Hunting hours
Hunting hours begin ½ hour before sunrise and end ½ hour after sunset. Click here for a sunrise/sunset table.
Required licenses, permits, and stamps
To hunt white-tailed deer in Massachusetts you must have the appropriate license, permits, and stamps which you can buy through MassFishHunt.
Licenses:
- Massachusetts residents: Hunting or Sporting License (Includes 2 antlered deer tags valid statewide)
- Non-residents: Non-Resident Big Game Hunting License (Includes 2 antlered deer tags, valid statewide)
- Youth aged 15–17: Resident Minor Hunting license or Non-Resident Big Game License. Learn more about minor licenses.
- Youth aged 12–14: Do not need a hunting license or stamps but must be accompanied by appropriately licensed adult hunter. Learn more about minor licenses.
Stamps:
- Archery Stamp to hunt the archery season
- Primitive Firearms Stamp to hunt the primitive firearms season
- No stamp required for the shotgun season, winter deer season, or early deer season
Permits:
- An Antlerless Deer Permit is required for hunting any deer without antlers or antlers less than 3 inches in length. Hunters may take as many antlerless deer as they have valid antlerless deer permits for the specified permitted zones.
- A free Youth Deer Hunt permit is needed to hunt deer during the Youth Deer Hunt and may also be used during any open deer season. Additional antlered or antlerless deer may be taken with valid antlered tags or antlerless deer permits for the specified permitted zones. Available to hunters aged 12-17.
- The free Winter Deer Permit (zones 13/14) allows for 1 additional deer of either sex to be used only during the Winter Deer Season in zones 13 and 14. Additional antlered or antlerless deer may be taken with valid antlered tags or antlerless deer permits. (The winter deer permit is free, but must be added to your account in order to use it.)
Bag and possession limits
Bag limit:
- Antlered deer (any deer with at least one antler 3 inches or longer): Hunters may take 2 antlered deer in any zone using tags included with sporting, hunting, and non-resident big game licenses annually. The Youth Deer Hunt permit, winter deer permit, and the either-sex donation replacement permit allow for the take of additional antlered deer with restrictions.
- Antlerless deer (any deer without antlers or antlers less than 3 inches in length): Hunters may take as many antlerless deer annually as they have valid antlerless deer permits for the specified permitted zones.
Possession limit:
- Hunters may possess as many deer as they have valid tags and permits for.
Hunting implements
| Implement | Archery season* | Shotgun season | Primitive Firearms season* | Early season (zones 13, 14) | Winter season (zones 9, 10, 11, 13, 14) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shotgun | X | ||||
| Archery | X | X | X | X | X |
| Muzzleloader | X | X | X | X |
*Stamps are required to hunt during these seasons.
Archery: Archery equipment may be used during all deer hunting seasons. All bows, (recurve, long, and compound) except permitted crossbows, must have a draw weight of at least 40 lbs at 28 inches or at peak draw. Crossbows may be used only by hunters with a crossbow permit. Arrows must have well-sharpened steel broadhead blades not less than 7/8 inches in width. Expanding broadheads and handheld releases are permitted. Poisoned arrows, explosive tips, airbows and bows drawn by mechanical means are prohibited.
Shotgun: No larger than 10 gauge. May only be used during the shotgun deer season. Rifled barrel shotguns are legal.
Primitive firearms: Shoulder-fired muzzleloaders .44 caliber to .775 caliber; barrel length 18 inches or more with only one barrel operational. Inline ignition systems are permitted providing the firearm loads from the muzzle. Single projectile only (no buckshot). Sabot rounds, 209 primers, break/hinge-action muzzleloaders, and scopes are permitted. Powder limited to black powder or black powder substitutes. A muzzleloader is considered unloaded when cap or pan powder is removed. Encapsulated propellent muzzleloader rounds (like FireStick™) are not permitted for deer hunting.
Prohibited: Possession or use of rifles and handguns in any woodland or field, or use on any game during any season when deer may be hunted with a shotgun.
Blaze orange requirements
All deer hunters, regardless of the hunting implement in use must wear blaze orange during the following seasons or Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs):
- Archery Season: A blaze orange hat is required when hunting on WMAs stocked with pheasant and/or quail during the pheasant and quail season.
- Youth Deer Hunt, Shotgun Season, Primitive Firearms Season, Winter Deer Season, and Early Deer Season: 500 square inches of blaze orange on the chest, back, and head
NOTE: If using a blind during a season or on a WMA with a blaze orange requirement, all deer hunters must wear the required amount of orange while in the blind. MassWildlife recommends that blaze orange be visible on the outside of the blind.
Hunting methods
Legal:
- Use of non-food related scents, deer antlers or replicas, or grunt tubes are permitted.
- It is legal to drive (attempt to move deer in a coordinated effort) deer while hunting.
