Carlyle Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area: Rules, Seasons and Permits

Season availability at Carlyle Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area

Open count for Carlyle Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area: 18 of 21 lines. The open seasons divide as 5 upland and small game, 4 deer, 4 waterfowl, 3 turkey and 2 furbearers. IDNR marks late winter antlerless, special cwd and fall shotgun as unavailable.

The fact sheet attaches these conditions to open lines:

• Archery: A windshield card is required. Please note: Some closures before and during waterfowl season. Check with the site for more details.
• Firearm: A windshield card is required. Please note: East Fork Unit in Clinton County requires a special permit allocated through the statewide lottery. At Carlyle SFWA, some areas (subimpoundment areas and west of the Kaskaskia River) are closed to firearm deer hunting.
• Muzzleloader: A windshield card is required. Follows the same regulations as firearm deer hunting. See section above for more information.
• Youth Firearm: Please note: Site is open to holders of a valid Firearm Deer Hunting Permit for the county the site is located in.
• Fall Archery: Statewide regulations apply at Carlyle SFWA, except that a windshield card is required.
• Spring: A windshield card is required. Please note: East Fork Unit in Clinton County requires a site specific permit allocated through the statewide lottery.
• Youth Spring: A windshield card is required. Please note: Site is open to holders of a valid Youth Turkey Hunt Permit for the county in which the site is located.
• Ducks, Coots, & Mergansers: Only walk-in hunting and hunting with boats without motors shall be permitted in the sub-impoundment area. When the water level in the sub-impoundment area is too high (due to flooding) to allow walk-in hunting, Department personnel shall post that the area is open to boats with motors (no airboats) operating at no wake speed and will designate boat launching locations.
• Goose: Waterfowl hunters must hunt over a minimum of 6 decoys and maintain a 200 yard distance between hunting parties. Please note: No one may enter the sub-impoundment area before 4:30 am or remain in the area after 3 pm each day of the waterfowl hunting season, except during the last 3 days of Canada goose season and during goose season that occurs after Canada goose season.

Availability and exceptions from the IDNR Hunt Illinois fact sheet (record source); statewide dates in the Digest; checked November 13, 2026.

County table for Carlyle Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area

Deer rules in Illinois are decided county by county, so each county touching Carlyle Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area matters. These 2 counties have no confirmed CWD record this season.

More on each county: Fayette County and Clinton County.

County rules from the Digest, IDNR CWD counties and the leftover permit list (IDNR permit page); checked November 13, 2026.

Not huntable near Carlyle Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area

IDNR also manages places near Carlyle Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area where hunting is not offered; they are listed as closed in our records and never shown as open.

Closed rows are IDNR sites with no Hunt Illinois fact sheet and no hunting flag on the land-use layer; see the full closed list. Checked November 13, 2026.

Before the truck leaves for Carlyle Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area

Recheck your permit, county rules and season dates for Carlyle Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area before packing up.

Sources: source 1 · source 2 · source 3 · source 4; statewide seasons from the 2026-27 Illinois Hunting and Trapping Digest. Checked November 13, 2026.