Georgia’s statewide deer firearms season opens Saturday, and about 200,000 hunters are expected to take to the woods through January.
What’s happening: The season runs from October 17 through January 10 for most hunters. Some counties have extended seasons — those hunters should check the Georgia Hunting and Fishing Regulations 2026-27 guidebook for their specific dates.
By the numbers: Last season, 200,000 hunters harvested about 250,000 deer. Only six firearms hunting incidents were reported statewide.
The rules: Hunters may take up to 10 antlerless deer and no more than two antlered deer. At least one of those antlered deer must have a minimum of four points — each at least one inch long — on one side, or an outside antler spread of at least 15 inches. Legal firearms are centerfire only, .22-caliber or larger, with expanding bullets. All weapons legal during archery and primitive weapons seasons are also allowed. On private land, deer of either sex may be taken with archery equipment at any time during the primitive weapons and firearms seasons.
What you need: Hunters must have a hunting license, a big game license, and a current deer harvest record. Licenses are available at GoOutdoorsGeorgia.com, by calling 1-800-366-2661, or at a license agent. All harvested deer must be reported through Georgia Game Check within 24 hours using the Outdoors GA app, GoOutdoorsGeorgia.com, or by calling 1-800-366-2661. The app works without cell service.
CWD testing: Hunters in Atkinson, Berrien, Lanier, or Lowndes County are asked to have their deer tested for chronic wasting disease — a fatal neurological illness that affects deer — at a participating processor, taxidermist, or freezer site. Testing is available to all hunters statewide. Testing locations and results are at GeorgiaWildlife.com/cwd.
Hunters for the Hungry: The Wildlife Resources Division and the Georgia Wildlife Federation are expanding the Hunters for the Hungry Program, which connects donated deer to Georgia families in need of food. State deer biologist Charlie Killmaster encouraged hunters to participate. “Firearms deer season is almost here,” Killmaster said. “Georgia continues to produce outstanding bucks every year, a testament of how well hunters and landowners have managed deer. We can also be stewards of our community by taking an extra doe for Georgia Hunter’s for the Hungry, each deer provides protein for over 100 meals.” To find a processor or sign up as one, visit GWF.org/ghfth/.
Safety reminder: The Wildlife Resources Division is reminding hunters of four basic firearms safety rules before the season begins, known by the acronym ACTT: always treat every firearm as if it is loaded; control the muzzle at all times; be certain of the target and what is in front of and beyond it; keep your finger outside the trigger guard until you are ready to shoot. These rules are taught in all hunter education courses. More information is at GeorgiaWildlife.com/hunting/huntereducation or by calling the Hunter Education office at (706) 557-3355.
Public land: Georgia’s Wildlife Management Areas offer nearly one million acres of public hunting land. Dates and details for specific areas are at GeorgiaWildlife.com/allwmas. Full deer hunting information, including maps and meat processors, is at GeorgiaWildlife.com/deer-info.
And in Colorado, we are seeing a similar war on wildlife play out with Amendment 83, which is on the ballot for voters to consider in November. The amendment seeks to enshrine a “right to hunt and fish” in the state’s constitution.
Hunting and fishing are already legal—so what’s the point of the amendment? The consequences of Amendment 83 go much further in undermining the public’s ability to protect animals from special interest groups who seek to bring back the cruelest hunting methods like trapping, bear hounding and baiting by undermining previous ballot measures that voters already passed.
And it raises that same fundamental question as President Trump’s recent executive order about hunting at the state level: Who gets to decide the future of wildlife?
Trophy hunters could undermine wild animal protections for generations to come
The public deserves to know what this so-called “right to hunt” amendment actually means.
Amendment 83 is dangerous proposal that could make it harder to protect wild animals from cruelty, and harder for Coloradoans to decide how wildlife is treated. Amendment 83 belongs to a much larger campaign to write hunting and trapping preferences into state constitutions. Its supporters include trophy hunting organization Safari Club International and the Wisconsin-based International Order of T. Roosevelt. The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation is also actively supporting Colorado’s measure.
In other words, national trophy hunting special interests are setting their scopes on Colorado to promote a measure that could give their desires to bag wild animals through the cruelest methods constitutional force for generations to come.
‘Traditional’ methods include cruel and archaic practices that voters themselves have prohibited
Amendment 83 does not define “traditional methods.” That is by design. That ambiguity matters when the national trophy hunting interests promoting this approach expressly include trapping and chasing down wildlife with packs of trailing hounds as their vision of preserving “tradition.”
Coloradoans have used ballot measures to pass important protections for wildlife, including banning bear baiting and hounding and banning cruel leghold and body-gripping traps and snares on public lands.
Make no mistake: These methods are the height of cruelty.
Amendment 14, passed by voters in 1996, banned public lands trapping, including steel-jawed leghold traps that can hold animals in agony. Body-gripping traps intended to kill animals quickly often mis-strike, instead inflicting painful injuries. Neck snares can strangle them.
Proponents of Amendment 83 would also roll back a measure passed by 70% of voters in 1992 that prohibited the killing of bears when cubs are still nursing and disallowed the hunting of bears with packs of hounds and over bait piles. Supporters of human-wildlife coexistence stress how important it is to not feed black bears—but baiting bears with piles of jelly donuts for an easier kill is a method proponents of Amendment 83 have expressly declared they want to bring back. They also want to restore bear hounding, using packs of hunting dogs to chase animals until they are cornered, leaving them terrified for a close-range shot. These are the kinds of practices that we and anyone who cares about protecting wildlife work to restrict; that vague constitutional language could make cruelty harder to regulate.
