New Rules for Indiana Deer Hunting Season 2025
Indiana’s 2025 firearm deer hunting season is right around the corner, and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) wants hunters to be ready for a few important changes.
According to state deer biologist Joe Caudell, the updates are meant to make things easier for everyone. “For a lot of new hunters or people moving from other states, our rules were confusing,” he said. “These changes should help clear things up.”
One of the biggest updates is the switch to a county bag limit system. That means instead of using bonus tags, the number listed for your county is now the total number of antlerless deer you can take there. Across the state, the limit is six antlerless deer and one antlered deer, except in Deer Reduction Zones and during youth season.
There are some other rule changes too:
- You can now use a crossbow with an archery license.
- The bundle license allows one antlered and two antlerless deer.
- Rifles with bullets .219 inches (5.56 mm) or larger are now legal on public and private land.
- Drones can be used to find a harvested deer, but not to hunt.
- Portable blinds and tree stands can go up on DNR land from Sept. 1 to Feb. 8.
Here are the 2025–2026 season dates:
- Reduction Zone: Sept. 15, 2025 – Jan. 31, 2026
- Youth: Sept. 27–28, 2025
- Archery: Oct. 1, 2025 – Jan. 4, 2026
- Firearm: Nov. 15–30, 2025
- Muzzleloader: Dec. 6–21, 2025
Don’t forget — you have 48 hours to report your harvest online at GoOutdoorsIN.com, by phone, or at a check station. And don’t dump carcasses in streams or fields. It’s illegal. Instead, bag them up and put them in the trash for proper disposal.
