BATON ROUGE — It's almost open season in Louisiana, as the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries announced the opening dates for the 2025-2026 deer hunting season on Monday. 

Archery season will open as soon as Saturday, Sept. 20 in Deer Areas 3, 7, 8 and 10. These areas mainly include southwest Louisiana. In the rest of the state, other deer areas will begin to open on Oct. 1. Click here to see when the season will begin in your area. 

All deer hunters in Louisiana are required to have a basic hunting license and a deer license. Hunters 17 years old or younger need a youth hunting license. Hunting licenses can be bought online here.

LDWF also requires all deer hunters to get deer tags and have them on their person while hunting. As soon as a deer is harvested, the hunter is required to tag it before moving it from where it was killed. Tags need to be validated and required information must be recorded within 72 hours of a harvest. Tags can be validated through text-to-tag, the LDWF web portal or LA Wallet by calling the validation toll-free number. Hunters can get deer tags and validate them online here.