COLUMBUS – The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife is announcing the beginning of Ohio’s white-tailed deer archery hunting season set for Saturday, Sept. 26.
The long-running season is open until Sunday, Feb. 7, 2027.
Hunters may use crossbows, compound bows, recurve bows, and longbows to pursue deer during the archery season. Deer are Ohio’s most sought-after wild game animal and an important food source for families in the Buckeye State.
A deer provides up to 200 servings of high-quality, healthy protein.
October and November are the most popular months for bowhunting because of increased deer activity during their breeding season. Follow along as Ohio’s deer season harvest totals are posted every Wednesday at wildohio.gov.
Bowhunting in Ohio is one of the most popular ways to hunt. Out of 232,142 deer taken during the 2025-26 seasons, 107,738 (46%) were taken with a bow. New this year, a discounted deer permit package is available to resident hunters.
This package contains two permits at a discounted price of $43.89 for Ohio residents 18 to 64 years of age at the time of purchase and may be used to hunt antlered and antlerless deer.
Ohio has additional deer hunting options to accompany the statewide archery season. The two-day youth gun season is Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 21 and 22. The statewide seven-day gun season is open from Monday, Nov. 30 to Sunday, Dec. 6. An additional two-day gun season for all hunters is Dec. 19 and 20, followed by late-season muzzleloader hunting Jan. 2 to 5, 2027.
Hunters are required to have a valid hunting license and deer permit before heading into the field. The deer management permit is valid for antlerless deer only. Either-sex permits may be used to harvest antlered or antlerless deer.
Both permits are available throughout the hunting season, until Feb. 7, 2027. Find more details in the 2026-27 Hunting and Trapping Regulations.
Hunting licenses and deer permits may be purchased on the free HuntFish OH mobile app. App users can also view maps of public hunting areas, see the current hunting regulations, view sunrise and sunset times, and check game without a cellular connection.
The app is available for Android and iOS users in the app store. Licenses and permits may also be purchased online through Ohio’s Wildlife Licensing System at huntfishoh.gov or at any license sales agent.
Through license and permit sales, hunters fund much of Ohio’s conservation work. Those funds, combined with sales taxes on hunting equipment administered to the Division of Wildlife, make possible Ohio’s wildlife research, wildlife management, habitat restoration, land acquisition, and wildlife education work.
Ohio hunters generated $1.9 billion in economic spending in 2022 and supported 12,000 jobs, according to a report released by the Wildlife Management Institute, Responsive Management, and Southwick Associates.
The research found that 5 percent of Ohio’s adults, about 500,000 individuals, participate in hunting, with 91 percent of those hunters taking part in deer hunting. Each hunter spent an average of $3,500. Firearms were used by 83 percent of hunters, a bow by 72 percent, and many used both.