Arkansas’s modern gun deer hunting season begins Nov. 8

By Randy Sellers, AGFC

An estimated 290,000 people, enough to fill Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville more than four times, will be headed to the woods this year in search of a deer, and many of them will be celebrating their first hunt of the year this weekend with the opening of Arkansas’s modern gun deer hunting season. 

Arkansas’s deer season is split into several segments, with hunters having already harvested and checked more than 47,700 deer so far during archery season, alternative firearms season and last weekend’s youth deer hunt. Those early seasons are only appetizers compared to modern gun season, which opens Saturday, Nov. 8. Historically, deer hunters have checked more than 30,000 deer in the two-day weekend opener. 

Staff at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission expect many hunting camps will extend their opening weekend even further with the Veterans’ Day holiday falling on the Tuesday after opening weekend. 

Here are a few things hunters should double-check before hitting the woods Saturday morning:

1. Be sure your hunting license is up-to-date and you’ve downloaded your free deer tags through the AGFC’s website or mobile app. If you’ve purchased your license this year, the tags should automatically show up, but youth hunters and lifetime license holders may still need to download theirs. The AGFC has a web page devoted to all the instructions you’ll need to get going on the app at www.agfc.com/licensingsupport.

2. Make sure your firearm is legal for the zone or WMA you are hunting. Hunters in Deer Zones 4 and 5 and a few wildlife management areas are restricted to shotguns .410 and larger with slugs, muzzleloaders, rifles firing straight-walled cartridges .30-caliber or larger and legal air rifles. A complete list of legal hunting equipment is available on Page 48 of the 2025-26 Arkansas Hunting Guidebook.

3. Be sure to check the AGFC’s chronic wasting disease zones and testing locations. Only deboned meat, cleaned skulls, antlers and finished taxidermy may legally leave CWD zones. Testing your deer is free and voluntary through the AGFC’s network of drop-off locations and taxidermists. Learn more at www.agfc.com/cwd. 

4. Make sure you have your Hunter Education card or have “HE-Verified” in your license account through the AGFC’s website or app. Hunter Education is required of every hunter 16 and older who was born after 1968. Hunters under 16 and hunters who have a “Deferred Education Code (code DHE in the AGFC license system) may still hunt but must remain within arm’s reach of a licensed hunter. Visit www.agfc.com/huntered to learn more about hunter education requirements and options to take the course

   5. Wear your blaze orange or safety chartreuse. By law, all hunters and mentors must wear at least 400 square inches of blaze orange or safety chartreuse above the waist AND a blaze orange or safety chartreuse hat, and both must be visible outside your coats and other clothes at all times. Orange is required even if inside a blind. Accidents can happen if you rush out to get your deer after the shot and don’t remember to put on the orange in all the excitement. 

   6. Double-check all straps, welds and bolts on your tree stands to ensure they’re in good working order. Stands that have been up all year can deteriorate from the weather. Squirrels and other rodents will also gnaw at ratchet straps used to clamp the stand to the tree. Don’t wait until opening morning to check and replace a stand that will have you suspended 15-20 feet in the air.

   7. Get reacquainted with your safety harness. Figuring out that system of straps and buckles by the light of an open truck door can be a pain right before you go to the woods. Put it on at home and label it so that you know which strap goes where. Check the included tether and lineman’s belt to make sure those are in good condition and ready to go as well.

   8. Make sure someone responsible knows where you are and what time to expect you home. If you do have a spill from your stand or another issue, they may be your ticket to safety. 

   9. Load the AGFC’s radio room number (833-356-0824) in your phone before you go. Game wardens are the most knowledgeable first responders in the woods, and you may need to call on one in the case of an emergency. It’s also handy to have a direct line to your local game warden should you need to report poaching activity. Visit www.agfc.com/enforcement to learn more about the many roles game wardens play in Arkansas. 

   10.  When you do shoot a deer, remember that it needs to be checked within 12 hours of harvest. If you have a cellular signal where you shot it, you can check the deer via phone, website or smartphone app before moving it. As long as the deer stays within your immediate person, you don’t have to tag it with a physical tag. If you cannot check the deer immediately, make a tag using any piece of paper and indicate your name, the CID from your hunting license, the sex of the animal and the date, time and county of harvest. This tag must stay with the deer until checked. If you plan to drop a checked deer off at a deer processor, deer camp or taxidermist, be sure to make a tag to leave with the animal. Examples of deer tags and carcass tags can be found on pages 115-121  of the 2025-26 Arkansas Hunting Guidebook. 

    

   Visit www.agfc.com/deer for more information about deer and deer hunting in Arkansas.