Arkansas hunting regulations are set by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC), which controls licenses, seasons, bag limits, legal weapons, and safety rules for every game species in the state. A Resident Sportsman’s License runs $25 and covers all game, nonresidents pay $410 for a comparable all-game license, and violations carry fines from $100 up to $10,000 along with possible jail time. The rules below are the ones most hunters need to know before heading afield.
Licenses You Need
Residents 16 and older need at least a Resident Wildlife Conservation License for small game. Most pick up the Resident Sportsman’s License at $25 instead, which covers every game species in open season and comes with six deer tags and two turkey tags.1Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. Hunting License Descriptions and Fees Bear tags are sold separately and limited to one per year.
Nonresidents pay $410 for the Nonresident Annual All Game Hunting License, which allows deer and small game with modern guns, muzzleloaders, and archery gear and includes six deer tags.2Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Nonresident Annual Hunting License Bear, turkey, elk, and alligator each require an extra nonresident permit. Every license expires June 30. You can buy online at the AGFC website, by phone, or from an authorized retail agent.
Hunter Education
If you were born after 1968, you must carry a valid hunter education certificate while hunting.3Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Arkansas Regulation 03.16 – Hunter Education Certificate Requirements AGFC offers the course in person and online. Hunters born before 1969 are exempt.
Two ways around the certificate exist. Hunters under 16 may hunt without one if they are under the direct supervision of an adult at least 21 years old. Hunters 16 and older who haven’t finished the course can buy a one-time Deferred Hunter Education Code, which lets them hunt under direct supervision of a licensed adult at least 21 who holds the certificate or was born before 1969. A prior conviction for a hunter education violation disqualifies you from the deferred option.4Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Deferred Hunter Education
Safety Clothing and Legal Weapons
During any firearm deer, bear, or elk season, every hunter in the field (and anyone with them, armed or not) has to wear at least 400 square inches of blaze orange or fluorescent chartreuse above the waist, plus a hat in one of those colors visible on the head.5Legal Information Institute. Arkansas Code R 002.01.22-033 – Hunter Orange/Safety Green Clothing Requirements
Shotguns are not legal for deer or bear during the alternative firearms season (formerly muzzleloader season). Legal weapons during that season are muzzleloaders, non-semiautomatic centerfire firearms chambered for straight-wall cartridges of .30 caliber or larger, non-semiautomatic handguns with barrels at least four inches long in the same cartridge class, and big bore air rifles.6Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Arkansas Regulation 06.03 – Certain Firearms Prohibited During Alternative Firearms Seasons
If you need to finish a wounded big game animal, you may use a legally possessed handgun as long as the barrel is six inches or shorter and the caliber doesn’t exceed .45. That rule holds even after legal shooting hours if you’re tracking the animal with artificial light.7Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Arkansas Regulation 08.09 – Dogs Locating Wounded Game Restrictions
Baiting
Placing food, minerals, or other attractants to lure game is generally prohibited. Inside the CWD Management Zone, there’s a narrow exception: baiting for deer and elk on private land is allowed from September 1 through December 31.8Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. CWD-Related Wildlife/Hunting Regulations Bear baiting on private land follows its own rules tied to bear season, and separate exceptions cover furbearer trapping and food plots.9Legal Information Institute. Arkansas Code R 002.01.24-084 – Baiting and Feeding Prohibited Inside the CWD Management Zone On Wildlife Management Areas, baiting is prohibited with almost no exceptions.10Legal Information Institute. Arkansas Code R 002.01.22-067 – Baiting or Hunting Over Baited Portions of WMAs Prohibited Baiting for migratory birds violates federal law everywhere.
Deer
Seasons, Zones, and Bag Limit
Deer season splits into three periods — archery and crossbow, alternative firearms, and modern gun — each with its own legal equipment. The state is carved into multiple deer zones that control season length and harvest limits. Statewide, you may take six deer per season, no more than two of them legal bucks.11Legal Information Institute. Arkansas Code R 002.01.22-079 – Deer Season and Limits Some zones impose a lower cap.
Antler Rules
The statewide default is the three-point rule. A legal buck must either have both antlers shorter than two inches (a button buck) or carry at least three points on one side, counting the end of the main beam and any point at least one inch long.12Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. Deer-specific Hunting Regulations Certain WMAs and zones use spread rules instead: some require a 12-inch inside spread or 15-inch main beam, others a 15-inch inside spread or 18-inch main beam. Hunters ages 6 to 15 can take any buck regardless of antler size.
Tagging and Checking
Fill out your tag and attach it to the ear or antler immediately after harvest, before moving the deer. You then have 12 hours to check it through the AGFC mobile app, the website, or the phone system at 833-289-2469.13Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. Deer Write the confirmation number on the tag. Evidence of sex must remain attached until check-in is complete. If you quarter the animal in the field, the head has to stay within arm’s reach of all four quarters until the deer is checked.12Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. Deer-specific Hunting Regulations
CWD Zones and Moving Carcasses
Chronic Wasting Disease changes what you can do with a carcass in affected counties. The CWD Management Zone is split into Tier 1 (highest risk) and Tier 2. You can move an intact carcass freely within the same tier, but only low-risk parts may cross from Tier 1 into Tier 2 or leave the CWD zone entirely.8Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. CWD-Related Wildlife/Hunting Regulations
Low-risk materials that may be transported out are:
- Deboned meat with all bones removed
- Clean skull plates or antlers with no meat or tissue attached
- Cleaned teeth, hides, and tanned products
- Finished taxidermy mounts
These same low-risk requirements apply when you import any deer, elk, moose, or caribou harvested outside Arkansas back into the state. Out-of-state hunters unfamiliar with zone boundaries pick up CWD violations more often than almost any other kind.
