This is Kansas's published 2026-27 season, the whole state at once. A pin reads its deer management unit off the map and cuts this to the seasons, arms and limits that apply there.

Kansas deer seasons

2026-27

1 antlered deer per licence year. One. "A hunter may only purchase one permit that allows the harvest of an antlered deer" — every deer permit is worth one deer, and the antlered ceiling is the single antlered permit. Whitetail Antlerless-Only permits, up to ten of them, take does and fawns only. Regulations p. 30 and KDWP's deer page.

Youth and Disabled Season
Whatever the permit lists
Nine days in early September, for hunters 17 and under and for hunters permitted to shoot from a vehicle.
Statewide
Sep 5–13Either sex
One deer per permit, and only one permit may allow an antlered deer.
- Hunters 17 and younger holding a valid deer permit, under the immediate supervision of an adult 18 or older. Anyone holding a valid deer permit and a permit to hunt from a vehicle may also hunt this season. Regulations p. 31.
- All resident and non-resident permits are valid, and the equipment restriction printed on the permit applies. Regulations p. 31.
- Youth-priced permits are for 15 and younger; a 16- or 17-year-old hunts this season on a full-price permit. Regulations p. 33.
- Blaze orange is required. Regulations p. 31.
Muzzleloader
Muzzleloading or archery equipment
A fortnight in the second half of September.
Statewide, in the units the permit names
Sep 14–27Either sex
One deer per permit.
- Muzzleloading or archery equipment only, whichever permit is held. Regulations p. 31.
- A resident muzzleloader either-species permit is valid in the West Zone or the East Zone, chosen at purchase, in this season and the regular firearm season. Regulations p. 32.
- Blaze orange is required. Regulations p. 31.
Archery
Archery equipment only
Three and a half months, from the middle of September to the last day of the year.
Statewide, in the units the permit names
Sep 14 – Dec 31Either sex
One deer per permit.
- An archery permit holder may use archery equipment only, even on days that overlap the muzzleloader or regular firearm season. Regulations p. 31 and KDWP's deer page.
- A resident archery either-species permit is valid statewide; a non-resident archery permit is valid in up to two adjacent units named on it. Regulations p. 32.
- Blaze orange is required on any day an open muzzleloader or firearm deer season is running. Regulations p. 31.
- Unfilled 2026 permits may be used in Unit 19 during the extended archery whitetail antlerless-only season, 25 to 31 January. Regulations p. 31.
Pre-rut Firearm Whitetail Antlerless
Whatever the permit allows
Three days in the middle of October, does and fawns only.
Statewide
Oct 10–12Antlerless only
One deer per permit, and up to ten Whitetail Antlerless-Only permits may be held.
- Any permit that allows a white-tailed antlerless deer is valid, subject to the equipment and unit restrictions printed on it. Regulations p. 31.
- Unit 12 runs six more days after this season closes, 13 to 18 October. Regulations p. 30.
- Blaze orange is required. Regulations p. 31.
Extended Pre-rut Antlerless, Unit 12
Whatever the permit allowsPrinted in 1 column — check which covers your deer management unit.
Six extra October days, in Unit 12 alone.
Unit 12 only
Oct 13–18Antlerless only
One deer per permit.
- Any permit that allows a white-tailed antlerless deer in Unit 12 is valid. Regulations p. 31.
- Blaze orange is required. Regulations p. 31.
Regular Firearm
Any legal equipment on a firearm permit; muzzleloading or archery on a muzzleloader permit
Twelve days in the first half of December.
Statewide, in the units the permit names
Dec 2–13Either sex
One deer per permit.
- The archery season stays open through this one, but an archery permit holder may still use archery equipment only — and must wear blaze orange. Regulations p. 31.
- The resident firearm either-species permit is a June draw and is valid in the West Zone (Units 1, 2, 17, 18) or the East Zone (Units 3, 4, 5, 7, 16), chosen on the application. Regulations pp. 32-33.
- A non-resident firearm permit is valid in the unit drawn and one adjacent unit named on it. Regulations p. 32.
- Blaze orange is required: an orange hat and at least 200 square inches of orange, 100 visible from the front and 100 from the back on the upper body. KDWP deer page.
Extended Firearm Whitetail Antlerless
Whatever the permit allowsPrinted in 3 columns — check which covers your deer management unit.
January, does and fawns only — and the closing date depends on the unit.
Unit 3
Jan 1–10Antlerless only
One deer per permit.
Units 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 16
Jan 1–17Antlerless only
One deer per permit.
Units 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15
Jan 1–24Antlerless only
One deer per permit.
- Any permit that allows a white-tailed antlerless deer may be used, and an unfilled either-sex permit may be used on a doe — but only in the unit the permit names and its corresponding extended season. Regulations p. 31.
- Units 1, 2, 17 and 18 have no extended season at all. Regulations p. 30.
- Unit 10A (Fort Leavenworth) and Unit 19 (urban) run to 24 January like the eastern units; neither is resolved from a pin here. Regulations pp. 30 and 31.
- Blaze orange is required. Regulations p. 31.

New This Season

What changed since last year, and is therefore easiest to get wrong.

Resident either-species firearm permits were cut again: 854 authorised for the West Zone, down 105, and 39 for the East Zone, down 18.
Whitetail Antlerless-Only permits may be bought without an antlered deer permit from 30 December.

