The 2025-26 Arkansas Hunting Guidebook is at the printer and should be showing up in sporting goods stores and license dealers across the state within the next two weeks. Hunters looking to get a sneak peek at the season dates and regulations for this fall’s hunting seasons can download a file directly to their smartphone or home computer at www.agfc.com/guidebooks today.

Here are a few changes for the upcoming fall hunting seasons:

• Deer scents and lures using natural deer urine are no longer prohibited in Arkansas.
• The upcoming early teal season has been reduced to nine days (Sept. 20-28).
• Hunters on Ed Gordon Point Remove WMA no longer have to take a doe before harvesting a buck.
• Ed Gordon Point Remove WMA will participate in the early buck-only archery season (Sept. 6-8).
• Conway County has been added to the CWD Management Zone as a Tier 2 county.
• All WMAs in Conway County no longer have any antler restrictions for legal buck harvest.
• Portions of Hot Springs State Forest WMA are now open to public access.

The largest change readers will notice won’t come until Spring of 2026. Instead of two turkey zones with a single set of opening days, turkey season will now have five zones with three different opening days to coordinate with gobbling trends reported by hunters.

2025-26 Deer Hunting Season Opening Days:

Regular Archery — Sept. 27

Alternative Firearms — Oct. 18

Modern Gun — Nov. 8

Special Youth Modern Gun Hunts — Nov. 1-2 and Jan. 3-4

Early Buck-Only Archery Hunt — Sept. 6-8

Visit www.agfc.com/guidebooks for downloadable versions of all AGFC hunting and fishing guidebooks.