Home › Georgia › Hunting seasons › Deer zones › Yellow zone
Either-sex zone guide
Yellow Deer Zone in Georgia
Georgia’s Yellow deer zone: the far northeast mountains, Rabun and Towns, around Clayton and Hiawassee, 2 counties in all.
Photo: USFWS Mountain Prairie (Public Domain Mark 1.0)
Yellow is the tightest zone in Georgia: just Rabun and Towns, in the far northeast corner. Gun hunters there get 3 either-sex days, Nov 28 to Nov 29 and Jan 1; the other 83 firearms days are bucks only. Archery and primitive weapons week stay either sex, the main chance at a doe here. National forest land in Rabun and Towns is buck only, since both counties lie east of I-75. Hunters reported 876 deer in the zone’s whole counties in 2025-26, 183 of them does; WRD’s estimate is 1,083.
Day by day in the Yellow zone
Every segment for Yellow, from the archery opener to the last day of the season.
| Segment | Opens | Closes | Days | Today |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archery (Either-Sex) | Sep 12, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 | 28 | |
| Primitive Weapons (Either-Sex) | Oct 10, 2026 | Oct 16, 2026 | 7 | |
| Firearms (Antlered Bucks Only) | Oct 17, 2026 | Nov 27, 2026 | 42 | |
| Firearms (Either-Sex) | Nov 28, 2026 | Nov 29, 2026 | 2 | |
| Firearms (Antlered Bucks Only) | Nov 30, 2026 | Dec 31, 2026 | 32 | |
| Firearms (Either-Sex) | Jan 1, 2027 | Jan 1, 2027 | 1 | |
| Firearms (Antlered Bucks Only) | Jan 2, 2027 | Jan 10, 2027 | 9 |
Deer seasons and either-sex days, big game seasons, checked October 13, 2026.
Every Yellow zone county
County names open the county guides, with public land, services and ten years of harvest.
| County | Seat | WRD region | Extended archery | Antler rule | Dog-deer | Deer 2025-26 | Per sq mi |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rabun | Clayton | Gainesville | – | – | – | 371 | 1.0 |
| Towns | Hiawassee | Gainesville | – | – | – | 505 | 2.9 |
Either-sex zone map (read from the guide’s map image), deer regulations, Game Check by county, checked October 13, 2026.
Deer harvest in the Yellow zone
Totals add up the counties wholly inside Yellow.
| Season | Reported | Bucks | Does | WRD estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 876 | 693 | 183 | 1,083 |
| 2024-25 | 751 | 594 | 157 | 1,030 |
| 2023-24 | 669 | 532 | 137 | 958 |
| 2022-23 | 646 | 489 | 157 | 832 |
| 2021-22 | 484 | 409 | 75 | 644 |
| 2020-21 | 547 | 460 | 87 | 712 |
| 2019-20 | 441 | 361 | 80 | 660 |
| 2018-19 | 436 | 317 | 119 | 613 |
| 2017-18 | 460 | 366 | 94 | 662 |
| 2016-17 | 425 | 326 | 99 | 512 |
WRD deer harvest by county (Game Check and compliance-adjusted estimates), checked October 13, 2026.
Public deer land in Yellow counties
The colour zone stops at the WMA boundary: each of these 7 areas sets its own deer dates.
| Area | Kind | Counties | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests | National Forest | Rabun, Fannin, Union | 869,017 |
| Blue Ridge Ranger District | National Forest Ranger District | Union, Lumpkin, Fannin | 302,238 |
| Chattooga River Ranger District | National Forest Ranger District | Rabun, White, Habersham | 261,439 |
| Chattahoochee WMA | Wildlife Management Area | White, Union, Towns | 25,150 |
| Swallow Creek WMA | Wildlife Management Area | Towns | 19,000 |
| Warwoman WMA | Wildlife Management Area | Rabun | 15,800 |
| Tallulah Gorge WMA | Wildlife Management Area | Rabun, Habersham | 2,689 |
Public areas listing deer, from WRD’s area listings, retrieved 2026-10-13.
Yellow zone answers
What counties make up Georgia’s Yellow zone?
Rabun and Towns.
When is either-sex firearms season in Yellow?
Nov 28 to Nov 29 and Jan 1, 3 days in all.
Are does legal for bowhunters in Yellow?
Yes. Bowhunters may take either sex on private land all season. A bow may also take either sex while the gun seasons run.
Do the Yellow zone dates apply on WMAs?
Yellow applies to private ground only. The Chattahoochee east of I-75 is bucks-only land.
Which Yellow county reports the most deer?
Towns, with 505 deer reported in 2025-26.
What bag applies in Yellow?
The 12-deer statewide limit, with no more than two bucks.
Orange or pink in the Yellow zone?
Yes. Blaze pink counts. The rule covers archers too during primitive and gun dates.
How was the Yellow county list made?
The list comes from the guide’s map image. That image file is named 2025, though it matches this year’s zone tables. On a split county, go to the source map.
Other photos on this page: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Southwest Region (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Calistemon (CC BY-SA 4.0); USFWS Mountain Prairie (Public domain); sgharvey (CC BY 2.0); NPS Photo (Public domain); USFWS/Southeast (CC BY 2.0).