Turkey
The spring season has dates that vary by zone. In 2026, the youth-only hunt is April 11–12 for ages 6 to 15.14Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. Youth Hunts The regular season runs April 20–28 in Zone 1 and April 20 through May 10 in Zone 2. WMA turkey hunts set their own dates and sometimes require permit draws.15Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Arkansas Regulation C1.04 – Wild Turkey Seasons and Limits on WMAs The Resident Sportsman’s License includes two turkey tags. Nonresidents pay $325 for the Nonresident Annual Turkey Hunting License. WMA turkey limits generally allow one legal turkey per season per area, though some federal refuges allow two.
Waterfowl and Migratory Birds
Duck, goose, and other migratory bird hunting involves layered state and federal paperwork. If you’re 16 or older, register annually with the Harvest Information Program (HIP), which you can add at license purchase. Waterfowl hunters also need a signed Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp ($25 physical, $30 electronic) and an Arkansas Waterfowl Stamp ($7 for residents, $50 for nonresidents).16Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Waterfowl
Shooting hours for migratory birds run from 30 minutes before sunrise to sunset. The September teal season is tighter still, sunrise to sunset only. During the snow, blue, and Ross’ goose conservation order, hours extend to 30 minutes after sunset.17Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Arkansas Regulation 10.05 – Migratory Game Bird Shooting Hours Restricted The daily duck bag limit is six, with species-specific sub-limits on mallards, wood ducks, pintails, and others that shift each year. Electronic calls are prohibited for migratory game birds under federal rules, and baiting carries serious federal penalties. Some WMAs restrict waterfowl hunting to morning only during the regular duck season.
Private Land and Trespass
Hunting on someone else’s property without permission is illegal, and Arkansas uses a purple paint system to mark posted land. Landowners can post by painting vertical purple marks at least eight inches long on trees or posts, three to five feet above the ground. In forests the marks must be no more than 100 feet apart. On cultivated land, pastures, and around impoundments they can go up to 1,000 feet apart.18Arkansas Department of Agriculture. Posting of Real Property
If land is lawfully posted or fenced, you must carry written permission from the owner or lessee. It must include your name, the landowner’s signature and phone number, and the start and end dates of the permission.19Legal Information Institute. Arkansas Code R 002.01.20-023 – Hunting, Fishing, Trapping, Releasing Hunting Dogs or Pursuing Wildlife With Dogs Without Landowner/Lessee Permission Prohibited Immediate family members of the landowner are exempt from the written requirement if they have actual verbal permission. Hunting without landowner permission on posted or fenced land is a Class 2 violation.
Wildlife Management Areas
WMAs are public land managed by AGFC, and the rules on them are generally stricter than on private land. Anyone hunting or trapping on a WMA has to carry a free WMA General Use Permit, which expires June 30. Certain leased-land WMAs require an additional $40 permit.20Legal Information Institute. Arkansas Code R 002.01.20 – D1.01 Licenses, Permits, Stamps, Tags, Costs, and Expiration Dates
Vehicle access is often limited to designated roads, and some areas require check-in and check-out. Many WMAs restrict weapons during deer season, and some use a permit draw to control hunter density for modern gun and alternative firearms hunts. Applications cost $5 per hunt type and are nonrefundable, submitted online by the deadline.21Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. WMA Deer Hunt Permits You can apply for one permit per hunt type: youth, archery, alternative firearms, and modern gun.22Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. Apply for a WMA Deer Permit Hunt by July 1 Youth-only permit hunts are for ages 6 through 15.
Camping on AGFC-owned WMAs is allowed in designated areas. Anyone 16 or older without a valid hunting or fishing license needs a WMA Camping Permit, and stays are capped at 14 consecutive days and 30 total days per calendar year.23Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. WMA Camping Permit
Penalties for Violations
Arkansas sorts hunting violations into five classes:24Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Arkansas Regulation 01.00-I – Penalties Upon Conviction
- Class 1: $100 to $1,000, up to 30 days in jail
- Class 2: $250 to $2,500, up to 60 days in jail
- Class 3: $500 to $5,000, up to 90 days in jail
- Class 4: $750 to $7,500, up to 180 days in jail
- Class 5: $1,000 to $10,000, up to one year in jail
Courts can swap jail time for community service and may suspend or revoke hunting and fishing privileges. The AGFC also tracks violation points independently of any court action and can administratively suspend or revoke a license on its own authority. Hunting without permission on posted property is a Class 2; poaching sits in the heavier classes. Even after paying the fine, enough points on your record can cost you hunting privileges for years.