Indiana Closes 25 State Park Properties for Drawn Deer Hunts on Nov. 16 and Nov. 30

Indiana State Parks said in a release dated November 12, 2026 that 25 state park properties will close to the public for two-day controlled deer management hunts on Nov. 16 and 17 and again on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, with only hunters drawn in the agency’s September lottery allowed on the properties.

Each property closes on the evening before its hunt and reopens on the morning after the second day. All other state park properties stay open on normal hours. “Deer hunts at our properties are important in managing the deer population and its impact on habitat for native plants and wildlife,” said Anthony Sipes, natural resources manager for Indiana State Parks. He said the agency decides each year which properties need a hunt from habitat recovery and the previous harvest rates at each park.

The 22 state parks are Brown County, Chain O’Lakes, Charlestown, Clifty Falls, Fort Harrison, Harmonie, Indiana Dunes, Lincoln, McCormick’s Creek, O’Bannon Woods, Ouabache, Pokagon, Potato Creek, Prophetstown, Shades, Shakamak, Spring Mill, Summit Lake, Tippecanoe River, Turkey Run, Versailles and Whitewater Memorial, joined by Cave River Valley Natural Area and the Raccoon and Trine state recreation areas. Indiana Dunes was not among the 24 properties hunted during 2024.

The DNR’s reserved hunt page took applications from Aug. 17 to Sept. 16, 2026, from Indiana residents and lifetime license holders who turn 18 by Nov. 16, as individuals or in groups of two or three. Clifty Falls, Fort Harrison and Trine are archery-only hunts, and the other 22 properties are firearms only, with any firearm legal on Indiana public land legal in the parks. The agency’s draw information sheet lists rifles firing bullets of at least .219 inch with no full metal jackets and no more than 10 cartridges carried, handguns with barrels of at least 4 inches, shotguns loaded with slugs or saboted bullets, muzzleloaders of .40 caliber or larger and air guns of .40 caliber or larger producing 400 foot-pounds of muzzle energy. Drawn hunters may take up to three deer, one of them antlered, and those deer do not count against the statewide season bag limits. Hunting runs from a half hour before sunrise until 4 p.m. Eastern, and hunters must wear two pieces of hunter orange, a hat or cap plus a vest, coat, jacket or coveralls.

The program began during 1993, when 466 hunters took 392 deer at Brown County State Park. The agency’s 2024 report says 24 properties held hunts on Nov. 18 and 19 and Dec. 2 and 3, 2024, and that 1,567 deer were taken across 6,707 hunter efforts, the highest harvest since 2013 and the most properties in the program’s history. Harvest per effort averaged 0.26 against a target of 0.20 to 0.22, and 43.8 percent of drawn hunters did not show. Brown County led with 178 deer, followed by Tippecanoe River at 142 and Potato Creek at 134, and the hunts have taken 44,548 deer since 1993.

The park hunts fall inside Indiana’s statewide firearms deer season, which the DNR’s deer hunting page lists as Nov. 14 to 29, 2026, with the muzzleloader season Dec. 5 to 20 and archery running to Jan. 3, 2027.

The 2026 hunt report is due in spring 2027. Applications for the 2027 park hunts open next summer on the reserved hunt page, with a deadline the agency says usually falls in mid-September.