- Decoys during the archery only season.
Prohibited:
- Rifles and handguns, electronic calls, and dogs are prohibited.
- Decoys are prohibited during the Youth, Shotgun, Primitive Firearms, Winter Deer, and Early Deer hunting seasons.
- Baiting: Any natural or artificial substance, including but not limited to corn, wheat or other grains, hay, silage, apples or other fruits or vegetables, and salt or other chemical compounds of a like food-related nature to attract or entice deer. Baiting is defined as the deliberate placing, depositing, distributing, or scattering of bait so as to constitute for deer a lure, attraction, or enticement to or on any area where hunters are attempting to take them. A baited area is any area where baiting has taken place. Such area shall be considered a baited area for the period from 10 days prior to the opening of the archery season to the day following the close of the primitive firearms season. Food sources deposited by natural vegetation, from agricultural or gardening practices, or standing crops planted and left as wildlife food plots do not constitute baiting. NOTE: During the Youth Deer Hunt, it is prohibited to hunt deer in any area where baiting has occurred up to 10 days prior to the Youth Deer Hunt.
- Wanton waste prohibited: It is unlawful for hunters to intentionally or knowingly leave a wounded or dead game animal in the field or the forest without making a reasonable effort to retrieve and use it. Each retrieved animal shall be retained or transferred to another until processed or used for food, pelt, feathers, or taxidermy. This does not apply to animals unfit for consumption or use—animals and their parts that are damaged, destroyed, decayed, rotting, diseased, or infected.
Tagging, transporting, and reporting requirements
- Tagging: Upon killing a deer, hunters must immediately fill out and attach the paper tag from the permit or license on the carcass. The deer must remain intact (other than field dressing), with the harvest tag attached until it is reported.
- Reporting: Deer must be reported online through MassFishHunt or at an official game check station within 48 hours of harvest. If reporting online, a confirmation number will be issued. The number must be written on the harvest tag and attached to the carcass. Learn more about harvest reporting.
- All deer taken during the first week of shotgun season must be brought to a physical check station so that MassWildlife staff can collect biological data. Use MassWildlife's check station map to find locations that are open this fall.
- Once reported, harvest tag with confirmation number or the metal seal from the official game check station must remain attached to the carcass until prepared for food, taxidermy or other uses.
- Prohibited: Importation of harvested members of the deer family (white-tailed deer, elk, moose, etc.) from any state outside of New England (CT, NH, ME, RI, VT) that have not been deboned. Cleaned skullcaps, hides without the head, and fixed taxidermy mounts may be imported.Get more information about CWD.
New Winter Deer Season
Starting December 1, 2026, hunters can purchase the following to hunt the 2027 winter deer season:
- 2027 Hunting/Sporting License: Includes 2 antlered tags. Valid through Dec. 31, 2027.
- 2027 Antlerless Deer Permits: You can buy 1 ADP for zone 9 and unlimited ADPs for zones 10, 11, 13, and 14. Valid through Dec. 31, 2027.
- Free Winter Deer Permit (zone 13/14): Can be used to harvest 1 additional deer of either sex during the Winter Deer Season in zones 13 and 14 only. Valid Jan. 1–Feb. 13, 2027.
Licensed hunters may use archery equipment or primitive firearms during the winter deer season; no archery or primitive stamps are needed. All hunters must wear 500 square inches of blaze orange on their head, chest and back during the winter deer season regardless of hunting implement used.
2027 Winter Season dates:
Zones 9,10,11: Jan. 1–30, 2027
Zones 13 and 14: Jan. 1–Feb. 13, 2027
More about deer hunting regulations
This page is to be used as a reference, it is not the complete law and is subject to change. Refer to the Deer Hunting regulations in the Code of Massachusetts Regulations, 321 CMR 3.02(4), as well as to several provisions of the Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 131 for more information about deer hunting laws and regulations.
Hunting season framework
- Hunting is prohibited on Sundays.
- Winter Deer Season (zones 9, 10, and 11): January 1 through January 31.
- Winter Deer Season (zones 13 and 14): January 1 through February 14.
- Early Deer Season: Beginning the second Monday before the Youth Deer Hunt and end on the Thursday before the Youth Deer Hunt in Wildlife Management Zones 13 and 14 only.
- Youth Deer Hunt: On the fourth Friday and subsequent Saturday following Labor Day.
- Paraplegic Hunt: The Thursday through Saturday following the last Monday in October.
- Archery Season: Beginning on the eighth Monday prior to Thanksgiving and ending on the first Saturday after Thanksgiving.
- Shotgun Season: Beginning the first Monday after Thanksgiving and ending the second Saturday thereafter.
- Primitive Firearms Season: Beginning the third Monday after Thanksgiving and ending on December 31.