People could lose power to protect wildlife
Amendment 83 could make future ballot measures prohibitively difficult for citizens. That’s because a law approved by voters must comply with the state constitution. Giving hunting and undefined “traditional methods” special constitutional preference would create a new basis for challenging voter-approved restrictions. Even after people gather signatures, organize a campaign and win an election, their decision could face a lawsuit asserting that it violates the new amendment.
The amendment would not eliminate Colorado’s ballot initiative process, but it could weaken what voters could accomplish through it. This amendment could silence voters who want more protections for animals.
Elected officials at Colorado’s capitol and wildlife officials also face a new constitutional test: The amendment’s language also narrows their authority to create new laws by requiring that legislation must be deemed “necessary” for specified purposes, including preserving hunting and fishing opportunities. Disputes over what qualifies as necessary will likely be decided in court, which could discourage officials from pursuing reforms in the first place to avoid costly litigation.
Amendment 83 may also stifle wildlife policy from being informed by the most relevant research. For example, in July, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission adopted a proposal from Dr. Rebecca Niemiec, a conservation social scientist at Colorado State University, to replace unlimited recreational killing of 17 furbearer species (such as bobcats, foxes, beavers and other wildlife) with a daily limit of two animals per species per person. Her proposal brought the latest research on public attitudes into wildlife policymaking.
Considering scientific evidence alongside the public’s values is essential in shaping public policy. And it is yet another facet of wildlife protection that could be under threat if Amendment 83 passes. Under Amendment 83, opponents could argue that such recreational kill limits are not “necessary,” giving trophy hunters an additional constitutional basis to challenge animal protection policies.
Wildlife ‘management’ could default to a death sentence for animals
The most effective response to a wildlife conflict is preventing it from happening in the first place: securing food that attracts animals, protecting vulnerable areas or helping people coexist safely with wildlife.
The proposal also declares hunting and fishing the “preferred means” of managing fish and wildlife populations. That language would place a thumb on the scale before experts and communities have considered the circumstances. It also disenfranchises that majority who are wildlife watchers. In America, there are 10 times more wildlife watchers than hunters spending six times more money on this recreation, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service data.
The numbers of Americans participating in hunting has been in rapid decline nationwide over the last several decades. Only 4.6% of Americans hold a hunting license; in Colorado it’s 6.3%.
Conservation should protect functioning ecosystems and the animals who depend on them for our children and our children’s children. Writing a favored management method into the constitution could make that work harder for decades to come.
Colorado voters can still stop this
We have helped defeat similar efforts to cement the “right to hunt” and trap in eight different states in 2026 alone. We know the proponents behind Amendment 83 are eyeing new states as future targets.
We’re being told as summer approaches to do our bit to protect against bird flu.
Several birds and animals have died from H5 in the region in recent months.
DEECA says we should take extra steps in parks and around beaches to make sure we aren’t tracking diseases into the region.
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Published: Oct. 12, 2026 at 8:00 AM PDT|Updated: 6 hours ago
(SOUTH DAKOTA SEARCHLIGHT) – Reports of deer deaths from a viral disease have spiked as hunters take to the fields in South Dakota, and state wildlife officials are reducing some hunting opportunities and offering hunting-license refunds to protect deer numbers.
Epizootic hemorrhagic disease is a viral illness spread by tiny biting midges typically found along muddy shorelines. In South Dakota, the disease primarily impacts white-tailed deer, according to Game, Fish and Parks Senior Wildlife Biologist Byron Buckley.
“Because white-tailed deer generally inhabit the areas where these midges currently are,” he told the Game, Fish and Parks Commission on Thursday in Pierre.
Mule deer, bighorn sheep, elk and pronghorn can also be infected. The department says the disease usually affects deer herds in late summer or early fall. Warm conditions can extend the period when the insects are active, while a hard freeze generally kills them off, bringing a seasonal outbreak to an end.
Buckley said weather strongly influences outbreaks. This year’s outbreak started in July and continued as South Dakota experienced an unusually warm, dry September with some heavy rain.
Retired Game, Fish and Parks lead biologist George Vandel said those conditions — drier dry periods and wetter wet periods — can create the environment where midges thrive best: muddy areas that are sometimes covered by water and sometimes exposed to the air.
During the commission’s monthly meeting, Buckley said the department now has about 407 reports this year of dead deer due to the illness: 376 suspected cases and 31-lab-confirmed. During the commission’s Sept. 10-11 meeting, the count was 196, he said. Though he said it’s not unusual for a spike in reports to come in during that timeframe.
“So a lot of our reports have come from the month of October,” Buckley said. “Now, that could be because we are seeing the disease a lot more or that there’s just a lot more people on the landscape.”
Waterfowl, grouse, dove and archery deer hunting seasons all began in September.
The number of reported cases for 2026 is slightly higher than the total reported for all of 2025, according to the state’s EHD map, though Buckley described this year’s numbers as roughly comparable to the previous two years.
The state has taken several steps to limit deer hunting in outbreak-affected areas, aiming to give deer populations a better chance to recover. The department removed mentored and youth deer licenses in nine southeastern South Dakota counties where outbreaks have affected deer in the past two years. It also removed 62 unsold licenses, two in McPherson County and 60 in Dewey County. The state changed statewide archery license rules, which previously allowed hunters to take any deer, to buck-only licenses.
Buckley said the department is now offering a further option: Hunters holding deer licenses in 16 counties along the Missouri River corridor can voluntarily return their licenses for a full refund.
Wildlife Division Director Tom Kirschenmann said the department may add counties as more October reports arrive.
“We’re trying to be somewhat strategic about it, but we’re also trying to be proactive about where we offer this up,” Kirschenmann said.
The department asks people to report sick or dead deer via methods listed at gfp.sd.gov/contactus. Buckley said officials enter reports into a system that updates the department’s public online map.
