Tennessee Opens WMA Waterfowl Quota Applications Nov. 18 to Dec. 8 for Late-Season and Youth/Military Hunts

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said in a release from Nashville on Nov. 12, 2026 that applications for its late-season and youth/military waterfowl quota hunts on wildlife management areas (WMAs) run Nov. 18 through Dec. 8.

That late segment covers hunt days from Jan. 12 through Jan. 31, 2027, the final stretch of the state’s regular duck season, per the agency’s duck season table in the 2026-27 hunting guide. The same table sets the youth waterfowl days on Feb. 6 and 13 and the veterans and active military days on Feb. 7 and 14, each with regular-season bag limits. Tennessee’s regular duck season runs Nov. 28 and 29 and Dec. 5 through Jan. 31, with a daily limit of six ducks, no more than four of them mallards.

Hunters can apply online at gooutdoorstennessee.com, in the TWRA mobile app, at a TWRA regional office or through any TWRA license agent. The agency will not accept mailed applications. Applicants must be at least 16 years old. The agency’s quota hunt page lists a $12 non-refundable application fee for each drawing, waived for holders of an Annual, Lifetime or Senior Sportsman License, and no priority-point limit for the late-season waterfowl draw.

Each person gets one application. It can list up to 48 unique hunt choices, and no choice can appear twice. A party needs at least four members and no more than eight.

Drawn applicants will get an email with log-in instructions and must claim their permits by Dec. 21 at 11:59 CST, the release says. The agency’s WMA tier table, last updated Sept. 10, lists Dec. 16 as the late-segment claim deadline, so the release’s later date is the one hunters should work from. Every party member claims a separate permit, and permits can be printed once claimed. Late-segment permits on Tier 2 and quota permit areas cover two, three or four-day hunts split Monday through Thursday and Friday through Sunday, and the youth and military hunts on those areas are applied for in the same late segment.

A member who does not claim a permit loses that permit but can still hunt with a permit holder present at the blind. If no one in a drawn party claims a permit, the party loses the site, and it goes to an in-person leftover drawing.

TWRA has set the leftover drawings for Monday, Jan. 4, 2027, at 6 p.m. local time. The tier table lists the sites, among them the Hiwassee Refuge in Birchwood for the Chickamauga units, Reelfoot State Park in Tiptonville, the Holly Fork Shooting Complex in Paris for the Kentucky Lake units, the Dyersburg work base for Bogota, Thorny Cypress and Tigrett, the Cheatham WMA work base in Ashland City for Haynes Bottom and Cheatham, and the Old Hickory WMA work base in Lebanon for Old Hickory Units 1 and 2. Applications close on December 8, 2026.