Archery Season Dates by State (2026–27)

Is archery season in right now? If you hunt in one of the 19 states whose agency pages we read for this guide, yes: by 15 October 2026 every one of them had opened its archery deer season, and most run into December, January or February. Some pause for gun weeks, so the honest answer depends on your state, your zone and the exact day.

Below are the 2026–27 archery deer dates from each agency's own page or digest, each with the link we used, plus where to find the dates for the states we haven't checked.

Rules checked on 9 October 2026; this isn't legal advice and regulations change, so confirm with your state wildlife agency before you hunt.

What is archery season?

Archery season is the part of the hunting year when a state allows deer (and sometimes other game) to be taken with archery equipment. In the eastern and central states we checked, it usually opens weeks before the firearms seasons and runs on, sometimes with breaks, into winter. A few states fold crossbows into the same season: Wisconsin calls its season "Archery and Crossbow", and West Virginia lists "Deer (Archery and Crossbow)". Others run a separate crossbow season, as Kentucky does.

If you're new to it, our guide to whether you can hunt deer with a bow covers the licence, equipment and skill basics before you worry about dates.

Archery season 2026: dates by state

Each row comes from the agency page or digest linked beside it. We've listed the main archery deer season. Special hunts (urban, velvet, youth, disease control) are left out unless they change the main picture, and where a state sets dates by zone we've named the zone.

Dates checked on 9 October 2026. For Kentucky and Minnesota the live pages blocked our reader, so we used the agency's own page as saved by the Internet Archive on the date shown; both list 2026–27 dates, but check the live page before you go.

Colorado is the main state we read that doesn't fit a table like this. Colorado Parks and Wildlife says "hunt dates for deer vary by license type and hunt location", with archery licences sold through the draw and over the counter, so your dates depend on your unit and licence.

When does archery season start?

For 2026–27, the openers we read fall into two groups.

September openers: North Dakota (4 September), Kentucky (5 September), Wisconsin (12 September), Missouri (15 September), Minnesota (19 September), and Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee and Arkansas (all 26 September). Most of these are northern or central states with long seasons.

October openers: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Oklahoma and the northern Mississippi units on 1 October; Pennsylvania, Virginia and Texas on 3 October; and Alabama on 1 or 15 October depending on the zone.

A handful of states also run earlier, narrower hunts. Tennessee has an archery-only velvet hunt on 28 to 30 August on private land and select Unit 1 WMAs, Arkansas has an early buck-only archery season on 29 to 31 August, and Mississippi has an archery velvet season on 11 to 13 September that needs a special permit. These aren't the main season, so don't plan a whole autumn around them.

If you hunt more than one state, note that the openers don't line up even between neighbours. Ohio opened on 26 September and Indiana on 1 October; Iowa and Illinois share a 1 October opener but close on different days.

Is archery season over? Breaks and closing dates

"Is archery season over?" is really two questions: is it closed for good, or just paused?

Then the final closers. Among our 19 states, the season ends earliest in Texas (archery-only, 6 November) and Virginia (early archery, 13 November, though late archery reopens in parts of the state), and Mississippi's main archery block closes on 20 November. At the other end, archery runs into 2027 for most of the list: Minnesota and West Virginia close on 31 December; North Dakota, Wisconsin and Indiana on 3 January; Iowa on 10 January; Oklahoma and Missouri on 15 January; Illinois on 17 January; Kentucky on 18 January; Pennsylvania on 24 January; Louisiana Area 1 and Wisconsin's extended areas on 31 January; Ohio on 7 February; Alabama's Zones A to C on 10 February; and Arkansas on 28 February.

So if it's mid-January and you're wondering whether deer season is over, it probably isn't in Ohio, Alabama or Arkansas, but it is in much of the Midwest.

What deer hunting season is it right now?

Archery is only one layer. On any given day you might be in archery season, a firearms season, a muzzleloader season, a youth hunt or several at once. Three things to check:

1. Is a gun season running in your county? Where archery stays open during gun season, orange rules often apply to bowhunters too. Kentucky's page says "All hunters, including archery and crossbow hunters" must wear hunter orange during modern gun season, except on state WMAs where firearms deer hunting isn't allowed.
2. Which tags work today? Some states tie tags to a season. Illinois, for example, says archery permits can't be used during the firearm seasons in counties open to firearm deer hunting.
3. Is your area different? Louisiana's archery dates change by deer area, Alabama's by zone and Virginia's late archery by county.

