Legal Light
Wisconsin shooting hours on your lock screen. It counts down to legal light for your exact spot, for ducks and geese, deer, turkey and early teal, straight from the DNR's tables. Free, no ads, no account, and it works with no signal.
- The countdown. A big number to legal light, then to close. All four rule sets: ducks and geese, deer / bear / small game / fall turkey, spring turkey, and the September early teal season.
- Your spot. County, hours area, zone and duck zone, with a warning when you're near the US 10 / US 41 duck line. Use your location, pick a town, or tap the map.
- The zone map. Hours zones, duck zones and open water, with pinch-zoom and tap-to-read.
- Today and the week. Today's bar (night, twilight, legal, sun up), open and close times for any week with a date picker, and sun and moon at your spot.
- Widgets. Home screen (small, medium) and lock screen (countdown, next time, inline). Each widget has its own species: a deer one next to a duck one.
- Live Activity. Start hunt countdown puts it in the Dynamic Island and on the lock screen, and at legal light it switches to a "closes in" countdown on its own.
- Alerts. Optional notifications at legal light and 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes before close, scheduled on the phone two weeks ahead so they fire with no signal.
- Pixel icons. First light, mallard, teal, whitetail, fox squirrel, tom turkey, or let the icon match what you're hunting.
- Offline, private. Everything is computed on the phone. The app makes no network requests at all.
Legal Light reads the Wisconsin DNR's published 2026 shooting hours tables directly. Each area gets one reference town's sunrise and sunset (the northern table is Powers, MI; the southern is Sheboygan), plus 4 minutes for every whole degree of longitude west of 88° W. That's zones A to F, +0 to +20 minutes.
For years whose tables aren't in the app yet, it computes the same way, and says so on screen. That method matches all 2,920 entries of the 2026 tables within a minute. The rules are Wis. Admin. Code NR 10.06. The web version uses the same engine.
- How do I add a lock screen widget?
- Long-press the lock screen, tap Customize, choose the lock screen, tap the widget area and add Legal Light. Pick the rectangular countdown, the circular next-time, or the inline one.
- How do I set a widget to deer instead of ducks?
- Long-press the widget and tap Edit Widget, then choose the species. Every widget keeps its own choice, so a deer widget can sit next to a duck one. Home screen widgets work the same way: long-press, Edit Widget.
- The hunt countdown isn't showing in the Dynamic Island or on the lock screen.
- Live Activities need permission. Go to Settings, then Legal Light, and turn on Live Activities; also check Settings, then Face ID & Passcode (or Touch ID & Passcode) and allow Live Activities there if your phone shows that. Then tap Start hunt countdown again.
- I'm not getting alerts.
- Allow notifications for Legal Light in Settings. Alerts are scheduled on the phone two weeks ahead, so open the app now and then to keep that window rolling. Focus modes and Do Not Disturb can hold them back.
- Why do these times differ from my weather app's sunrise?
- Because they're the DNR's times, not yours. Shooting hours come from one reference town per area, adjusted by whole-degree zone minutes, and the legal window starts 30 minutes before sunrise for ducks and geese. Your weather app computes the sun at your exact coordinates. The DNR table is what governs.
- Why does it want my location?
- To pick your county, zone and duck zone. It's used on the phone only and never sent anywhere. Without it, pick a town or tap the map.
- Is it right near a county line or the duck line?
- It warns you near the US 10 / US 41 duck line. Near a boundary, check the DNR's maps and allow a margin.
- Does it need a signal?
- No. Everything is computed on the phone, and widgets, alerts and the hunt countdown all work with no signal.
Not the law. The Wisconsin DNR's regulations and its published shooting hours tables govern. Check the DNR's shooting hours page and the season dates and rules before you shoot, and allow yourself a margin.