Updated on September 7, 2026. California deer seasons, tag quotas, and CWD sampling rules move by zone. Confirm them on the California Department of Fish and Wildlife deer hunting page and the 2026 deer seasons by zone PDF before you buy a tag or drive to a trailhead.
Pick the deer before you pick a zone.
If you want Columbian blacktails in brush, heat, and an over-the-counter tag, hunt the A and B zones and accept short shots, poison oak, and a July or August opener that feels like a different sport than November whitetails.
If you want migratory mule deer, sage, and glassing, apply for an X-zone tag in the April 15–June 2 draw and accept that you may wait years for a first-choice premium hunt.
I have hunted whitetails for 23 years, starting with my dad in southern Missouri when I was 12. I still split time between a 65-acre lease in Pike County, Illinois and public dirt in the Ozarks. California is the trip I take when I want a deer that is not a whitetail: a compact, dark-tailed coastal buck in manzanita, or a high-country mule deer that will not show until the first Sierra storm. An August morning on the Mendocino National Forest and an October sit above Bishop do not feel like the same hunt. Do not pack a Pike County bean-field plan into either one.
This page is the statewide trip plan. There is no live WorldDeer unit page for Mendocino, Shasta-Trinity, Klamath, or Inyo yet, so I am not inventing those URLs. The woods how-to for national forest hunting lives on hunting national forest land and the public land deer hunting hub. Destination pages sit under Places. If you are still choosing a state, start at deer hunting by state and the deer hunting hub. California sits next to three West Coast hunts we already cover: Oregon, Washington, and Nevada.
California deer hunting facts
| Item | What to know | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Species | Columbian black-tailed deer on the coast and northwest forests. Mule deer east of the Sierra crest, in the northeast, and on high Sierra summer range. No white-tailed deer hunt. | CDFW deer hunting |
| License year | July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027. Hunting license plus a zone-specific deer tag. Two deer tags maximum per hunter per year. Age 12+ for deer. | CDFW hunting license items and fees |
| 2026 cost band | Resident license $64.54, first deer tag $42.38, second deer tag $52.92. Nonresident license $225.46, each deer tag $377.35. Junior license $17.02. Non-reporting fee $21.60 if you skip the January 31 harvest report. | CDFW hunting license items and fees |
| 2025 harvest | Estimated 40,844 deer statewide from 306,462 tags issued (24.5% estimated hunter success). A Zone estimated success 34.2% on a 65,000-tag quota. Figures exclude landowner and PLM programs. | 2025 California deer harvest statistics |
| CWD | Detected in free-ranging mule deer in Inyo and Madera counties (first confirmed 2024). Mandatory sampling in zones D-7, X-9a, X-9b, and X-9c: lymph nodes or the head within 10 days. | CDFW CWD surveillance |
| Ammunition | Certified nonlead required statewide for all firearm hunting since July 1, 2019, public and private land. Carry the box or CDFW certification in the field. | CDFW nonlead ammunition |
| Pressure | Highest on the A Zone August rifle opener and easy national-forest two-tracks. Lowest on steep B-zone brush and on drawn X zones with small quotas. | Field notes plus CDFW quotas |
| Gateway towns | Ukiah, Weaverville, Redding, Quincy, Bishop, Bridgeport | Trip bases, not a motel dump |
Species: blacktail west, mule deer east
California is not a white-tailed deer state. Coastal and northwest forests hold Columbian black-tailed deer, a compact, brush-loving subspecies of mule deer. East of the Sierra crest and in the Modoc and Warner country, you hunt true mule deer that migrate between high summer range and lower winter range. The field marks, tails, and habitat split are on blacktail deer vs mule deer. In the transition country along the crest you will see intermediate deer. CDFW still tags you by zone, not by which subspecies walked in front of you.
A legal buck on a general zone tag is a forked-horn or better: a branched antler on either side, with the branch in the upper two-thirds. Eyeguards on the lower third do not count. That is Title 14 CCR §351, not a campfire rule. Spike bucks are not legal on those tags. Most California deer hunting is one buck per tag. Either-sex and antlerless opportunity lives in apprentice (J) hunts and a few additional (G) hunts, not as a statewide doe tag you grab at a gas station.
Elk in California are a separate, limited draw. Tule elk, Roosevelt elk, and Rocky Mountain elk are not a deer tag. If you came for elk, start at where elk live and the CDFW big-game drawing, not this page.
