Tennessee Deer Season 2026-27: Dates, Units & What to Know

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)

Two notable wrinkles this year:

• The old "Unit CWD" is gone. The August hunt is now archery-only — guns and muzzleloaders are no longer allowed in the August season anywhere.
• Single-shot straight-walled rifles are legal on private land only during Nov. 14-20 (harvest counts toward the muzzleloader bag).

02Bag 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.

03License basics

Tennessee 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). Every deer must be checked in before moving it — "tag before you drag" — via TWRA's Big Game Check-In on the Go Outdoors Tennessee app or website. During any gun season, 500 square inches of blaze orange is required.

04Check the official source

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

Accessed July 1, 2026. WMA-specific hunts and quota draws run on separate calendars — check the WMA listings in the 2026-27 Tennessee Hunting Guide.

05Plan 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 August 28-30 archery hunt is under nine weeks away. If you hunt private ground, that's the date to start watching velvet feeding patterns now.