White-tailed deer hunting in Alabama

White-tailed Deer hunting overview

Alabama deer hunters get Oct 1 to Feb 10 in 2026-27, with 79 segments listed by ADCNR and the Digest. Limit for white-tailed deer: 1 per day; 3 per hunter for all seasons combined. One of the three must have at least 4 points (1 in. or longer) on one antler; main beam tip counts. Barbour County: every antlered buck must have 3+ points on one side (except on statewide youth days).

White-tailed Deer: the key lines

• Limit: 3 antlered per season (1/day, one with 4+ points on a side; Barbour 3-point minimum); 2 unantlered/day (Zone C 1) on either-sex dates; WMA bonus buck and CMZ CWD Sampling Permits extra.
• Season shape: Zones A-E and CMZ. Archery Oct 15 (A/B/C/CMZ) or Oct 1 (D/E) to Feb 10 or Jan 27; youth Nov 13-16 or Oct 30-Nov 2; muzzleloader/air rifle Nov 16-20 or Nov 2-6; gun Nov 21 (Nov 7 in D/E) to Feb 10 / Jan 27 (dog seasons end Jan 15 / Jan 1).
• Keep in mind: About 180,000 deer hunters and typically more than 300,000 deer harvested a year (ADCNR deer page). No season for any other cervid appears in the sources.

From ADCNR page, 2026-2027 Alabama Hunting and Fishing Digest p. 20 and ADCNR page (as of Nov 1, 2026), checked November 1, 2026.

GearHeading out for deer season? Deer gear checklist →

White-tailed Deer: guns, bows and methods

• Baiting (deer): No hunting over bait or a fed area until feed is gone 10 days, except deer and feral swine on private/leased land with a Bait Privilege License; bait over 100 yards and out of sight presumed not a lure on private land; no baiting on public land or in the CMZ.
• Deer at night and in water (deer): No taking deer at night by any means including lights (9-11-251); no taking deer, dead or alive, from public waters (9-11-250).
• Dogs and deer (deer): Dog deer hunting only where allowed; collar with name/address/phone; no casting from rights-of-way without adjoining owner permission; no tampering with dog collars; Talladega NF permit and GPS collars.
• Importation of carcasses (deer): No cervid carcasses or parts from other states/countries except deboned meat and cleaned parts.
• Cervid urine (deer): No natural out-of-state cervid urine while hunting unless from qualifying facilities.
• Public roads (deer): No hunting or shooting from, on or across a public road, highway or railroad or its right-of-way; no hunting within 50 yards of the right-of-way with a centerfire rifle, slug or shot larger than No. 4, or a .40+ muzzleloading rifle (landowners and family on own land excepted).
• Scaffolds and stands (deer): Scaffolds legal for gun hunting all game except turkey and for bow hunting all game.

Reasonable effort to retrieve a crippled deer is required, and it counts in the bag.

From 2026-2027 Alabama Hunting and Fishing Digest p. 34 and Code of Alabama 9-11-244, checked November 1, 2026.

When deer hunting starts and stops

Legal light for white-tailed deer on key dates, in Central Time, for north, central and south Alabama.

White-tailed deer, legal time: Daylight hours only = 30 minutes before official sunrise to 30 minutes after official sunset (deer and all resident game birds and game animals), except where a night season exists.

Rules from the Digest shooting hours section; sunrise and sunset computed (NOAA solar formula, Central Time); checked November 1, 2026. Legal hours for all 67 counties.