2026 season stub (confirm before you hunt)
I am not pasting the full proclamation. This is a 2026 stub, last checked September 7, 2026 against the approved 2026 deer seasons by zone. If this table and CDFW disagree, CDFW wins. Area-specific archery hunts (A-1, A-3, and the rest) and additional G/M/J hunts have their own calendars on the same deer page.
| Zone / hunt | 2026 archery | 2026 general | Tag quota | How you get it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A (South Unit 110 and North Unit 160) | July 11 – Aug. 2 | Aug. 8 – Sept. 20 | 65,000 | Unrestricted (OTC) |
| B-1, B-2, B-3, B-5 (B tag valid in any B zone) | Aug. 15 – Sept. 6 | Sept. 19 – Oct. 25 | 35,000 (group) | Unrestricted (OTC) |
| B-4 | July 25 – Aug. 16 | Aug. 22 – Sept. 27 | Same B-group quota | Unrestricted (OTC) |
| B-6 | Aug. 15 – Sept. 6 | Sept. 19 – Oct. 18 | Same B-group quota | Unrestricted (OTC) |
| C-1 through C-4 (C tag valid in any C zone, general only) | Hunt A-1 (separate archery tag) | Sept. 19 – Oct. 4 (C-4) through Oct. 25 (C-2, C-3) | 8,150 (group) | Premium (draw) |
| D-3, D-4, D-5 (shared tag) | Aug. 15 – Sept. 6 | Sept. 26 – Nov. 1 | 33,000 (group) | Unrestricted (OTC) |
| D-6 / D-7 | Aug. 15 – Sept. 6 | Sept. 19 – Nov. 1 | 10,000 / 9,000 | Unrestricted (OTC). D-7 is a CWD management zone. |
| D-8 / D-9 / D-10 | Aug. 15 – Sept. 6 | Sept. 26 – Oct. 25 | 8,000 / 2,000 / 700 | Unrestricted (OTC) |
| D-11 / D-13 / D-15 | Sept. 5 – Sept. 27 | Oct. 10 – Nov. 8 | 5,500 / 4,000 / 1,500 | Unrestricted (OTC). D-11 also valid in D-13 and D-15. |
| D-12 | Oct. 3 – Oct. 25 | Nov. 7 – Nov. 29 | 950 | Premium (draw) |
| D-14 / D-16 / D-17 / D-19 | Sept. 5 – Sept. 27 | Oct. 10 – Nov. 8 (D-14); Oct. 24 – Nov. 22 (D-16); Oct. 10 – Nov. 1 (D-17); Oct. 3 – Nov. 1 (D-19) | 3,000 / 3,000 / 500 / 1,500 | D-14 and D-17 are premium. D-16 and D-19 are unrestricted. |
| X-1 through X-7b | Separate A-hunt tags | Oct. 3 – Oct. 18 | 50 (X-5b) to 760 (X-1) | Premium (draw) |
| X-8 / X-10 | Separate A-hunt tags | Sept. 26 – Oct. 11 | 210 / 400 | Premium (draw) |
| X-9a / X-9b / X-12 | Separate A-hunt tags | Sept. 19 – Oct. 12 | 270 / 230 / 350 | Premium (draw). X-9a and X-9b are CWD management zones. |
| X-9c | Hunt A-18 | Oct. 17 – Nov. 8 | 325 | Premium (draw). CWD management zone. |
Legal shooting hours for big game are one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset (CCR Title 14 §352). Sunday hunting is legal. Hunter orange is recommended, not required, except on some sponsored or wildlife-area hunts — I still wear it on rifle openers because I have watched too many people hunt the same saddle.
OTC vs draw, and what it actually costs
California splits deer tags into unrestricted, restricted, and premium. The current split is on the 2026 deer tag classification list. Unrestricted tags — A, B, most D zones, and some archery-only hunts — go on sale April 15 over the counter. Premium tags — all X zones, C, D-12, D-14, D-17, and most G/M/A hunts — go through the big-game drawing. Applications open April 15 and the deadline is midnight June 2. Leftover premium tags, if any, go first-come on July 2 at 8:00 a.m.
Buy a hunting license first, then a first-deer tag or a first-deer tag drawing application. A first-deer tag is not a drawing application. The step-by-step cart — hunter education, residency, first-tag versus drawing application — is on how to get a California deer hunting license. If you want an X zone or a preference point, you must buy the drawing application, not the OTC tag. The preference-point-only code is PD. You earn one deer point if you are not drawn for your first-choice premium tag. You lose the entire deer point stack if you are drawn for that first choice. Party applications average points and do not split when the last tags will not cover the party. I have watched people blow a max-point year by adding a zero-point buddy at the last minute.
