Quebec Deer Hunting 2026: Seasons, Licences and Rules

White-tailed deer hunting in Quebec is regulated zone by zone and weapon by weapon. This guide brings together the official 2026 seasons, bag limits, licences, permitted weapons and the 2025 harvest in one place. Every figure comes from a Government of Québec page, linked under each section.

Provenance. All rules, dates, prices and statistics in this article come from Québec.ca and documents of the Ministère de l'Environnement, de la Lutte contre les changements climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs, checked on October 31, 2026. Season tables are reproduced as published. If anything differs, Québec.ca prevails: always check before you go, or call the ministry at 1 877 346-6763.

Deer hunting 2026: key dates

The main 2026 windows, taken from the official tables below:

• Crossbow and bow: October 3 to 16, 2026 in most zones; November 7 to 12, 2026 in zones 15 East, 18, 26 East, 26 West, 27 East, 27 West and 28.
• Shotgun, muzzle-loader, crossbow and bow: October 17 to 21, 2026 (zones 3 West, 4, 5 East, 5 West, 6, 7, 8 and 10, as listed in the table); November 13 to 15, 2026 (zones 15 East, 18, 26, 27 and 28).
• Novice hunter weekend: October 31 to November 1, 2026.
• Firearms (rifle, shotgun, muzzle-loader), crossbow and bow: November 7 to 22, 2026 in most zones; November 7 to 15, 2026 in zones 1 North, 1 South and 2 East.
• Anticosti Island (zone 20): antlered deer August 1 to 31, 2026, then deer with or without antlers September 1 to December 24, 2026.

Your zone, your weapon and the type of deer (antlered, antlerless, antler restriction) together determine what is allowed. Find your zone in the tables below, or see your hunting zone page and the full hunting season calendar.

Official 2026 and 2027 seasons by zone and weapon

The tables below reproduce the official English page of white-tailed deer hunting seasons as published.

Discrepancy in the official pages. For the novice hunter periods in the Montagne de Rigaud territory and zones 15 East, 18, 26, 27 and 28, the English page gives "November 2 to November 3, 2026", while the French page gives "Du 31 octobre au 1er novembre 2026", which matches the official novice weekend dates. For zones 5 West and 8 South, the English page says "7 cm or less", while the French page says "moins de 7 cm" (less than 7 cm). The French page (last updated May 21, 2026) is the one we treat as authoritative. Confirm with the ministry before hunting.

Crossbow and bow hunting seasons

Shotgun, muzzle loading firearm, crossbow and bow hunting seasons

Firearms (rifle, shotgun, muzzle loading firearm), crossbow and bow hunting seasons

Hunting periods for novice hunters only

Hunting periods for novice hunters only

Official notes on the zones

Québec.ca adds the following notes to these tables:

• In wildlife reserves, some exclusive-rights outfitters and some zecs, deer hunting rules may differ from those of the zone they are in. Check with the territory.
• In the Macpès territory (zone 2), deer hunting with crossbow and bow only is permitted from October 3 to 16, 2026 and from October 2 to 15, 2027.
• In zones 6 North and 6 South, antlered deer must meet the antler restriction standard (see below).
• Zone 13 Southwest is the part of zone 13 south of Route 101, Chemin Kipawa and forest road R0819. Its deer rules apply to the Dumoine, Maganasipi and Restigo zecs.
• Special rules apply on the islands and islets of the St. Lawrence River downstream of the Pont Pierre-Laporte (for example Île d'Orléans, Île aux Coudres, Île aux Grues, Île Verte and Île du Bic).

Sources: White-tailed deer hunting seasons · Périodes de chasse au cerf de Virginie (French) — Québec.ca

What's new for deer hunting in 2026

General hunting rules are updated every two years. The current period runs from April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2028. For white-tailed deer, the ministry lists in particular:

• Deer hunting is now open in zone 18.
• Two deer in the same zone: this option now extends to zones 4, 5 East, 5 West, 6 North, 6 South, 7 South, 8 East, 8 North and 8 South, provided only one adult male is harvested.
• Urine: the sale of natural moose urine is now prohibited, as it already was for all other cervids.
• Transportation tag: the unique number of the transportation tag must now be affixed to the animal in an indelible, legible way (printed, written on the animal, or on another medium attached to it).

