Deer Regulations

What’s New for 2026–27

Changes DEC adopted for the 2026–27 seasons that matter to deer hunters in the Northern Zone and WMU 5J:

• Earn-a-2nd-Buck, statewide (it applies in WMU 5J). Every hunter now gets one Antlered Deer Tag, good in any season you hold the privilege for except the September antlerless season (5J has no September antlerless season). DEC, June 17, 2026; Guide p. 29
• How to earn the second buck tag: take and report an antlerless deer on any valid antlerless tag (a DMP, a Bow/Muzz Antlerless Deer Tag or a DMAP tag). DEC then adds a second Antlered Deer Tag to your DECALS account and emails it to you. Both buck tags can be used in the same season. Guide p. 29
• Getting the tag: e-tag users find it in the HuntFishNY app under “Licenses & Tags/Report Harvest.” Paper-tag users print it from the email or DECALS, or get it at a regional DEC office, and must have it with them before hunting a second buck. Guide p. 29
• The 7-day proof rule: DEC may ask for proof of the antlerless deer. Keep a digital photo or the head/skull that clearly shows the deer was antlerless for 7 days after the harvest. If a processor has the deer and you didn’t take a photo, give DEC the processor’s information. You don’t need proof for antlerless deer taken after you get the second tag. Guide p. 29
• Tags renamed: the old Regular Season Deer Tag is now the Antlered Deer Tag. The old Bow/Muzzleloader Either-Sex Tag is now the Bow/Muzz Antlerless Deer Tag, so bow and muzzleloader privileges now come with antlerless tags only (one per privilege). DEC, June 17, 2026; Guide, Highlights p. 4
• DMP changes: you can apply for up to four DMPs (two in WMUs with limited DMPs and two in WMUs with unlimited DMPs), and DMPs can now be transferred between hunters without limit. Unlimited and bonus DMPs apply only in 23 listed WMUs, and 5J is not one of them. DEC Recent Rule Changes; DEC, June 17, 2026
• September antlerless season expanded to 10 more WMUs (3P, 6P, 7F, 7H, 7J, 7R, 8H, 8R, 8S, 9G). This does not include 5J. DEC Recent Rule Changes
• New crossbow law (passed in 2025 and listed in the 2026–27 Highlights): crossbows can be used for the entire bowhunting season by hunters with the bowhunting privilege, everywhere other bowhunting gear is allowed. All crossbow users need a bowhunter education certificate. The minimum limb-width and maximum draw-weight limits are gone. The 250-ft discharge setback still applies, and junior hunters still have some limits. Guide, Highlights p. 4
• Mechanical broadheads: the 2026 rule also clarifies when mechanical broadheads count as non-barbed. DEC Notice of Adoption, July 1, 2026
• Pending, not yet law: a bill would let DEC issue DMPs in all parts of the Northern Zone. Even if it passes, DEC won’t issue DMPs in the new areas right away. Guide, Highlights p. 4

Adopted last year (2025–26) and still in effect, per DEC’s Recent Rule Changes page:

• Harvest reporting: paper-tag users have 48 hours to report (it used to be 7 days). E-tag users must report immediately in the HuntFishNY app. Guide, General Information
• E-tags: you can carry your license and deer and bear tags in the HuntFishNY app instead of on paper. Backtags are no longer required. DEC Recent Rule Changes

More: DEC 2026 Antlerless Deer Q&A (PDF).

Licenses & Privileges

• A hunting license (ages 16+) lets you hunt deer and bear with a gun, muzzleloader, bow or crossbow during the regular season. A bow or crossbow requires proof of bowhunter education or a bowhunting privilege.
• A bowhunting privilege is required to hunt deer and bear with a bow or crossbow during the bowhunting seasons. It requires a current hunting license plus a bowhunter education certificate, a NYS bowhunting stamp issued in 1980 or later, or a NYS junior bowhunting license issued in 1980 or later.
• A muzzleloading privilege is required to hunt during the muzzleloading seasons. It is not needed to use a muzzleloader during the regular season.
• You must buy a hunting license to be eligible for bowhunting and muzzleloading privileges.
• Hunter education is required if you can’t show that you’ve ever held a hunting license (you must be at least 11 to take the course). Bowhunter education is required to hunt big game with a bow or crossbow.
• Licenses are valid Sept. 1 through Aug. 31. You may buy only one hunting license per year, must carry it while hunting, and must show it on demand to a law enforcement officer or the landowner. Children under 12 may not hunt.

Source: 2026–27 Guide, General Information (Licenses, Privileges & Permits; Mandatory Hunter Education); DEC Hunter Education.

Tags & Bag Limits (Northern Zone / WMU 5J)

After you’ve used your last deer tag, you may help others hunt, but you must carry your license and may not shoot or try to shoot a deer.

