Georgia Deer Season 2026-27: Dates, County Rules & What to Know

Short answer: Georgia's 2026-27 deer season dates are official. Archery opens Sept. 12, primitive weapons and youth-only firearms run Oct. 10-16, and the statewide firearms season runs Oct. 17 through Jan. 10, 2027. Georgia DNR's Wildlife Resources Division published the 2026-2027 Hunting and Fishing Regulations guide, and the dates below come straight from its Seasons, Dates and Limits table.

One thing to get right before you plan: Georgia splits private lands into colour-coded zones, and while the season dates are statewide, which days are either-sex versus antlered-bucks-only depends on your zone. Check your county on the zone map in the guide before you sit.

012026-27 Georgia deer season dates

In the nine southwest counties — Baker, Calhoun, Decatur, Early, Grady, Miller, Mitchell, Seminole and Thomas — archery is antlered bucks only from Sept. 12 through Sept. 27, turning either-sex Sept. 28. That zone also carries the late firearms close of Jan. 15 and an archery segment running Jan. 16-31.

Extended archery counties (Sept. 12 - Jan. 31, either-sex): Baker, Barrow, Bibb, Calhoun, Chatham, Cherokee, Clarke, Clayton, Cobb, Columbia, Decatur, DeKalb, Douglas, Early, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Grady, Gwinnett, Hall, Henry, Miller, Mitchell, Muscogee, Paulding, Richmond, Rockdale, Seminole and Thomas.

02Limits and county restrictions

Bag limit: 12 deer per season statewide — no more than 10 antlerless and no more than 2 antlered. One of the two bucks must have at least 4 points, one inch or longer, on one side, or a 15-inch outside spread.

Where firearms are off-limits: Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton north of GA Hwy 92, and the Jekyll Island portion of Glynn County. In Forsyth County south of GA Hwy 20, only shotguns and muzzleloaders are legal.

County antler restrictions: in Hancock, Harris, Meriwether, Montgomery, Randolph, Talbot and Troup, only antlered bucks with at least 4 points on one side or a 15-inch outside spread are legal. Dooly and Macon require a minimum 15-inch outside spread.

WMA, PFA, state park and federal land dates can differ from the statewide table — the guide lists those separately, and quota hunts have their own selection process.

03License basics

You'll need a Georgia hunting license plus a big game license (both included in the Sportsman's license). Every deer must be recorded on your harvest record immediately and reported through Georgia Game Check within 24 hours. Youth is now defined as under 16 years of age.

04Check the official source

Season dates come from one place: Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division. WRD redraws the zone map and revisits either-sex days and county antler restrictions in each year's regulations guide, and WMA rules are set separately again. Zone colour, either-sex days and WMA rules all turn on that map, so verify your county — and the dates that go with it — before you hunt.

• Official seasons and regulations: georgiawildlife.com
• Licensing: GoOutdoorsGeorgia.com or 1-800-366-2661

The 2026-2027 Georgia Hunting and Fishing Regulations guide is the source of record. Where it and this post disagree, the guide is right and this post is wrong. Taking an antlerless deer on a bucks-only day, or hunting a day your county is closed, gets written up as a violation.

Dates verified against the 2026-2027 Georgia Hunting and Fishing Regulations guide, August 16, 2026.

05Plan the season

Dates tell you when you can hunt; conditions tell you when you should. Archery opens September 12 — under four weeks out:

• Georgia Rut Prediction 2026 — when the chase phase should peak in your county
• Georgia Solunar Calendar — feeding-window peaks by day
• Best Time to Hunt Today in Georgia — today's hour-by-hour outlook
• Trail Pro Intel's free Hunt Forecast combines weather, pressure, wind and solunar data into a single huntability score, so you can pick which of these days are worth burning leave on

Confirm your zone, check whether your county runs either-sex or bucks-only, and get your stands hung. Opening morning is closer than it feels.