Source: Main new measures — Québec.ca

Bag limit: how many deer per year?

Outside Anticosti Island, the limit is 2 deer per hunter per year, from two different zones. Exception: in zones 4, 5 East, 5 West, 6 North, 6 South, 7 South, 8 East, 8 North and 8 South, you may take both deer in the same zone, with at most one antlered deer.

Related rules:

• The regular licence and the additional licence each allow you to harvest one deer outside zone 20.
• Your first deer must come from a zone other than zone 20 (Anticosti Island).
• Your second deer must come from a different zone than the first (zone 20 excluded), except in the nine zones listed above.
• To harvest an antlerless deer, a licence won in a random draw is sometimes required: check the "Age and sex" column for your season.

Anticosti Island (zone 20): the limit is 4 deer per stay, including at most 2 antlered deer. Special provisions apply in the island's wildlife reserves and exclusive-rights outfitters.

Source: White-tailed deer hunting — Québec.ca

Deer hunting licence: 2026-2027 prices and purchase

Official 2026-2027 hunting licence prices, including taxes and the contribution to the Fondation pour la biodiversité et la faune du Québec:

The additional licence is valid only if you also hold the corresponding regular licence.

Where to buy: online through Mon dossier chasse et pêche, or at a point of sale. Licences are also sold by some outfitters, in some zecs and in wildlife reserves. Residents must provide their hunter's certificate number.

When it expires: at the end of the hunting season, or as soon as the transportation tag has been used (or should have been). While hunting, you must carry your licence and photo ID issued by a government or public body.

Source: Purchasing a licence — Québec.ca

Antlerless deer: the random draw

In several zones and seasons, harvesting an antlerless deer (female or fawn) requires a special licence won in a random draw. Antlerless deer quota licences are allotted every year, and only residents can register.

• Registration: May 29 to June 15. Draw: end of June. Since 2021, registration takes place in June to better account for winter severity, which affects deer populations.
• The number of licences per zone is set after analysing population monitoring data.
• Winners don't need to do anything: they buy their regular or additional licence, and the system automatically attaches the special licence at no extra cost.
• These draws are generally managed by the Sépaq (1 800 665-6527).

Sharing the antlerless licence. The winner can share the privilege with immediate family (spouse, grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, children, grandchildren, and the spouse's children and grandchildren). The family member must hold a regular or additional licence for the same zone. In wildlife reserves, exclusive-rights outfitters and certain zecs named by the ministry, it can also be shared within a group of up to six hunters, using a commitment form.

Sources: Random draws · Sharing the antlerless deer licence — Québec.ca

Permitted weapons for deer and the hunter's certificate

Certificate required by weapon:

• Crossbow or bow: hunter's certificate with code A or B. Since 2007, code F does not allow crossbow hunting.
• Rifle or shotgun (including muzzle-loaders): code F, plus the firearms possession and acquisition licence (PAL).

Weapons permitted for white-tailed deer (and black bear), according to the official table:

Remember:

• During the season reserved for shotgun, muzzle-loader, crossbow and bow, black powder or modern powder weapons must have a single barrel.
• Bows and crossbows are always permitted during a firearms season, except crossbows, which are prohibited in zones 17, 22, 23 and 24.
• Arrowheads must be razor sharp.

Source: Weapons, ammunition and gear — Québec.ca

The antler restriction in zones 6 North and 6 South

In zones 6 North and 6 South, the legal antler size restriction (RTLB) applies in every season, whatever the weapon. To be harvested, an adult male deer must have at least three points of 2.5 cm or more on one side of the rack. Every point longer than 2.5 cm (1 in), measured from base to tip, counts.

The restriction aims to protect young males, mainly those about a year and a half old. It was tested for five years in these two zones, an experiment that ended in spring 2022.

Elsewhere, an "antlered deer" means a deer with antlers of 7 cm or more, as the tables state.

Source: White-tailed deer hunting — Québec.ca

In the field: rules to follow

Fluorescent orange bib

You must wear a bib, as must your guide and anyone with you. A solid fluorescent orange surface of at least 2,580 cm² (400 in²) must be visible at all times and from every angle, covering the back, shoulders and chest, even with a backpack. The bib is not required for deer during a season when only bow or crossbow hunting is allowed.

