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Florida · 2026-27 season year

Florida Deer Season 2026-27

The rut peaks at different times zone by zone. Archery season: August 1, 2026 to November 25, 2026. General gun season: September 19, 2026 to February 21, 2027. Every date below comes from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, linked beside it. See the best days to hunt this week.

This page covers the 2026-27 season year. Dates were read from the agency sources linked below, last checked September 2, 2026. Seasons change annually and agencies correct their own pages; confirm against the linked agency page before you hunt.
August 1, 2026 to November 25, 2026
Archery season
published
September 19, 2026 to February 21, 2027
General gun season
published
September 5, 2026 to February 28, 2027
Muzzleloading gun season
published
4 zone rows
Zone structure
as the agency draws it
The four questions in one

Florida deer seasons, 2026-27

“When does deer season open” is four questions wearing one coat. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission dates white-tailed deer seasons separately by weapon, so each one is below under the agency’s own name for it, with the zone rows exactly as the agency lists them.

Archery season

published

Archery season runs August 1, 2026 to November 25, 2026 across all zones.

Florida archery season, as published by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
ZoneOpensClosesNotes
Zone AAugust 1, 2026August 30, 2026
Zone BOctober 17, 2026November 15, 2026
Zone CSeptember 19, 2026October 18, 2026
Zone DOctober 24, 2026November 25, 2026

Dates read from 2026-2027 Florida Resident Game and Furbearer Hunting Season Dates, FWC, accessed 2026-09-02.

Florida's four deer zones run on entirely different calendars, and Zone A in the south holds the earliest deer opener in the United States. FWC dates crossbow as a separate season; those windows are under other seasons.

General gun season

published

General gun season runs September 19, 2026 to February 21, 2027 across all zones.

Florida general gun season, as published by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
ZoneOpensClosesNotes
Zone A (segment 1)September 19, 2026October 18, 2026
Zone A (segment 2)November 21, 2026January 3, 2027
Zone BDecember 5, 2026February 21, 2027
Zone CNovember 7, 2026January 24, 2027
Zone D (segment 1)November 26, 2026November 29, 2026
Zone D (segment 2)December 12, 2026February 21, 2027

Dates read from 2026-2027 Florida Resident Game and Furbearer Hunting Season Dates, FWC, accessed 2026-09-02.

The windows above are the antlered deer general gun seasons FWC publishes by zone. FWC also publishes separate antlerless deer windows by deer management unit inside each zone; those are on the same agency page.

Muzzleloading gun season

published

Muzzleloading gun season runs September 5, 2026 to February 28, 2027 across all zones.

Florida muzzleloading gun season, as published by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
ZoneOpensClosesNotes
Zone ASeptember 5, 2026September 18, 2026
Zone BNovember 21, 2026December 4, 2026
Zone COctober 24, 2026November 6, 2026
Zone D (segment 1)December 5, 2026December 11, 2026Zone D runs two muzzleloading windows
Zone D (segment 2)February 22, 2027February 28, 2027

Dates read from 2026-2027 Florida Resident Game and Furbearer Hunting Season Dates, FWC, accessed 2026-09-02.

Each zone gets a muzzleloading window between its archery and general gun seasons; Zone D also gets a second window at the very end of the season year in late February.

Youth deer hunt weekend

published

Youth deer hunt weekend runs September 12, 2026 to December 6, 2026 across all zones.

Florida youth deer hunt weekend, as published by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
ZoneOpensClosesNotes
Zone ASeptember 12, 2026September 13, 2026
Zone BNovember 28, 2026November 29, 2026
Zone COctober 31, 2026November 1, 2026
Zone DDecember 5, 2026December 6, 2026

Dates read from 2026-2027 Florida Resident Game and Furbearer Hunting Season Dates, FWC, accessed 2026-09-02.

One youth weekend per zone, each falling inside that zone's muzzleloading window.

