Dates and Migration Timing
North Dakota's 2026-27 duck season dates, the resident and nonresident openers, and the week-by-week migration timing for the prairie pothole country, from the forecast network that watches it nightly.
Updated August 21, 2026
Arkansas Duck Season 2026-27: Dates and Migration Timing
Arkansas's 2026-27 duck season segments, September teal dates, and when the mallard migration actually reaches the timber and rice country, week by week.
Updated August 21, 2026
Missouri Duck Season 2026-27: Zones, Dates, and Timing
Missouri's three duck zones explained, the 2026-27 dates for each, and why the mallard peak lands in late November up north but holds into late January in the Bootheel.
Updated August 21, 2026
South Dakota Duck Season 2026-27: Zones, Dates, and Timing
South Dakota's four duck zones explained, the 2026-27 dates for each, and why the Coteau is finished in early December while the Missouri reservoirs hunt into January.
Updated August 23, 2026
Nebraska Duck Season 2026-27: Zones, Dates, and Teal
Nebraska's three duck zones for 2026-27, every one of them split, plus the real September teal season and why the Rainwater Basin is the narrowest point of the Central Flyway.
Updated August 24, 2026
Kansas Duck Season 2026-27: Four Zones, Four Schedules
Kansas runs four duck zones on four schedules for 2026-27. The dates, why Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira close on different days, and when the mallards actually show up.
Updated August 24, 2026
Mississippi Duck Season 2026-27: Dates and the Delta
Mississippi runs one statewide duck season in three segments for 2026-27. The dates, and what seventeen years of MDWFP aerial surveys say about when the mallards actually arrive.
Updated August 24, 2026
Texas Duck Season 2026-27: Three Zones and the High Plains Unit
Texas splits duck season across the High Plains Mallard Management Unit, the North Zone, and the South Zone for 2026-27. The dates, the dusky-duck restriction, and why the peak lands six weeks apart within the state.
Updated September 3, 2026
Oklahoma Duck Season 2026-27: The Panhandle Runs on Its Own Clock
Oklahoma's 2026-27 duck season, split between Zones 1 and 2 and a continuous Panhandle run, and why the Panhandle's different structure matches when its birds actually arrive.
Updated August 31, 2026
Louisiana Duck Season 2026-27: West Zone, East Zone, and a New Whistling Duck Season
Louisiana's 2026-27 West and East Zone dates, the new Black-Bellied Whistling Duck season, and why the birds worth chasing on the coast are not the same species as the birds worth chasing in the north.
Updated September 3, 2026
Arkansas Goose Season 2026-27: Specks, Snows, Canadas
Arkansas goose dates for 2026-27: the early Canada season, the nine days of specklebelly hunting that open before duck season, snows, and the Light Goose Conservation Order.
Updated September 3, 2026
Season dates and regulations change; always verify with your state wildlife agency before you hunt. For how the DuckCast score itself works, start with reading the forecast.