This is Illinois's published 2026-27 season, the whole state at once. A pin reads its county off the map and cuts this to the seasons, arms and limits that apply there.
Illinois deer seasons
2026-27
2 antlered deer per licence year. No hunter, whatever permits they hold, may take more than two antlered deer in a year across the youth, archery, muzzleloader and firearm seasons — except as allowed during the special CWD season. Seasons count in the same year if their opening dates fall in the same twelve months beginning 1 July. Digest p. 12.
Archery
Long, recurve or compound bow of 30 lb pull, or crossbow of 125 lbPrinted in 3 columns — check which covers your county.October to the middle of January, with the firearm season cut out of the middle of it in every county that has one.
Counties with a firearm season
Oct 1 – Nov 19Either sexNov 23 – Dec 2Either sexDec 7 – Jan 17Either sexOne deer per archery permit; no more than two antlered deer for the year across all seasons.
Restricted Archery Zone
Oct 1–31Antlered onlyNov 1–19Either sexNov 23 – Dec 2Either sexDec 7 – Jan 17Either sexOne deer per archery permit; no more than two antlered deer for the year across all seasons.
Cook, DuPage, Lake and Kane east of Route 47
Oct 1 – Jan 17Either sexOne deer per archery permit; no more than two antlered deer for the year across all seasons.
- An archery permit may not be used during the firearm deer season in a county open to firearm deer hunting. A hunter holding an unfilled county firearm permit may use archery equipment on private land only during that season. Digest p. 18.
- A long, recurve or compound bow needs a minimum 30-pound pull within a 28-inch draw and arrows at least 20 inches; a crossbow needs 125 pounds, a 24-inch overall length, a working safety and fletched bolts of at least 14 inches. Digest p. 18.
- Broadheads must be at least 7/8 inch across when fully opened. Electronic tracking systems using radio-telemetry are illegal. Digest p. 18.
- You may not have any firearm in possession while hunting deer with a bow or crossbow, concealed carry aside. Digest p. 18.
Firearm
Shotgun, muzzleloader, handgun or single shot centrefire rifleTwo weekends — three days before Thanksgiving and four in early December.
Statewide, in counties open to firearm deer hunting
Nov 20–22Either sexDec 3–6Either sexOne deer per firearm permit; no more than two antlered deer for the year across all seasons.
- Shotguns and muzzleloaders must fire a projectile of at least .44 calibre; handguns and single shot centrefire rifles a bottleneck centrefire cartridge of .30 calibre or larger. Suppressors are not permitted; scopes are. Digest p. 17.
- A solid blaze orange or blaze pink cap and an upper garment showing at least 400 square inches of it are required. Digest p. 15.
- In the eighteen CWD surveillance counties, a firearm-season deer must be taken whole or field-dressed to a designated check station on the day it was killed, between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Digest p. 18.
Muzzleloader
Muzzleloading firearm of .44 calibre or largerThree days in the middle of December, for the muzzleloader permit alone.
Statewide
Dec 11–13Either sexOne deer per muzzleloader permit; no more than two antlered deer for the year across all seasons.
- The projectile must be at least .44 calibre. A wad or sleeve does not count as part of it. Digest p. 17.
- Blaze orange or blaze pink is required as in the firearm season. Digest p. 15.
Youth Firearm
Shotgun, muzzleloader, handgun or single shot centrefire rifleThree days in the middle of October, before any other firearm season.
Statewide
Oct 10–12Either sexOne deer per youth permit; no more than two antlered deer for the year across all seasons.
- Anyone accompanying a youth on these days must wear blaze orange or blaze pink too. Digest p. 15.
Special CWD Season
Whatever the permit in hand allowsPrinted in 1 column — check which covers your county.Two long weekends after Christmas, in the counties where chronic wasting disease has been found.
Counties open to the special CWD season
Dec 31 – Jan 3Either sexJan 15–17Either sexOne deer per legally authorised either-sex or antlerless-only permit.
- The two-antlered-deer annual limit does not apply to deer taken in this season. Digest p. 12.
- A Special CWD Deer Permit is antlerless-only and is sold over the counter from 8 December 2026. An unfilled firearm, youth or muzzleloader permit may be used instead, and takes only the kind of deer that permit specifies. Digest p. 18.
- Every harvest in this season is reported electronically, by phone or online — there is no check station requirement. Digest p. 18.
New This Season
What changed since last year, and is therefore easiest to get wrong.
- The Restricted Archery Zone for October is Champaign, Douglas, Macon and Piatt counties, except Allerton Park in Piatt.
- Landowners and resident tenants in specific CWD-identified counties now qualify for landowner deer permits with 20 acres rather than 39.5.
- The youth combination firearm permit is $10 for residents and non-residents alike.
Legal Arms
Illinois Digest of Hunting and Trapping Regulations 2026-2027 weapon specifications, as the digest prints them.
Archery
Digest p. 18
- Long, recurve or compound bow with a minimum 30-pound pull at some point within a 28-inch draw; arrows at least 20 inches.
- Crossbow with a minimum 125-pound draw, 24-inch minimum overall length, a working safety, and fletched bolts or arrows of at least 14 inches.
- Broadheads with fixed metal, flint-, chert- or obsidian-knapped, or expandable metal cutting surfaces, at least 7/8 inch across fully opened.
- Electronic tracking systems using radio-telemetry.
- Any firearm in possession while hunting deer with a bow or crossbow, concealed carry aside.