Source: General Information (Deer Hunting Privileges and Tags); Big Game section (Deer Tag Descriptions, Earn-a-2nd-Buck, DMPs, muzzleloader map p. 27); DEC press release, Oct. 7, 2026.

Legal Antlers & Antler Restrictions

• A legally antlered deer has at least one antler 3 inches or longer. Antlerless deer are does, fawns and deer with antlers under 3 inches.
• Mandatory antler point restrictions apply only in WMUs 3A, 3C, 3H, 3J, 3K, 4G, 4O, 4P, 4R, 4S and 4W in southeastern New York. They do not apply in WMU 5J.

Source: Big Game section (Legally Antlered Deer; Antler Point Restriction Program).

Hunting Hours & Legal Implements

• Hours: big game hours run from ½ hour before sunrise to ½ hour after sunset (DEC sunrise–sunset table; daily Corinth times for Sept. 19 – Dec. 7 are in the sunrise, sunset & legal hours table on the Home page). Sunday hunting is allowed.
• Legal implements: centerfire rifles, shotguns, handguns, muzzleloaders, bows and crossbows, in the appropriate seasons and areas. Decoys, calls and attractant scents are allowed. A muzzleloader fires a single projectile with a minimum .44 bore, and muzzleloading pistols require a NYS pistol permit.
• It is unlawful to take big game in water; use dogs (except a licensed leashed tracking dog) or any aircraft, including drones; hunt over a pre-established bait pile; or use a firearm or bow aided by a light or a laser projected toward the target. Illuminated reticles, rangefinders, red dots and lighted sight pins are allowed if no light is projected toward the target.
• Also unlawful: an autoloading firearm holding more than 6 shells (except an autoloading pistol with a barrel under 8″), rimfire firearms, shotguns under 20 gauge or loaded with anything but a single projectile, bows under 35 lb draw weight, barbed broadheads or broadheads under 7/8″ wide or with fewer than 2 cutting edges, double-barreled muzzleloaders or percussion revolvers in the muzzleloading seasons, and air guns or air bows.
• No firearm of any kind while bowhunting (or accompanying a bowhunter) in an archery-only season. Only a muzzleloader in the muzzleloading season.
• Discharge distances: it is illegal to shoot within 500 ft (firearm), 250 ft (crossbow) or 150 ft (bow) of a dwelling, farm building or occupied structure without the owner’s consent, or of a school, playground, or occupied factory or church. It is also illegal to shoot so the load passes over any part of a public highway.

Source: Big Game section (Manner of Taking; Hunting Hours; Muzzleloader Hunting); General Information (Legal implements; Discharge of Firearms, Crossbows, and Bows).

Crossbows

• Under legislation passed in 2025, hunters may use a crossbow in the same seasons, places and manner as a vertical bow for deer and bear.
• Bowhunter education (or a qualifying prior bowhunting license or stamp) is required to hunt big game with a crossbow, and a bowhunting privilege is required during the bowhunting seasons.
• Discharge setback for crossbows: 250 ft (see above).
• Junior hunters ages 12–13 may hunt deer with a crossbow only in counties that have opted in (DEC county map).

Source: General Information (Mandatory Bowhunter Education; Junior Hunting); Big Game section (Bow and Crossbow Hunting).

Fluorescent Orange / Pink

Anyone hunting deer or bear with a firearm, or accompanying someone who is, must wear one of the following:

1. at least 250 sq. in. of solid fluorescent orange or pink, worn above the waist and visible from all directions; or
2. at least 250 sq. in. of patterned fluorescent orange or pink (at least 50% orange or pink), worn above the waist and visible from all directions; or
3. a hat or cap at least 50% solid fluorescent orange or pink on the outside, visible from all directions.

Junior hunters and their mentors must wear fluorescent orange or pink when hunting big game with a firearm or crossbow.

Source: Big Game section (Fluorescent Orange and Fluorescent Pink Clothing Requirements); Youth Opportunities (Junior Hunter requirements).

Youth Hunters (Ages 12–15)

• 2026 Youth Firearms Deer & Bear Hunt: Oct. 10–12 (Columbus/Indigenous Peoples’ Day weekend), upstate, excluding bowhunting-only WMUs. Bag limit: one deer of either sex and one bear. Junior hunters may use the Antlered Deer Tag for either sex, or a DMP. Bow/Muzz Antlerless tags are not valid.
• Junior hunters must complete hunter education, and bowhunter education to hunt big game with a bow or crossbow. They must hold a Junior Hunting license and the junior bowhunting or muzzleloading privileges for those seasons.
• Ages 12–13 may not hunt bear with a firearm. They may hunt deer with a firearm or crossbow only in counties that have opted in (map).
• Mentor requirements:
  • Firearm or crossbow: mentor must be 21 or older with 3 years’ experience.
  • Bow: mentor must be 21 with 3 years’ experience for ages 12–13, or 18 with 1 year’s experience for ages 14–15.
  • The mentor must hold a current hunting license and keep physical control of the junior hunter at all times.
  • Carry written permission if the mentor isn’t a parent or guardian.
• When hunting big game with a firearm or crossbow, the junior hunter and mentor must stay at ground level. No tree stands or elevated blinds unless the junior is bowhunting.
• During designated youth hunts, mentors may not carry a firearm, bow or crossbow, or try to take game.