Which days to sit, this week

Homestead, FL · peak breeding about Jul 31

Rated Slow to Prime from the rut stage, the National Weather Service forecast and first light. See the full Florida deer movement forecast, with the hour to be in the stand, why each day rates as it does, and a week for your own ZIP.

2026-2027 Florida Resident Game and Furbearer Hunting Season Dates
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, read September 2, 2026. Read it at the source
The rest of the calendar

Other Florida deer seasons the agency names

Beyond the four main windows, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission dates one further season for deer. They are reproduced here under the agency’s own names, because a hunter reading a calendar needs to know which window a tag actually covers.

Crossbow season

published

Crossbow season runs August 1, 2026 to December 4, 2026 across all zones.

Florida crossbow season, as published by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
ZoneOpensClosesNotes
Zone AAugust 1, 2026September 4, 2026
Zone BOctober 17, 2026November 20, 2026
Zone CSeptember 19, 2026October 23, 2026
Zone D (segment 1)October 24, 2026November 25, 2026
Zone D (segment 2)November 30, 2026December 4, 2026

Dates read from 2026-2027 Florida Resident Game and Furbearer Hunting Season Dates, FWC, accessed 2026-09-02.

FWC dates crossbow separately from archery, opening with archery in each zone and running a few days longer.

Zones

Florida deer zones

Florida does not have a deer season. It has 4 of them, and the boundaries between them were drawn by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission along highways, rivers and county fragments rather than anything you can see from a stand. In several states those boundaries are not even the same from one weapon season to the next.

This page publishes the agency’s zone names and links the agency’s own zone map, which is where a hunter’s zone is determined. A wrong zone answer is a wrong season date.

Alert white-tailed buck standing in bare late fall brush at dusk
A buck on the move in bare November brush at Karl E. Mundt National Wildlife Refuge, South Dakota. Photo: Liz Julian/USFWS. “White-tailed Deer, Karl E. Mundt National Wildlife Refuge, South Dakota” — Liz Julian / USFWS Mountain Prairie — Public domain
Rules

Florida deer hunting regulations

Season windows are carried here with their source and read date attached. Everything else a hunter is bound by is set by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and its regulations page is linked below.

Current Florida regulations

Harvest limits, antler restrictions, permitted arms, shooting hours, tagging and reporting, and license and permit requirements for Florida are set by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, are legally binding and change annually. Its current regulations page is linked here.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission: current regulations
Two hunters in blaze orange and camouflage beside a wheelchair at the edge of bare winter woods, one helping the other with gear
Getting ready at the edge of the winter woods on a mobility assisted deer hunt. Many states date a season specifically for hunters with disabilities, and those windows are on the state pages. Photo: U.S. Marine Corps. “USMC-11410” — U.S. Marine Corps (official photo, marines.mil) — Public domain

Deer season dates in other states

Florida deer movement forecastThe next 7 days rated Slow to Prime for deer movement, from the forecast and first light.Florida deer rutThe biology beside the calendar: when deer actually breed here, from the agency conception studies. Dates are this page; the rut is that one.Florida turkey seasonSpring and fall wild turkey windows for 2026-27, under the same sourcing rules.Florida duck seasonDuck and goose season dates by zone and flyway, read from the same agency.Florida fall foliagePeak color and the archery weeks overlap. Plan the same trip.

Florida deer season questions

Buck with antlers in velvet standing in tall summer grass in golden light
A buck still in velvet in late summer. The earliest archery openers land within weeks of antlers hardening. “White-tailed Deer Buck in Velvet (48804848567)” — USFWS Mountain Prairie — Public domain

This page covers the 2026-27 season year with data as of September 2, 2026. Every season window is republished from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission page linked beside it, read on September 2, 2026; windows the agency had not yet published are labelled not yet published. Harvest limits, antler restrictions, permitted arms, shooting hours and license rules are set by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, whose page is the final word on the day you hunt. See also the national deer season guide and the Florida rut timing page.