Those awarded permits are required to attend a half-day training session near the elk hunt area the day prior to their scheduled hunt. If you're one of the lucky ones, you'll learn everything from hunter safety and carcass handling to elk behavior and recommended hunting locations. Small Game Rabbits, bobcats, coyote, raccoon, fox and squirrels are some of the small game hunted in Northwest Michigan's bountiful woodlands. About one million rabbits are harvested by Michigan hunters annually. You'll find snowshoe hares inhabit swamp edges, some pine plantations and brush land adjacent to swamps.
Cottontails are abundant throughout the region.
They rank second to the white-tailed deer as the most popular game animal in the state. The recent season on rabbits was September through March. In Northwest Michigan, bobcat are hunted in Antrim, Charlevoix, Emmet, Otsego, Kalkaska, Missaukee and Wexford counties. Bobcat season varies in the different zoned management areas, so check your DNR guidebook for season dates in the desired area. If you land a bobcat, you are required to take it to a DNR check station within five days of the kill for research purposes.