“New Year” means a different date to different people. Some cultures set it on an arbitrary day, others tie it to a solar cycle (e.g. the solstice or the equinox), others yet again have the New Year as a movable feast tied to a moon cycle. For most hunters, the year begins on the opening day, and it’s safe to say that the American Hunter’s Year begins right about this time – in mid-August. 

For conservation reasons most game species get a rest from hunters’ pressure from late spring to late summer, when they are with the young and thus vulnerable. And in North America the first big event that breaks this pause is the archery pronghorn season. The world’s second fastest land mammal species has the rut in August, and attracts hundreds of hunters as it’s a kind of a kickoff to hunting in the West. And some states begin to open archery seasons for mule, white-tailed, and black-tailed deer.

The Year of the Deer

Deer hunting and deer hunters have a separate calendar. For a dedicated white-tailed deer hunter who has access to a bit of private land, the season doesn’t actually ever stop. Setting up and checking trail camps, creating food plots (where legal), scouting and setting up tree stands is an activity that takes all spring and summer, until the season actually begins. 

The first deer seasons open in the middle to end of August, in many of the states in the West and Southwest – Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, Idaho and California being some of the earliest openers. In many Deep South, Eastern, and Midwestern states deer hunters have to wait longer for the opening day, sometimes well into October, but by the end of September most states have opened the archery seasons. 

Those who are not into bows and arrows will have to wait another four to eight weeks before the general season opens. This season usually correlates with the population density in the given states. In the wide open spaces of the West the rifle season may start as early as mid-September and last for a good while, while in the densely populated Eastern and Midwestern states it can be as short as about ten days around Thanksgiving. 

The highest peak of the deer season is the rut. The deer rut is an interesting and complicated phenomenon, and what hunters describe as the rut may take place as early as August or as late as December. But the latest findings of biologists suggest, that the time when most does come into estrus is rather constant and happens in the first ten days of November in most areas. That’s when most Eastern and Midwestern hunts have their general seasons. 

Autumn: The Golden Time

Poets like to call autumn “golden”, because of the color of the leaves on the trees, but for a hunter this is truly the golden time. September is when hunting begins in earnest, for bird and big game hunting alike. September 1 is the opening day of the dove seasons in many states, followed by early Canada geese seasons as well as seasons for local duck species such as teal. 

September also sees one of the greatest highlights of North American hunting year: the bugle of the elk. Although in some places, especially on particularly cold years, you can hear the call of the mountain monarchs as early as August, and on warmer years it could go on into early November, it’s the second part of September when the rutting activity typically peaks in most locations. To give hunters an even more hair-stand-on-the-back-of-the-neck experience, most states schedule archery seasons to coincide with the elk rut. 

If a dedicated hunter needed to select only one month in a year, when they would concentrate on hunting and nothing else, and not hunt for the remaining eleven months, that would have to be October. The peak of the autumn is the time when hunting is everything altogether at once, from the waterfowl migration that begins in the northern states to trips to fall black bear seasons to Alaska’s wilderness after moose and brown bears.

The rutting activity for the biggest extant species of deer, the moose, may begin at late September, but peaks at late October, and it’s perhaps the best month to undertake a moose hunting trip to Canada. There are rifle seasons for elk open in most states, and with luck you may see some bugling activity. Mountain goat and wild sheep hunting seasons typically run long, from September to November and sometimes beyond that, but it’s October that usually has the best conditions for hunting.

Early November sees the peak of the whitetail deer rutting activity, an event that many hunters’ lives revolve around. After that the hunting season begins to slow down, but there are still lots of things to do. Many rifle big game hunting seasons are still open, and waterfowl migration reaches its peak across most of the American fly zones.

Winter: No Lull at All

Decreasing temperatures may slow things down a bit, but winter continues to offer exciting opportunities to a hunter, especially if he or she is willing to travel beyond their home state.

It may be too cold to spend hours on the tree stand, but late deer seasons, that many states have, can offer alternative methods to hunt deer, such as still hunting, tracking in the snow, or organizing in small teams for driven hunts. Here and there over the West a bison or javelina season can be open, and there are many opportunities to experience mountain-man-style adventures and fill the freezers in the course of a cow elk hunt. And moving a bit south, winter is the time for sheep hunting in Mexico. 

Although the best times for such upland birds as pheasant, Hungarian partridge, and chukar may lie earlier in the fall, upland bird hunting seasons in many states continue well into January, February, and even March. And for many quail hunters in the Southern states like Texas or Alabama it’s exactly the winter time, December to February, that are the best times to pursue the tiny, elusive, and exciting “Gentleman Bob”. Not to mention that for waterfowl hunting on the wintering stations winter is the prime time to hunt. 

If you couldn’t lay down adventure books about trappers as a child, winter is your chance to see how it felt on the trap line, with many outfitters taking paying clients – and some offering wolf hunts as well. And if you’re after action and large felines, winter is the best time for hunting mountain lion over hounds. This hunt requires snow, and many outfitters arrange it with hunters so that the hunter books a hunt, and then waits for the outfitter’s call that the conditions are right and the hunter can come over and pursue the puma.

Spring: Birds and Bears 

Almost without interruption, winter seasons change into spring seasons. That starts with the waterfowl season known as the “Light Geese Conservation Order”. The reason behind this season is overpopulation of some goose species, which is threatening the tundra environments where they breed. Starting in February in the south and continuing to April in the northern ranges, this season allows the use of electronic calls, unlimited magazine capacity, and attracts a lot of hunters every year. 

Turkey season comes shortly thereafter, starting in March for the Osceola turkey in Florida, and on until June in the northwest of the all-American-bird’s range. Game managers usually plan the season to start after the peak of the reproduction cycle, to get the toms a chance to breed with the hens, and thus avoid a population collapse.

As for big game, spring brings us the bears. The brown bear season in Alaska is open from April to May or early June. The black bear season in Alaska runs the whole year, but the meat taken in certain periods must be salvaged. Several states in the USA and Canadian provinces have spring black bear seasons, running typically from April to June, especially in the West, where hunters have an option to hunt bears also by the spot-and-stalk method, and in some states even run hounds after them.

All Year Round 

A hunter’s year is never really close. Various invasive species can be taken all year round, even outside regular hunting seasons. So, for example, you can hunt the Eurasian collared dove in Arizona on every day of the year, with unlimited bag and possession limits. Wild hogs, Axis deer, and numerous other exotic big game species give a hunter something to do at any given date. 

But hunting is a lot more than the pursuit of the animals. Scouting, various forms of preparation, checking and updating your gear, getting new rifles, shotguns, and bows, sighting them in and practicing shooting with them – there is alway something to do. And, last but not the least, there is planning your next adventure. Hundreds of hunters say that BookYourHunt.com is the best tool ever to find your next hunt – check out our search capabilities and see for yourself! 

Moose Hunting: A Case for Canada

Moose hunting ranks high on the “dream hunts” lists, especially for Americans. The biggest extant deer species in the world, with its monstrous size and striking appearance is a worthy quarry, that you can’t find just in any backyard. For most hunters in the US, as well as Western Europe, to say nothing of Asia and Africa, a moose hunt must involve travel to another state or country. For many, it’s Canada. CONTINUE READING