Kentucky Modern Gun Deer Season Runs Nov. 14 to 29 as CWD Zone Grows to 23 Counties

Kentucky’s modern gun deer season opens Saturday, Nov. 14, and runs through Sunday, Nov. 29, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources said in a release dated November 10, 2026. The 16 days make up the state’s biggest hunting season of the year. Hunters reported more than 145,000 deer last year, down slightly from nearly 150,000 in 2024-2025, and modern gun season accounts for the most deer harvested annually.

The opener falls six days later than last year. Last year’s release set that season at Nov. 8 through Nov. 23. “The 2026 calendar has the season opening later than normal but we still anticipate a strong harvest statewide,” said Ben Robinson, director of the Wildlife Division.

The chronic wasting disease (CWD) Surveillance Zone has grown from 14 counties last season to 23 counties this year, by the desk’s count of the two releases. Casey, Laurel, Lincoln, McCreary, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Russell, Wayne and Whitley counties in south-central and southeastern Kentucky joined Ballard, Breckinridge, Calloway, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hardin, Henderson, Hickman, Marshall, McCracken, Meade, Union and Webster. Deer taken in the zone are under carcass transportation and baiting restrictions.

Hunters in Henderson, McCreary, Pulaski and Wayne counties must take harvested deer to a staffed check station or a CWD Sample Drop-Off Site on Nov. 14 to 16, the first three days of the season. Last year that requirement covered Henderson, Union and Webster counties. Hunters outside the zone can donate heads of legally taken, telechecked deer for free testing and aging through drop-off sites or mail-in kits, and every sample submitted through Jan. 18, 2027 enters the Shoot for Samples Giveaway.

Kentucky is divided into four deer zones based on deer density. Each zone sets its own method restrictions and antlerless limits, but a hunter may take only one buck a year statewide. In Zone 1 a hunter may take an unlimited number of antlerless deer with the statewide permit and additional deer permits, and Zone 2 allows up to four antlerless deer. The department is asking hunters to take more does, particularly in Zone 1 and Zone 2 counties, to balance the herd.

Licenses and permits are sold at fw.ky.gov and through license agents, and a statewide or youth deer permit is required with every license type. Hunters born in 1975 or later need proof of hunter education, and a new hunter can use a free one-year exemption permit while hunting with a certified adult or one born before 1975. A harvest log listing species, sex, county and date must be filled out on recovery, and each deer must be telechecked before midnight by phone at 1-800-245-4263 or through the My Profile portal. Hunters who do not need the meat can give it to Kentucky Hunters for the Hungry or Boone Brothers, which process and distribute venison locally.

Modern gun season closes on November 29, 2026. The department’s deer season table lists a second muzzleloader season Dec. 12 to 20, a free youth weekend Dec. 26 and 27, and archery and crossbow seasons running through Jan. 18, 2027.