Source: Fluorescent orange bib — Québec.ca

Hunting hours

Deer hunting is allowed from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset. At night, it is prohibited to use a spotlight, night vision or thermal imaging device to detect big game or to hunt.

Source: Hunting times — Québec.ca

Shooting from a public road

In zones 3 to 11, 15 East and 26 East, and in parts of zones 1, 2 East, 27 and 28, it is prohibited to shoot at an animal from a public road, including a 10 m strip on each side of the outer edge of the shoulder, or to shoot toward or across such a road. See the official map for exact limits.

Source: Restrictions on shooting from a public road — Québec.ca

Baiting, feeding and urine

• Baiting deer is allowed from September 1 to November 30 only. Salt substances (e.g. salt blocks) remain allowed year-round.
• Artificially feeding deer is prohibited from December 1 to August 31, except on Anticosti Island.
• Hunting with natural deer urine is prohibited at all times (even on Anticosti, whatever its origin), as is any other natural scent lure from cervids (tarsal glands, pheromones).

Prohibited gear

It is prohibited, among other things, to hunt with:

• a device that indicates the immediate presence of an animal, for example a phone linked to a camera (or drone) operating on the hunting site while you are there, on the lookout and armed;
• a night vision or thermal imaging device;
• a live animal as a decoy, or a dog (hunting with dogs is allowed only for small game);
• tracer bullets or military-type hard-point bullets.

Hunting under the influence of alcohol or drugs, including cannabis, is also prohibited. Laser sights, earpieces that amplify sound and calling devices are allowed.

Sources: White-tailed deer hunting · Weapons, ammunition and gear · Searching for game · Fiche du cerf de Virginie (French) — Québec.ca

After the shot: tracking, tag, registration and transport

Tracking a wounded deer. You must make a reasonable effort to find your game: the law prohibits abandoning the edible flesh of big game. At night, tracking is done without a weapon and without a spotlight, using a flashlight or headlamp of moderate intensity. You may call on a blood-tracking dog handler; the dog must be kept on a leash at all times.

Transportation tag. As soon as the animal is found, affix the unique number of your licence's transportation tag to it, indelibly and legibly. It must stay attached until the animal is butchered or stored.

Registration. White-tailed deer must be declared. You must register it within 48 hours of leaving the hunting site, and before taking it to the butcher:

• online: a free government service;
• or at a registration station: the merchant's fees apply.

Have ready your hunter's certificate number, your licence number, an email address, the weapon and calibre used, when and where the deer was taken, and the licence plate of the vehicle carrying it. Keep the confirmation number afterwards (on your phone or on the back of your licence).

Transport. The deer must be transported whole or in no more than two parts, roughly equal and separated at the floating ribs or kidneys. In that case, the head and external genitals must remain attached to one of the parts. The skin and legs must not be removed before registration.

Sources: How to register your game · Transportation and exports · Searching for game — Québec.ca

Chronic wasting disease (CWD)

To date, no wild cervid has tested positive for CWD in Quebec. In 2025, 4,098 wild cervids were tested: 223 deer in the enhanced surveillance zone, plus 3,861 deer, 10 moose and 4 caribou elsewhere in Quebec. No sample from a deer harvested by hunters in 2025 tested positive.

What it means for you:

• If you take a deer older than 12 months, you can drop off its head at a participating butcher or at some ministry offices. It must be labelled with the unique licence or transportation tag number.
• Antlerless deer licences are issued in 2026 in the enhanced surveillance zone: zone 9 West-ZSR and zone 10 East-ZSR (Laurentides and Outaouais). They are not valid across all of zones 9 West and 10 East.
• If you hunt outside Quebec, it is prohibited to import or possess a whole carcass or certain parts of cervids killed elsewhere: head, spinal column, organs, undefatted hide. Meat or quarters without those parts, defatted or tanned hide, antlers without velvet, and skulls, teeth and hooves cleaned of all soft tissue and disinfected may be brought back.

