2026-27 Season Dates

The openers cluster. Here's where.

Seven pages, all fifty states — an archery opener, a firearms opener and a dove opener for each one. It's a national orientation table, not a regulations digest, and it's built around the one thing worth knowing before you book anything: the openers pile onto the same handful of dates.

Thirty-two states open dove on September 1. Texas is on that list for the first time in over a century, all three zones. November 14 and 21 carry twelve firearms deer openers between them — hunt one state from each Saturday and you get consecutive opening weekends; two from the same one and somebody in camp is disappointed. October 1 falls on a Thursday in 2026 and opens archery in eight states, which makes a single vacation day worth four.

Dates in black are published by the state agency. Dates in orange italic are the expected framework where the agency hasn't published yet. A dash means no season. Zone dates, youth weekends and unit splits move these around — confirm with your state agency before you book anything nonrefundable.

Tell us your state and we'll send the planner now, then email you about three weeks before your seasons open. No prize draws, no daily blasts.