Updated on September 7, 2026.
Every state (and the three provinces we cover) sells deer tags differently. Some are over the counter the week before you drive. Some are a draw you should have entered last spring. This hub is the map of those how-tos. Buy the tag on the official agency site. Use the state hunting guide for where to sit once you have it.
Start with the national walkthrough: how to get a hunting license (hunter education, resident vs nonresident, what a deer tag actually is). Then open the state page for the rules that change the trip.
Get licensed by state
Each link is a child of this page, so the URL reads /deer-hunting/licenses/{state}-deer-license/. That is the page for “how do I buy a tag in this state,” not a second copy of the hunting guide.
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Ontario
- Alberta
- Saskatchewan
What changes between states
Hunter education cutoffs, whether Sunday is legal, whether baiting is legal, and whether a nonresident can buy a deer tag over the counter are the four questions that wreck a trip if you guess. Each license page answers those from the official agency site and then sends you to the state hunting guide for seasons, public land, and where to stay.
If you already have the tag and need a woods that is not the famous one, start at where to hunt.
Parent: deer hunting.