Tennessee Deer Season 2026: Gun Opener Nov 21, Bow Sept 26

Tennessee's 2026-27 deer season dates are confirmed by TWRA: archery opens September 26, 2026; muzzleloader runs November 7-20; and gun season runs November 21, 2026 – January 3, 2027, with youth weekends October 31 – November 1 and January 9-10. Season dates are statewide — what changes by location is the antlerless bag, now managed through county-based Deer Management Units 1-6.

012026-27 season dates (TWRA-confirmed)

TN deer season 2026 dates: archery opens September 26, muzzleloader runs November 7-20, and gun season November 21, 2026 – January 3, 2027. The archery-only velvet hunt is August 28-30.

Two notable wrinkles this year:

• The old "Unit CWD" is gone. The August hunt is now archery-only statewide — details in the velvet hunt section below.
• Single-shot straight-walled rifles are legal on private land only during Nov. 14-20 (harvest counts toward the muzzleloader bag).

02TN velvet hunt 2026: the August 28-30 schedule

Tennessee's 2026 velvet hunt runs Friday, August 28 through Sunday, August 30 — three days, archery only, on private land and select Unit 1 WMAs. Bucks are still carrying velvet and holding predictable summer bed-to-feed patterns, which makes this the closest thing to a pattern hunt Tennessee offers all year.

What to know before you go:

• Archery only, statewide. The old Unit CWD August gun allowance is gone — no firearms or muzzleloaders anywhere in the August season.
• Antlered deer only. There is no antlerless bag in the August hunt in any unit.
• Where: private land statewide, plus select Unit 1 WMAs — check the WMA listings in the 2026-27 Tennessee Hunting Guide before hunting public ground.
• Timing: velvet bucks move at first and last light on summer feed. Line an evening sit up with the feeding windows on the Tennessee solunar calendar.

03Bag limits by Deer Management Unit

The statewide antlered limit is 2 bucks, no more than 1 per day (exceedable only via bonus deer on certain WMAs, Earn-A-Buck in CWD-positive counties, or a Replacement Buck). Antlerless limits split by unit:

Unit 1 is the 21-county West Tennessee CWD zone (Shelby, Fayette, Madison, Gibson, and neighbors); those counties also carry carcass-transport and feeding restrictions. Check your county's unit on TWRA's summary page before assuming a doe limit.

04License basics

Every Tennessee deer must be checked in before it moves — "tag before you drag" — via TWRA's Big Game Check-In on the Go Outdoors Tennessee app or website. Hunters need a base hunting license plus big-game privileges: holders of the regular Type 001 license add the supplemental big game permits (Sportsman, Lifetime, and senior licenses bundle it; landowners hunting their own ground are exempt). During any gun season, 500 square inches of blaze orange is required.

05Check the official source

TWRA resets these seasons every year, and Tennessee's county-based Deer Management Units and CWD-positive county list can be redrawn between years — which moves antlerless bags and Earn-A-Buck rules with them. Confirm the statewide dates and your county's unit against TWRA's own pages before you hunt, not just your WMA details:

• Tennessee hunting seasons summary — TN.gov/TWRA
• Deer hunting in Tennessee — TWRA

Where TWRA's published summary and this post disagree, TWRA governs. Hunting a day outside the season you think you are in is a citation.

Verified against TWRA's published 2026-27 hunting seasons summary, August 16, 2026. WMA-specific hunts and quota draws run on separate calendars — check the WMA listings in the 2026-27 Tennessee Hunting Guide.

06Plan the season

Tennessee's rut peaks in mid-November statewide, which is why the muzzleloader opener is one of the best weeks of the year to be in a tree:

• Tennessee Rut Prediction 2026 — when the chase phase should peak in your county
• Tennessee Solunar Calendar — feeding windows by date
• Best Time to Hunt Today in Tennessee — today's hour-by-hour outlook
• Trail Pro Intel's free Hunt Forecast scores each day from weather, wind, pressure, and solunar data — a clean way to decide which November days are worth burning leave on.

The velvet hunt opens August 28 and runs through August 30. If you hunt private ground, velvet feeding patterns are worth watching now.