Source: Youth Opportunities (Junior Hunter/Trapper Opportunities; Youth Firearms Big Game Hunt); General Information (Junior Hunting); DEC Junior Big Game Hunting.

Tagging & Reporting Your Harvest

• Paper tags: fill in and sign the carcass tag immediately. Attach it on arrival at camp, home or your vehicle (not needed while dragging the deer out). Report within 48 hours. The old 7-day window no longer applies.
• E-tags (HuntFishNY app): report the harvest immediately in the app. It works without service if you signed in beforehand. If the deer leaves your possession, attach a tag with your name, DEC ID # and harvest confirmation number.
• Report online, by phone at 1-866-426-3778, or in the HuntFishNY app.
• If someone other than the hunter transports the deer, attach a tag with the names, addresses and signatures of both. Label all transported portions of meat.
• It is unlawful to sell deer meat.

Source: General Information (Reporting Your Game Harvest; E-Licenses, E-Tags, and Paper Tags); Big Game section (Tagging, Reporting, and Transporting).

Feeding & Baiting Prohibited

• Intentional feeding or baiting of deer or bear is prohibited at all times of year, including mineral blocks and powders. Agricultural plantings, wildlife food plots and cutting trees or brush are exempt.
• It is unlawful to make, set or use salt licks or other salt-containing attractants on lands inhabited by deer or bear, or to hunt with the aid of a pre-established bait pile.

Source: Big Game section (Feeding and Baiting Prohibited; Manner of Taking).

Firearm Safety & Hunting Parties

DEC’s primary rules of hunter safety:

• Treat every firearm as if it were loaded.
• Control the muzzle; always keep it pointed in a safe direction.
• Identify your target and what lies beyond it.
• Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire.
• Wear hunter orange or pink.

Tell someone where you’re hunting and when you’ll return. Deer drives: a hunting party may not share DMPs on a drive. Only the person holding the DMP may take an antlerless deer on it, and any transfer must happen before the deer is taken. During deer season, possessing slug or ball shotgun shells requires a valid license and tags (or permit) to take deer or bear.

Source: DEC: Hunt Safely This Season; Guide Features (Law Enforcement Q&A); General Information (Possession of Firearms).

Tree Stand Safety

DEC: “Strap up before you go up.” Use a fall-arrest system that keeps you attached to the tree from the time you leave the ground until you’re back down. A harness that isn’t attached to the tree isn’t enough. A complete system has:

• A full-body harness with shoulder, chest and leg straps.
• A tree strap, plus a tether connecting the harness to it.
• A lifeline for climbing up and down.
• A suspension relief strap.

Choose a healthy, straight tree. DEC advises avoiding ash, butternut, American beech, eastern hemlock and American elm because of pests and disease, and never using a dead, dying, crooked or leaning tree. Keep three points of contact while climbing. Inspect your gear every season and replace expired harnesses. Use a haul line to raise and lower an unloaded gun, bow, or cocked-but-unloaded crossbow, muzzle down. Never tie the line to the trigger or trigger guard.

Source: DEC: Hunt Safely This Season; DEC Tree Stand Safety; Guide Features (Tree Selection Matters).

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Import Rules

Hunters may not bring whole carcasses or intact heads of deer, elk, moose or caribou taken outside New York back into the state. Only these may be brought in:

• deboned meat
• a cleaned skull cap, or antlers with no flesh attached
• a raw or processed cape or hide
• cleaned teeth or lower jaw
• finished taxidermy products

Source: Big Game section (Chronic Wasting Disease Import Restrictions).

Trespass, Posting & Our Lease

• A hunting license gives no right to enter private property without the landowner’s permission. Rights-of-way across private land, such as power lines and railroads, are not public land.
• Damaging bark or cutting trees, branches or plants without the landowner’s permission is illegal.
• Our land is leased from the Lyme Timber Company. Under Lyme’s recreational posting lease, a lessee has exclusive recreational rights to the parcel and may post it against trespassing in their own name.
• Club rules also apply on the lease: gate keys and combinations are never given to non-members (see Camp Rules).

Source: General Information (license conditions); Hunting Access (Private Lands); Lyme Adirondack — Hunting and Leasing; Mulleyville By-Laws Art. 8.