Long seasons also mean you'll hunt through the rut in many states. Our guide to bowhunting the rut explains why timing matters more than the opening date for most hunters. Before you pick a weekend, it's also worth checking that your set-up is legal: our guide to draw weight for deer hunting covers legal minimums and what actually helps an arrow kill cleanly.

If you'll be in the woods during a gun season, a solid orange vest and hat is cheap insurance. You can browse blaze orange hunting vests on Amazon.

Crossbows, zones and the details a date table hides

A season date tells you when you can hunt with a bow, not what you can carry or kill. A few examples from the pages we read:

• Crossbows. Texas says crossbows "are lawful for any person during the Archery-Only Open Season" except in Collin, Dallas, Grayson and Rockwall counties. Kentucky runs a separate crossbow season from 19 September. Wisconsin and West Virginia include crossbows in their archery season name.
• Antler rules inside the season. Alabama's Zone B archery season is bucks only from 15 to 24 October, then either sex to 10 February. Missouri allows only one antlered deer during archery season before 14 November.
• Licence add-ons. Texas requires an archery endorsement to hunt deer during the archery-only season.
• Nonresident limits. North Dakota keeps nonresident bowhunters to private land for the first 9½ days; from 14 September they can hunt public land too.

Archery seasons for other game

Most people searching for archery season mean deer, but the same digests set bow seasons for other animals, and they don't always match the deer dates. Three examples from the pages we read:

• Elk in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation lists elk archery from 1 October 2026 to 15 January 2027, the same window as deer archery. Bear archery there is much shorter, 1 to 18 October.
• Fall turkey in Illinois. IDNR's 2026-2027 digest lists fall turkey archery from 1 October 2026 to 17 January 2027, "closed during firearm deer season in counties open to firearm deer hunting", with a maximum of two fall archery turkey permits.
• Fall turkey in Ohio. Ohio has gone the other way. Its 2026-27 regulations say fall turkey hunting "is permitted only with shotguns using shotshells" and that "fall turkey hunting with archery equipment is not permitted".

So if you hope to fill a turkey or elk tag with a bow, look up that species' own season table rather than assuming the deer dates apply.

States we haven't checked: where to find your dates

We only list dates we read on an agency page. For the states below, go straight to the agency; each link loaded for us on 9 October 2026 (Michigan and New York through Internet Archive copies, because their live sites blocked our reader).

The agency sites for Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island and South Carolina wouldn't open for our automated check, so we haven't linked them. Search for your state's fish and wildlife agency and look for its current hunting digest or season page; check that it says 2026–27 at the top.

Rules checked on 9 October 2026; not legal advice.

Frequently asked questions

Is archery season over?

Not yet in most states we checked. As of late October 2026, all 19 had open archery seasons. Closing dates range from 6 November (Texas archery-only) to 28 February 2027 (Arkansas), and Missouri, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Illinois pause archery for gun weeks before reopening. Check your agency's page for your zone.

When does archery season start in 2026?

For the main deer season, between 4 September and 15 October 2026 in the states we checked. North Dakota opened first on 4 September, followed by Kentucky on 5 September and Wisconsin on 12 September. Pennsylvania, Virginia and Texas opened on 3 October, and Alabama's Zones A to C on 15 October.

What deer hunting season is it right now?

It depends on the date and your county. In late October most of the states we checked are in archery season only, while November brings firearms seasons that overlap or pause archery. Kentucky's modern gun season runs 14 to 29 November and Indiana's firearms season 14 to 29 November, for example.

Is hunting season over in January?

Not everywhere. Archery stays open into 2027 in most of the states we read: Kentucky to 18 January, Pennsylvania's late archery to 24 January, Louisiana Area 1 to 31 January, Ohio to 7 February and Arkansas to 28 February. Small game and other seasons have their own dates, so check your agency's digest.