HuntingRulebook

Illinois · Deer · 2026-27

This is every Illinois deer season and the day it opens, the whole state at once. A pin turns it into a day-by-day calendar for one county, with your own tags marked against it.

Illinois 2026-27 season

In the order they open

  • Oct 1 – Jan 17ArcheryCounties with a firearm seasonPrinted in 3 columns — check which covers your county.
  • Oct 1 – Jan 17ArcheryRestricted Archery ZonePrinted in 3 columns — check which covers your county.
  • Oct 1 – Jan 17ArcheryCook, DuPage, Lake and Kane east of Route 47Printed in 3 columns — check which covers your county.
  • Oct 10–12Youth FirearmStatewide
  • Nov 20 – Dec 6FirearmStatewide, in counties open to firearm deer hunting
  • Dec 11–13MuzzleloaderStatewide
  • Dec 31 – Jan 17Special CWD SeasonCounties open to the special CWD seasonPrinted in 1 column — check which covers your county.

Transcribed from the published 2026-27 Illinois digest. Where this app and the digest disagree, the digest is the law. Read the Illinois Department of Natural Resources digest.

Illinois deer seasons, 2026-27

Illinois’s 2026-27 deer seasons run October 1, 2026 to January 17, 2027, and what is open on a given day depends on the county your stand is in. Drop a pin above and this app reads the county off it, then answers the rest from there — the dates, the legal arms, the bag limits and the shooting hours, transcribed page by page from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources digest. It is a planning aid, not the law: check the digest before you hunt.

Every screen for Illinois

  • Today in Illinois — Whether the season is open at your pin this morning, what you may take, and the legal light either end of the day.
  • Map in Illinois — Drop a pin and see the unit, the public land and the property lines under it.
  • Weather in Illinois — Wind, temperature and the scent cone over your ground, hour by hour, for the days you can still choose between.
  • Calendar in Illinois — Every day your tags are good for in your unit, from opening day to the end of the season.
  • Rut in Illinois — When the rut runs where you hunt, and which week is worth taking off.
  • Rules in Illinois — The legal arms, bag limits, antler restrictions and shooting hours that apply at your pin.
  • Tags in Illinois — The licences and permits you hold — what turns the published season into your season.

The other states

Every state — the app opens on whichever one your own pin falls in.