47 deadlines · 15 states · 2026-27
When are the hunting draw deadlines?
Western hunting draw dates are the ones you plan a year around — Colorado’s big-game primary draw shuts in early April and Montana’s deer and elk permits on April 1, both of them months before either season opens. Here is every draw and application deadline this site holds, in one list, earliest first, with the state it belongs to and the agency page it was read from.
Closing next
The deadlines still open, in the order they shut. Each one is read on its own state’s calendar, so these are not all counting down the same day.
The calendar, deadline by deadline
Every deadline in date order, month by month. A greyed row has already shut — it stays here because it is the date to plan next year around. Tap a state for its own draw page, or the deadline itself for the agency page behind it.
January 2026 1 deadline
February 2026 2 deadlines
April 2026 6 deadlines
May 2026 2 deadlines
June 2026 6 deadlines
July 2026 7 deadlines
August 2026 8 deadlines
September 2026 4 deadlines
October 2026 4 deadlines
November 2026 1 deadline
December 2026 2 deadlines
February 2027 3 deadlines
March 2027 1 deadline
Every row above is the same deadline that state’s own page shows, read on the agency page it links to. No date on this calendar was set anywhere but at a state agency.
The western draws
The western states run the draws people build a year around, and they run them early: Colorado’s run Feb 3, 2026 to Jun 30, 2026; Montana’s run Apr 1, 2026 to Jun 1, 2026. Miss one and the next chance is the following spring — there is no over-the-counter fallback for a limited-entry unit.
- Colorado draw & application deadlines — 5 deadlines, read on CPW’s own application pages.
- Montana draw & application deadlines — 6 deadlines, read on Montana FWP’s own application pages.
Where this calendar stops
It does not cover Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Those are real western draw states with real deadlines, and this site does not publish their seasons yet — so rather than fill the rows from a neighboring state or from memory, the calendar leaves them out and says so. Apply through those agencies directly.
States with nothing to apply for
An empty row is a fact here, not a gap. Alabama, Indiana and Virginia sell the licenses for the seasons this site covers over the counter, so there is no lottery to miss.
- Alabama — Alabama WFF runs no draw for deer, turkey, duck or dove. Its limited-entry and quota hunts on public land are a separate thing and live in the Alabama WFF regulations.
- Indiana — Indiana DNR runs no draw for deer, turkey, duck or dove. Its limited-entry and quota hunts on public land are a separate thing and live in the Indiana DNR regulations.
- Virginia — Virginia DWR runs no draw for deer, turkey, duck or dove. Its limited-entry and quota hunts on public land are a separate thing and live in the Virginia DWR regulations.
Every state’s own draw page
The same deadlines, one state at a time, each with that agency’s regulations link and the day we last read them.
Alabama · Arkansas · Colorado · Georgia · Indiana · Kentucky · Michigan · Minnesota · Missouri · Montana · New York · North Carolina · Ohio · Pennsylvania · Tennessee · Texas · Virginia · Wisconsin
Questions this calendar answers
When do the western hunting draws close?
Months before the seasons they hand out tags for. Colorado’s run Feb 3, 2026 to Jun 30, 2026; Montana’s run Apr 1, 2026 to Jun 1, 2026. A western tag is a spring decision and an autumn hunt, which is why the deadline and the season never sit on the same page in the regs book.
Why are deadlines that have already closed still on this calendar?
Because a deadline that has passed is the date to plan next year around. A closed row stays on the list, greyed out and labelled with the day it shut. We never quietly delete it to make the calendar look current, and we never roll it forward to a date the agency has not published yet.
Which states have no draw deadline at all?
Alabama, Indiana and Virginia. Those agencies sell the licenses for the seasons this site covers over the counter, so there is no lottery to miss. Their limited-entry and quota hunts on public land are a separate thing and live with the agency.
Keep going
What’s open to hunt right now — the other half of the calendar: not what you have to apply for, but what is open today, every state on one board.