Sources: CWD surveillance and control operations · Transportation and exports — Québec.ca

Novice hunter weekend: October 31 and November 1, 2026

The 7th novice white-tailed deer hunting weekend takes place on October 31 and November 1, 2026. No registration has been required since 2022. You must live in Quebec and fit one of these profiles:

• Youth aged 12 to 17 holding a hunter's certificate suited to the weapon used;
• Holder of a hunting initiation authorization number (it can be requested only once in a lifetime, at 1 866 424-2773);
• New hunter aged 18 or over who passed a first course (code A or F) between January 1 and December 31, 2025.

The accompanying person must live in Quebec and be 18 or older (25 or older to accompany someone with an initiation number). They must hold a certificate suited to the weapon used, and may neither use nor possess a weapon during the weekend. Sépaq wildlife reserves do not offer this weekend.

Source: Novice deer hunting weekend — Québec.ca

2025 deer harvest: official figures

According to official statistics for the 2025 season (raw data recorded December 9, 2025, wildlife reserves included), 72,124 white-tailed deer were harvested in Quebec: 43,866 adult males, 22,405 adult females and 5,853 fawns.

2025 harvest by weapon (percentages calculated by Chasseur Québec from the official data):

The 10 zones with the largest deer harvest in 2025:

A zone's total harvest also depends on its size and the rules in force (antlerless harvest allowed or not, season length). It is not a measure of deer density.

Sources: Statistiques de chasse (French) · Deer harvest by zone and weapon, 2025 season (PDF) — Québec.ca

Know the white-tailed deer

The following comes from the official species fact sheet (in French):

• Rut: breeding is tied to day length and takes place mainly in November and December. Males bellow, grunt and snort, and make scrapes marked with the scent of their glands. During the rut, the male travels its home range looking for females in heat.
• Antlers: they grow from April to August, shed their velvet in September and fall mostly between mid-December and late January. The number of points does not tell the animal's age.
• Size: males weigh 85 to 170 kg, females 57 to 113 kg.
• Range: in Quebec, the deer is at the northern limit of its range. It is most abundant south of the St. Lawrence River and on Anticosti Island, where it was introduced.
• Winter: in deep snow, deer gather in wintering yards (ravages), which are legally protected. In winter a deer generally uses less than 5 km²; in summer, up to 25 km².
• Doe or fawn? The adult doe's body is longer than it is tall, with a long neck and elongated muzzle. The fawn's body is almost as long as it is tall, with a short neck and eyes that look larger. When in doubt, don't shoot.

Sources: Fiche du cerf de Virginie (French) · White-tailed deer hunting — Québec.ca. See also our white-tailed deer species page.

The ministry's advice for responsible hunting

The ministry publishes a leaflet (in French) with advice for deer hunting. Here are the essentials:

Before the hunt. Learn to tell antlered deer (males) from antlerless deer (females and young). Practise shooting in a safe place such as a shooting range, and learn where the vital zone is. Wear odourless, quiet clothing suited to the weather. Bring field-dressing gear: knife, saw, nylon ties, rope and gloves.

How to hunt. The leaflet suggests stand hunting while staying silent, or still hunting: moving slowly and stopping often. Deer have an excellent sense of smell, and their ears can swivel up to 180 degrees.

When shooting. Clearly identify your target and everything around and behind it. Wait until the deer is broadside, still, within range, with the vital zone clear.

After the shot. Remember where it stood and which way it ran. Wait silently at least 30 minutes before going to where it was shot. With a bow or crossbow, the wait ranges from 30 minutes to a few hours depending on where the animal was hit. Once found, field-dress it quickly and keep the meat below 4 °C until butchering.

Sources: Informations utiles pour une pratique sécuritaire, responsable et respectueuse de la chasse au cerf de Virginie (PDF, French) · Weapons, ammunition and gear — Government of Québec

Official sources

All checked on October 31, 2026:

• White-tailed deer hunting seasons and the French version (updated May 21, 2026)
• White-tailed deer hunting: rules and bag limits
• Main new measures
• Purchasing a licence
• Random draws
• Weapons, ammunition and gear
• Fluorescent orange bib and Hunting times
• Novice deer hunting weekend
• Statistiques de chasse (French) (data as of December 9, 2025)
• CWD surveillance and control operations
• Fiche du cerf de Virginie (French)

Regulatory information: 1 877 346-6763 · renseignements.faune@environnement.gouv.qc.ca. Poaching or injured deer: SOS Braconnage – Urgence faune sauvage, 1 800 463-2191.