Mississippi Deer Season 2026-27: Zone Dates & What to Know

Straight answer: as of July 1, 2026, Mississippi has not published final 2026-27 deer season dates. The MDWFP Commission reviewed proposed 2026-27 seasons at its March meeting and the public-comment window has closed, but the final seasons document isn't posted yet — last year's final PDF appeared in June, so expect it any week now on MDWFP's seasons page. Until then, do not act on any specific 2026-27 date you see elsewhere; a hunter working off a guessed date can end up with a violation.

What we can give you is the most recent officially confirmed structure — the 2025-26 seasons — which is the best available picture of how 2026-27 will be shaped, clearly labeled as last season's dates.

01Mississippi's four Deer Management Units

• Delta: west of I-55 and north of I-20, plus areas south of I-20 and west of US 61
• North Central: Alcorn, Benton, DeSoto, Marshall, Tate, and Tippah counties
• Southeast: south of US 84 and east of MS 35
• Hills: everything else

02For reference: last season's confirmed dates (2025-26)

Delta, North Central, and Hills units

Southeast unit

Same framework, shifted: archery opened Oct. 15 (not Oct. 1), and the unit gets an extra February 1-15 bucks-only archery/primitive segment — the latest deer hunting in the state. No antlerless primitive weapon season.

03Bag limits and legal bucks (2025-26 rules)

• Bucks: 1/day, 3/season statewide (4 in North Central, no antler restrictions there). Legal buck criteria: Delta — 12-inch inside spread or 15-inch main beam; Hills and Southeast — 10-inch spread or 13-inch main beam.
• Antlerless: 5/season on private land statewide (10 in North Central, 3 in Southeast).
• Deer Game Check is voluntary except during the velvet season, when harvests must be reported by 10 p.m. the day of kill. (Turkey check-in is mandatory; deer may follow eventually — watch the new rules.)

04License basics

Residents need an all-game hunting license or Sportsman's License. To hunt the primitive-weapon seasons — or use "weapon of choice" on private land after Nov. 30 — you need a primitive weapon license, an all-game license plus primitive weapon add-on, or a Sportsman's/Lifetime Sportsman's License.

05Check the official source

• Hunting seasons and bag limits — MDWFP — the 2026-27 table will land here
• Last season's confirmed PDF: 2025-2026 Hunting Seasons (MDWFP)

Accessed July 1, 2026. We'll update this post the day MDWFP posts the final 2026-27 seasons.

06Plan the season

Mississippi's season runs nearly five months, and the rut slides from mid-December in the north to late January in the south — pick your weeks accordingly:

• Mississippi Rut Prediction 2026 — rut timing by region
• Mississippi Solunar Calendar — daily feeding windows
• Best Time to Hunt Today in Mississippi — today's hourly outlook
• Trail Pro Intel's free Hunt Forecast combines weather, wind, and solunar peaks into one huntability score — handy for a January rut that always seems to peak midweek.

Watch MDWFP in the coming weeks; once the final dates post, verify your unit and mark the openers.