Residents pay the license plus $42.38 for the first tag. Nonresidents pay $225.46 plus $377.35 per tag. That is the real sticker, not the resident first-tag price forums quote. Second tags are $52.92 resident / $377.35 nonresident, with extra limits on which hunts they can fill. If you are coming from out of state, read planning an out-of-state deer hunt before you book a cabin around an X-zone opener. Hunter education is required for first-timers; other-state certificates count. Harvest reporting is mandatory by January 31 even if you never left the driveway. Miss it and you pay $21.60 the next year. Buy through CDFW online license sales or a license agent. I screenshot the seasons PDF. Paper fails in a wet pack, and California fire closures can kill a season after you have already paid. Check leftover inventory on the available deer tags list before you drive to a sold-out D-10.
CWD, baiting, Sundays, dogs, and lead
Chronic wasting disease is not a rumor here anymore. CDFW confirmed it in California mule deer in 2024, with detections in Inyo and Madera counties. Zones D-7, X-9a, X-9b, and X-9c are CWD management zones. If you kill a deer in those zones you must submit retropharyngeal lymph nodes or the head within 10 days — a sampling station, a participating processor or taxidermist, or a self-sample. Leave 4 to 6 inches of neck on the head. Results currently take about three weeks on the CWD results tool. If a deer looks sick, skinny, or oddly tame, use CWD deer symptoms and how to get your deer tested for CWD. Broader context is on deer diseases. After a hot Central Valley summer, dead deer in creeks can also be EHD.
Baiting is illegal. CCR Title 14 §257.5 bans taking game within 400 yards of bait, and §251.3 bans feeding big game. Cervid urine and other cervid biofluids are banned in California (CCR §714). I hunt here without corn and without a bottle of buck urine. Certified synthetic lures only, or skip them. Importing an out-of-state carcass is “no brain, no backbone”: boned meat, cleaned skull plates, hides, and finished mounts. Declare game at the border. Details sit on the same CWD page.
Dogs are not a California deer method the way they are in the South. Dogs are prohibited during archery deer season, and during the general season you get one dog per hunter in open deer country, with extra closures in dog-control zones from April until the general opener (CCR §265). I leave the dog in the cabin. Sunday hunting is legal, unlike the old Pennsylvania patchwork. Certified nonlead is the gear rule that actually changes a Midwest hunter’s pack. I burned a box of cheap copper that was not on the CDFW certified list and had to reshoot the rifle with ammo that was. Check the certified nonlead list before you leave home, then zero with that load.
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Amazon is a starting point. California wildlife officers can inspect ammo in the field. If it is not certified, it does not count.
Public land that actually matters
California has a lot of green on the map and a lot of locked gates inside it. The useful question is which national forests and BLM blocks match the deer you tagged for. Inholdings are common. The white squares on a Forest Service visitor map are private. I have walked a mile on what I thought was forest and hit a posted ranch. The how-to for this kind of hunting is on hunting national forest land. Destination pages live under Places. There is no live Mendocino or Inyo unit URL on this site yet, so use the forest maps and this statewide page.
- Mendocino National Forest — A-zone and B-zone blacktail. Brush, oak woodland, and steep creek canyons. Almost all forest land is open; the State Game Refuge on the Stonyford/Upper Lake line and the Red Bluff Recreation Area are not. Covelo and Upper Lake are the district towns. Hunt 400 to 900 yards off the easy ridge road, last 200 yards in shade.
- Shasta-Trinity National Forest — B and C country around Weaverville, Hayfork, and the Trinity Alps edge. Campfire permits are required year-round. Check current conditions before you trust a two-track after a fire year.
- Klamath and Six Rivers National Forests — northwest blacktail, steep and timbered. Yreka and Orleans are the services. No dedicated WorldDeer page is live, so I am not inventing one. Use a Forest Service motor-vehicle use map.
- Lassen, Plumas, and Tahoe National Forests — C and D-zone mix, mule deer and blacktail transition. Quincy and Susanville are the bases. Early storms move deer off the high benches.
- Sierra and Sequoia National Forests — D-3 through D-7 west slope. D-7 is a CWD management zone around the Madera/Mariposa/Fresno country. National parks inside these forests are closed to hunting. Do not walk a deer tag into Yosemite or Sequoia-Kings Canyon.
- Inyo National Forest — eastside X zones and high-country mule deer. Bishop and Bridgeport are the towns. Glass, do not still-hunt sage. X-9a/b/c tags come with mandatory CWD sampling.
- Modoc and BLM northeast — X-1 through X-5b sage and juniper. Small quotas, draw tags, long glassing. Surprise Valley and Alturas are the services. This is Nevada-adjacent mule deer, not coastal brush.
- Los Padres National Forest — southern A-zone and D-13/D-14 country. Hot, steep, and a long way from the blacktail forests people picture. Ventana country has its own additional hunt (G-21) if you drew it.