Legal Arms

2026-2027 Kansas Hunting & Furharvesting Regulations weapon specifications, as the digest prints them.

Archery

Regulations p. 31

Archery equipment on an archery permit, in any season it is valid for.

Anything but archery equipment on an archery permit, even during the firearm season.

Firearms

Regulations p. 31

Any legal equipment during the regular firearm season, on a firearm permit.

Muzzleloader

Regulations pp. 31 and 32

Muzzleloading or archery equipment on a muzzleloader permit, in the muzzleloader season and the regular firearm season.

Modern firearms on a muzzleloader permit.

Hunting Hours and Orange

What the state defines as legal light, and what has to be worn in it.

Legal Shooting Hours

Regulations p. 20, "Big Game Shooting Hours"

Half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset, for all big game.

Fluorescent Orange

KDWP deer page, and Regulations p. 31

An orange hat and at least 200 square inches of blaze orange, of which 100 square inches must be visible from the front and 100 from the back on the upper half of the body. Camouflage orange counts if it provides the required area. Required of all deer hunters and of anyone assisting them during any open firearm or muzzleloader deer season — an archery hunter out on one of those days included.

Sundays

Regulations, which print no Sunday exception for deer

Kansas sets no Sunday restriction on deer hunting: every season runs each day it is open.

Standing Rules

The parts of the digest that are true every day of the season.

Permits and bag limits

Regulations pp. 30, 32 and 33

Every deer permit is valid for one deer, and no hunter may buy more than one permit that allows an antlered deer.
A hunter holding an antlered permit may buy up to ten Whitetail Antlerless-Only permits, with the unit restrictions above.
Permits are not transferable, and hunting is restricted to the units listed on the permit.
A valid Kansas hunting licence is needed alongside the permit unless exempt; residents 75 and over need none.
All hunters born on or after 1 July 1957 must be hunter-education certified, and anyone under 27 must carry the card.

Equipment and the permit

Regulations p. 31 and KDWP's deer page

A firearm permit holder may hunt with any legal equipment during the firearm season. A muzzleloader permit holder may use only muzzleloading or archery equipment, in either the muzzleloader or the firearm season. An archery permit holder may use only archery equipment, even on days that overlap the muzzleloader or regular firearm season.

Deer definitions

Regulations p. 30

Whitetail either-sex: any buck, doe or fawn white-tailed deer.
Either-species/either-sex: any buck, doe or fawn white-tailed or mule deer.
Whitetail antlerless-only: any white-tailed deer with no visible antler plainly protruding from the skull.
Antlerless-only: any white-tailed or mule deer with no visible antler plainly protruding from the skull.

Tagging and Reporting

The clock that starts the moment the deer is down.

KDWP deer page, Electronic Registration

Every deer must be reported immediately after harvest — the deer must be tagged at the kill, and the electronic check-in completed before the meat or antlers are transported.

Tag the deer immediately after harvest
Electronic registration is voluntary and is what lets you transport a carcass without the head or evidence of sex attached
Register at the Electronic Deer Check-in Application with photographs taken at the harvest site — this is not a telephone system
Without it, a deer taken on an antlerless-only permit must keep its head attached until it reaches a processor or your residence

Where This App Is Coarser Than the Digest

Said plainly, because an absence is easy to read as a permission.

Kansas deer management units follow highways and rivers, not county lines, so this state is resolved against a shipped boundary layer. If the layer will not load, the pin falls back to its county and finds no unit at all — KDWP publishes no county-to-unit crosswalk to fall back on.
The boundary layer is KDWP's own Kansas_Deer_Management_Units, generalised to about 200 metres to keep it small. Close to a unit line, trust the state's own map on p. 31 of the regulations.
Two units are not in the layer and are not resolved from a pin. Unit 10A is Fort Leavenworth, a military installation inside Unit 10 with its own firearm dates in November and December and up to five antlerless permits of its own. Unit 19 is an urban unit that overlays the Kansas City side of Unit 10 rather than cutting a hole in it — a pin there resolves to Unit 10, and Unit 19's own extended firearm season to 24 January and extended archery week of 25 to 31 January are not shown.
Which deer you may take turns on the permit as much as on the season, and the two are bought separately. An archery permit holder may only shoot a bow even during the firearm season; a muzzleloader permit holder may not use a rifle. This app shows the season and names the restriction, but it cannot know which permit you hold.
The prices here are the regulations booklet's, which include the state's issuance fee — so they run $2.50 above the figures KDWP's deer page quotes, and neither includes the agent or internet convenience fee charged at purchase.
Military base seasons at Fort Riley, Fort Leavenworth and the Smoky Hill Air National Guard range have their own dates and draws and are not in the season table.
Kansas is nearly all Central time, but Sherman, Wallace, Greeley and Hamilton counties — in Units 1, 2, 17 and 18 — keep Mountain time. Legal light in those four counties is an hour behind what this app shows.
Kansas's peak breeding date is an estimate. KDWP publishes none; the rut meter uses 12 November, and unlike every date in the season table that one is not transcribed from anything.
Kansas 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.

KDWP fisheries and wildlife: (620) 672-5911
Permits and draws: GoOutdoorsKansas.gov, or 1-833-587-2164, 6am to 9pm
Fort Leavenworth hunting coordinator: (913) 684-1703

Transcribed from the published 2026-27 Kansas digest. Where this app and the digest disagree, the digest is the law. Read the Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks digest.