Deer Hunting Season Preparation Checklist
Deer season dates depend on your state and your weapon, and some archery seasons open in late summer. The week before opener is a bad time to find out that a stand strap needs replacing or a scope has lost its zero, so this list covers the weeks before you go: the paperwork, the gear, the stand, and the plan for after the shot.
Rules change between states and from year to year. Season dates, bag limits, legal shooting hours, blaze orange rules and whether you need a hunter education card all come from your state wildlife agency. Read this year’s regulations rather than relying on what was true last season.
If you hunt from a tree stand, the harness is the item on this list to take most seriously. It only protects you if you are clipped in from the moment your feet leave the ground until they touch it again. Many falls happen while climbing into or out of the stand.
- Read this year's hunting regulations for your state — Season dates, bag limits and legal hours can differ between zones in the same state.
- Buy your license and deer tags
- Carry your hunter education card if your state asks for one — Many states require it for hunters born after a set year.
- Get written permission to hunt private land — Walk the boundaries and ask about the landowner's rules, such as where to park.
- Scout for trails, rubs and scrapes
- Hang trail cameras only where they are allowed — Some states and some public land restrict them.
- Check your rifle or shotgun zero at the range — Shoot the same ammunition you will hunt with.
- If you bowhunt, practice from a raised platform — Shooting down from a stand changes your form. Check that your broadheads hit where your field points do.
- Inspect every tree stand, ladder section and strap — Straps and ropes left out in sun and weather can weaken without looking worn. Replace them instead of trusting how they look.
- Check your full-body harness and its replacement date — Retire any harness that has caught a fall.
- Set up a lifeline so you stay clipped in while you climb
- Raise and lower your gun or bow on a haul rope, unloaded
- Pack blaze orange if your state requires it
- Wash hunting clothes in scent-free detergent and store them sealed
- Pack layers for sitting still before dawn — Hours without moving feel far colder than the walk in.
- Pack a knife, gloves, game bags and a drag rope
- Pack a headlamp, a charged phone and a small first aid kit
- Leave a written plan with someone at home — Note where you will park, which stand you will sit in and when you expect to be back.
- Learn how your state wants a deer tagged and reported — Your state sets when the tag goes on and how and when you report the harvest.
- Check whether you will hunt in a chronic wasting disease zone — Some states require testing in these zones or limit moving carcasses out of them.
- Line up a meat processor, or get set up to butcher at home — Processors can be busy around opening weekend.
- Bring a cooler and ice for warm early-season days — Meat spoils if the carcass is not cooled quickly on a warm afternoon.
- Go over firearm safety with everyone in your party — Treat every gun as loaded, and be sure of your target and what is beyond it.