SHARE and Private Lands Management tags exist for people who want a private-land add-on. They are not a substitute for a zone tag on national forest. If Mendocino is slammed on the A-zone rifle opener, I do not invent a secret forest. I hunt a nastier drainage on the same forest, or I wait for the first fall rain in a B zone. Oregon’s Cascades blacktail hunt on the Oregon state page and Nevada’s mule-deer units on the Nevada state page are sibling trips if you are building a multi-state year. They are not a same-weekend backup from Ukiah. Arizona Coues country is the other desert-mule comparison, not a California plan.
One tactic that works on both sides of the crest
I do not still-hunt pretty timber all day and hope. I pick one morning sit tight to bedding and one evening sit on a travel edge, and I only sit there if I can explain why a deer would walk it at first light. Fresh tracks and wet-looking droppings beat last year’s rubs. When I time movement I check deer feeding times, then I let the zone change the food: oak mast and browse on the coast, bitterbrush and aspen on the eastside.
A and B zones: hunt the shaded north slope and the last green creek finger other people skip. August rifle in the A Zone is a heat hunt. Deer feed in the open for minutes, then they vanish into manzanita. I still-hunt the shade between 9 and 11 only if the wind is steady and the ground is quiet. After the first real rain in the B zones, I hunt all day because the woods finally go quiet and deer get on their feet. Eastside X zones: glass from a high point at first light, pick a deer, and plan a stalk that keeps the thermal in your face. Do not march into the basin you just silhouetted. Wind is not optional. I pick setups where a bad swirl dumps into a canyon or dead space, not into the bed — same lesson as do deer move in the wind, just drier and steeper.
I wasted money on $400 ozone scent control that made zero difference in California brush. Cover swallows a bad hit, so I decide max range before I climb. Bow in timber: 30 yards unless the lane is wide and the deer is calm. Eastside rifle: a backstop and a “no farther than that rock” line, even when the buck is at 280. Refresh shot placement and the after the shot hub before you leave the cabin. I gut-shot a doe in 2007, pushed her too early, and never found her. California brush will hide a wounded blacktail even better than Ozark oak.
For eastside glassing I carry 10×42 binoculars I can actually hold steady, not a $40 gas-station pair. A lightweight spotting scope earns its weight on X-1 and X-9. On the coast I leave the spotter in the truck and spend the weight on water and a snake-gaiter habit.
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Pressure: the A Zone opener is a holiday
California’s A Zone general season is a cultural event in the north-coast and Sierra-foothill towns. Every ridge road with a pull-off will have a truck in it on August 8, 2026. That is not a reason to stay home. It is a reason to hunt like public land: hunters cluster near roads, peak on opening weekend, and quit when the walk gets steep or the poison oak gets thick. I hunt the opener 400 to 900 yards off easy access, I hunt Tuesday through Thursday if I can take the days, and I hunt the first storm in a B zone when the A Zone crowd has gone back to work. I do not rattle all day on a pressured A-zone saddle in 90-degree weather.
Drawn X zones are the opposite problem: fewer hunters, fewer deer in any one basin, and a short season. Opening morning on X-1 still has glassing competition on the obvious points. The hunters who fill those tags got there two days early, slept on the mountain, and already knew which pocket the deer used after the last storm. Fire closures can wipe a season. CDFW does not refund resident deer tags for fire. Watch CDFW closures and the forest alerts page for the unit you tagged. If 66% or more of a premium hunt is closed by wildfire, there is a post-season point-reinstatement path — unfilled tag back to Sacramento by February 28. That is not a vacation plan. That is a last resort.
Where to stay, and why the town matters
Pick a base for the side of the state you actually tagged. Drive time to the parking area, a grocery that is open after dark, ice, and a processor who will take a CWD-zone deer matters more than a pretty lobby. Cabins and motels both work. Hunters do not all want hotels. I want late checkout on opening morning, a place I can hang wet brush clothes, and a kitchen so I am not hunting for a 4 a.m. diner in Covelo.
Ukiah, CA — A-zone north and Mendocino foothills. Grocery, rooms, and Highway 101 access without committing to a dead-end forest road the night before the opener.
Weaverville, CA — Trinity country and Shasta-Trinity interior. Closer to the two-tracks. Cook in the cabin. Check fire restrictions before you plan a campfire breakfast.
Redding, CA — north-interior services, airport, and a real grocery if Weaverville is full. Longer drive to the far west woods, shorter drive to I-5 if the hunt falls apart.
Quincy, CA — Plumas and the C/D transition. Cooler nights than the Sacramento Valley. Opening-weekend motels fill.