- An archery permit during firearm deer season in a county open to firearm deer hunting.
Firearm
Digest p. 17
- Shotgun or muzzleloading firearm shooting a projectile of at least .44 calibre.
- Handgun or single shot centrefire rifle using a bottleneck centrefire cartridge of .30 calibre or larger with a case length not over 1.4 inches.
- Scopes on any legal deer firearm.
- Archery equipment on private land only, if the hunter holds a valid unfilled county firearm deer permit.
- Suppressors or silencers of any type.
Muzzleloader
Digest p. 17
- Muzzleloading firearm shooting a projectile of at least .44 calibre.
- Suppressors or silencers of any type.
Hunting Hours and Orange
What the state defines as legal light, and what has to be worn in it.
Legal Shooting Hours
Digest p. 12
Half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.
Fluorescent Orange
Digest p. 15
A solid blaze orange or blaze pink cap or hat, and an upper outer garment showing at least 400 square inches of solid blaze orange or blaze pink. Required to hunt deer during all firearm deer seasons in counties open to them, to track a wounded deer with a dog during those seasons, and of anyone accompanying a youth on the youth firearm days.
Sundays
Digest pp. 12-18, which print no Sunday exception for deer
Illinois sets no Sunday restriction on deer hunting: the seasons run every day they are open.
Standing Rules
The parts of the digest that are true every day of the season.
Bait, blinds and deer drives
Digest pp. 16-17
- Feeding deer at any time, or taking deer by the use or aid of bait of any kind. An area counts as baited while the bait is there and for ten days after it is removed.
- Driving deer — a deliberate action by one or more people to move deer within firearm range of a participating hunter — on IDNR-owned or managed property during all deer seasons.
- Using or occupying a ground blind during any firearm deer season on IDNR land unless the site's own rules allow it.
- Installing a tree stand with nails or screws on IDNR land; stands must be portable and removed at the end of each day.
Tracking a wounded deer with a dog
Digest p. 16
- A dog may be used to track a wounded deer, on a lead of no more than fifty feet under physical control at all times.
- Tracking at night is permitted, but nobody handling or accompanying the dog may carry a firearm or archery device outside legal deer hunting hours or seasons.
- Blaze orange or blaze pink is required while tracking with a dog during the firearm seasons.
- Using a dog, horse, vehicle, aircraft or boat to harvest deer.
- Tracking deer with dogs on any IDNR site during hours when deer hunting is open there.
Late Winter Antlerless season
Digest p. 12
Illinois runs a Late Winter Antlerless firearm season on 31 December to 3 January and 15 to 17 January, one antlerless deer per valid permit. The counties open to it are announced on the DNR website in October and were not published when this was transcribed, so the season is not shown on the calendar here.
Tagging and Reporting
The clock that starts the moment the deer is down.
Digest p. 16
Every deer must be reported by 10 p.m. on the same calendar day the deer was harvested.
- Call the toll-free check-in system on 1-866-452-4325 (1-866-ILCHECK)
- Or use the online check-in system at exploremoreil.com/wildlife/harvest
- Write the confirmation number onto the temporary harvest tag, and keep the tag on the deer until it is at your legal residence and processing is complete
Chronic Wasting Disease
Background, and the rules that apply if you carry a carcass out of a management area.
Digest pp. 16 and 18
Illinois runs chronic wasting disease surveillance in eighteen northern counties and a special antlerless season in twenty-five. Inside the surveillance counties a firearm-season deer must be physically registered at a check station rather than reported by phone.
- A deer taken in a firearm season in a surveillance county must go whole or field-dressed to a designated check station on the day it was killed. Stations are open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- A permanent harvest tag is attached to the leg at the check station.
- A deer recovered too late to check in by 8 p.m. goes to the station when it opens at 8 a.m. the next morning; on a Sunday, contact the regional IDNR law enforcement office by 10 a.m. Monday.
- Deer taken with a muzzleloader permit during the second firearm weekend may be reported electronically instead.
- Importing whole carcasses and high-risk parts into Illinois is prohibited. Deboned meat, antlers, cleaned skull caps, hides, upper canine teeth and finished taxidermy mounts may be brought in.
Where This App Is Coarser Than the Digest
Said plainly, because an absence is easy to read as a permission.
- Which counties have no firearm deer season is read off the digest's own archery table, whose two rows are 'counties with a firearm season' and 'Cook, DuPage, Lake and Kane [east of route 47]'. That is the state defining the second group by the absence of the first, and it is where the firearm season's closed counties here come from.
- Kane County is split by Route 47 — firearm season to the west, none to the east — and this app resolves a pin only as far as the county. The whole of Kane is carried on the western rules.
- The Late Winter Antlerless season runs 31 December to 3 January and 15 to 17 January, but its open counties are posted on the DNR website in October and were not published when this was transcribed. It is described on the rules screen and is deliberately not on the calendar.
- Allerton Park in Piatt County is excluded from the Restricted Archery Zone. This app carries the whole county under the zone's October antlered-only rule.
- Illinois publishes no open statewide parcel service, so there are no property lines on the map here.
Useful Numbers
The agency, when the app cannot answer it.
- Harvest check-in
- 1-866-452-4325 (1-866-ILCHECK), or exploremoreil.com/wildlife/harvest
- Illinois DNR
- dnr.illinois.gov, (217) 782-6302
- Public hunting sites
- huntillinois.org/directory
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.