Bishop, CA — Inyo, X-9, and the CWD sampling reality. Processors and taxidermists here already know the head-and-lymph-node drill. Eastside mule deer, not coastal brush.
Bridgeport, CA — northern eastside X zones and high-country access off 395. Quieter than Bishop. Buy ice and fuel the night before. The next grocery north is a long way in the dark.
Processors, ice, and getting a deer out
Call a processor before you shoot, especially for the A-zone opener and for any D-7 or X-9 deer. Ask two questions: are you taking CWD-zone deer, and when can I actually pick up meat. If they say “call us after you kill one,” keep calling down the list. In a CWD management zone, plan the sampling station on the same drive as the processor. Do not bone out the neck until the lymph nodes are out.
I process my own deer in the garage when I can, taught by my uncle who was a butcher. On a California road trip I still want a backup shop, a cooler plan, and a way to keep meat cold in August. Ice is a town problem — buy it the night before in Ukiah or Bishop, not at a forest store that closed at 6. A coastal drag through manzanita can be 600 yards of pain. A cheap plastic sled in the truck, about $40, has hauled more deer for me than any boutique pack frame.
Tag it, then report it. How to tag a deer is the mechanics; California still wants the tag punched and the harvest in by January 31. Keep the portion of the head that bears the antlers for 15 days after the season (Fish and Game Code §4302). Field work is how to field dress a deer. Blacktails run lighter than corn-fed Illinois deer, so I size coolers with how much meat from a deer. If you hit a deer on 101 or 395 on the drive in, that is a different problem — use what to do if you hit a deer and the safety hub, not a hunting tag.
Wildlife of this hunt, and the weather-dies plan
Black bears live on most of the forests in this guide. They are a separate tag, a separate season, and a reason I hang meat and trash like I am in bear country, because I am. ID notes are on black bear vs grizzly — California is black bear, not grizzly. Mountain lions are here too; I do not hunt them, and I do not leave a gut pile next to the tent. If the weather dies or a fire closure kills the morning, I hike a named trail on the same forest, eat in town, and hunt the evening sit. I do not invent a second “things to do” URL.
Bay Area and foothill readers who found this page because a buck is eating the yard should leave the rifle in the safe and start at how to keep deer out of the garden and do deer eat hostas. A-zone south is suburban deer country as much as it is a hunt. Species background sits on the deer species hub.
FAQ
Do I need a draw tag to hunt deer in California?
No, not for A, B, and most D zones. Those unrestricted tags go on sale April 15. C zones, all X zones, D-12, D-14, D-17, and most additional hunts are premium and go through the June 2 drawing. Confirm the current split on the deer tag classification list.
When does deer season start in California?
The earliest 2026 date is A Zone archery on July 11. A Zone general rifle is Aug. 8 – Sept. 20. B, C, D, and X seasons stack through late November. There is no single statewide opener. Last checked September 7, 2026 on the seasons-by-zone PDF.
Can I bait deer in California?
No. Baiting and feeding big game are illegal. Cervid urine lures are illegal. I hunt without both.
Where should a first-timer go?
Buy an A or B Zone unrestricted tag, hunt Mendocino or Shasta-Trinity on a weekday, and take a legal forked-horn if one gives you a clean shot inside your range. If you want a mule-deer glassing trip, apply for an X zone and have an OTC backup. Do not spend a first California hunt waiting on a 50-tag X-5b.
Is lead ammo legal if I am on private land?
No. Certified nonlead has been required for all firearm hunting statewide, public and private, since July 1, 2019. Check the CDFW nonlead page.
What about CWD and eating the deer?
Have it tested if you are in D-7, X-9a, X-9b, or X-9c, and do not eat a sick-looking animal. CDFW recommends waiting for a negative result before you eat meat from a known CWD area. Testing is on get your deer tested; symptoms are on CWD deer symptoms. Sundays are legal. Wear orange anyway.
Official regs, then go hunt
Primary source: CDFW deer hunting. 2026 seasons: seasons by zone PDF. Fees: license items and fees. Drawing: big game tags and the Big Game Hunting Digest. CWD: CDFW CWD. Nonlead: nonlead ammunition. Closures: CDFW closures. Harvest: 2025 harvest statistics. Forest hunting: Mendocino, Inyo.
I am not a guide. I am a public-land hunter who has eaten tag soup on more than one side of the Sierra. If you pick the deer on purpose, hunt fresh sign off the easy access, pack certified nonlead, and stay near a grocery and a processor, California will give you a shot. When it does, slow down, make it count, and enjoy the drag.
Updated on September 7, 2026.
