Legal shooting hours in Pennsylvania run from one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset for most game, including deer, bear, elk, and small game. Spring turkey ends at noon during the first half of the season, most migratory bird seasons end at sunset rather than a half-hour after, and furbearers like raccoon and coyote can be hunted around the clock. The exact minute changes every day and shifts slightly across the state, so the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s published table is the binding reference.
The Standard Window for Most Game
White-tailed deer, black bear, elk, squirrel, rabbit, pheasant, and grouse all share the same daily hours: one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset.1Cornell Law Institute. 58 Pa Code 141.4 – Hunting Hours The weapon you’re carrying doesn’t change the window. Rifle, shotgun, muzzleloader, compound bow, and crossbow hunters all operate on the same clock; what differs between them is the season dates and the equipment rules, not the shooting hours.
Because sunrise and sunset shift through the fall, your legal start time in early October is not your legal start time in late November. You cannot rely on a single remembered time for the whole season.
Spring Turkey Ends at Noon in the First Weeks
Spring gobbler is the exception most hunters forget. For the 2025–26 season, the first segment runs May 2 through May 16, 2026, and hunting hours end at noon.2Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Seasons and Bag Limits You can start at the usual one-half hour before sunrise, but you must stop by 12:00 p.m. The junior and mentored youth hunt on April 25, 2026, also ends at noon.
The second segment, May 18 through May 30, 2026, opens up to all-day hunting on the standard one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset schedule.2Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Seasons and Bag Limits The half-day restriction in the early weeks is meant to reduce disturbance to nesting hens. Keep hunting into the afternoon in early May and you’re risking a citation.
Migratory Birds End at Sunset
Ducks, geese, doves, and woodcock follow a federally influenced framework, and they differ from big game in one important way: most migratory bird seasons end at sunset, not one-half hour after sunset.3Pennsylvania Game Commission. Waterfowl and Migratory That missing half-hour catches hunters moving from deer season into waterfowl.
Two seasons are exceptions and run the standard one-half hour before to one-half hour after window: the September resident Canada goose season and the light-goose conservation season.3Pennsylvania Game Commission. Waterfowl and Migratory The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sets the overall framework for migratory birds, and Pennsylvania selects its seasons and hours within those federal boundaries.4U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. How the Hunting Seasons and Limits are Set for Waterfowl
Furbearers Can Be Hunted Day or Night
Raccoon, fox, skunk, opossum, coyote, bobcat, and weasel can be hunted at any hour during their open seasons.1Cornell Law Institute. 58 Pa Code 141.4 – Hunting Hours This is the only true 24-hour category of game in Pennsylvania. Night vision and thermal optics are legal for furbearer hunters, along with gun-mounted lights.5Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Night-Vision Optics Now Can Be Used by Furbearer Hunters
There is a critical restriction. During the regular firearms deer season, nighttime furbearer hunting is suspended. What you may legally pursue during those seasons is limited to deer, bear, migratory waterfowl, game birds on regulated hunting grounds, coyotes, feral swine, and wild boar.1Cornell Law Institute. 58 Pa Code 141.4 – Hunting Hours Coyotes may be taken during big game season only if you hold a valid furtaker’s license or are lawfully hunting big game with a valid tag. Porcupines, although classified as furbearers, may not be hunted at night at all.5Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Night-Vision Optics Now Can Be Used by Furbearer Hunters
Spotlighting Rules After Dark
Using artificial light to spot, locate, or scout for game while carrying a firearm, bow, or crossbow is illegal. The prohibition covers spotlights, headlights, vehicle-mounted lights, and any other artificial source, and it applies even if you never fire a shot.6Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Title 34 – Game, Section 2310 Driving through a field at night with your headlights on and a rifle in the vehicle can create legal problems on its own.
The one exception is for furbearer hunters on foot. You may use a handheld flashlight, a head-mounted light, or a light mounted on your firearm to take furbearers, as long as the light’s sole power source is contained within the device itself or carried on your person.6Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Title 34 – Game, Section 2310 Laser-aiming devices that project a beam to indicate point of impact do not count as a permitted light. Penalties for spotlighting big game escalate quickly: a first offense is a summary offense, but second and third offenses can reach misdemeanor and felony levels with hunting privilege revocations of seven to fifteen years.
Sunday Hunting Is Now Legal
Pennsylvania’s longstanding Sunday hunting ban is gone. Governor Shapiro signed House Bill 1431 into law as Act 36 of 2025 on July 9, 2025, fully repealing 34 Pa. C.S. § 2303.7Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Governor Signs Sunday Hunting Bill The law took effect 60 days later, and the Game Commission opened all Sundays falling within established hunting seasons.
Starting September 14, 2025, every Sunday that falls within an open season is a legal hunting day for the 2025–26 seasons.8Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Sunday Hunting Days Set for 2025 The same shooting hours that apply any other day apply on Sunday. If you still think only a handful of Sundays are open, that limitation no longer exists.
Finding the Exact Minute for Your Date and Location
Pennsylvania stretches far enough east to west that sunrise and sunset times differ noticeably across the state. A hunter near Philadelphia has legal shooting hours that start and end several minutes earlier than a hunter near Pittsburgh on the same day. The Game Commission publishes a hunting hours table in Appendix G of Title 58 and reprints it in the annual Hunting and Trapping Digest.9Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Hunting and Trapping Digest
The table gives times based on a meridian line that runs through the center of the state. Hunters east or west of that line adjust by a few minutes in either direction, and the digest includes a meridian map showing where the line falls relative to each county.10Pennsylvania Code. Appendix G – Hunting Hours These are the tables game wardens use for enforcement. Not weather apps. Not sunrise calculators. Not your phone’s clock widget. If what your weather app shows and what the digest shows disagree, the digest controls.
Penalties for Hunting Outside Legal Hours
Shooting outside legal hours is prosecuted under 34 Pa. C.S. § 2307, and the grade of the offense depends on the species involved:11Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 34, Chapter 23, Section 2307 – Unlawful Taking or Possession of Game or Wildlife
- Threatened or endangered species: misdemeanor of the second degree.
- Elk or bear: summary offense of the first degree, $1,000 to $1,500 fine, up to three months imprisonment.
- Deer: summary offense of the second degree, $400 to $800 fine, up to one month imprisonment.
- Bobcat or otter: summary offense of the third degree, $250 to $500 fine.
- Wild turkey or beaver: summary offense of the fourth degree, $150 to $300 fine.
- Any other game or wildlife: summary offense of the fifth degree, $100 to $200 fine.12Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Title 34 – Game, Section 925
Section 2307 also creates a separate violation for taking game in the 30-minute buffer zones immediately before and after legal shooting hours, treating a shot just barely outside the window as its own offense category.11Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 34, Chapter 23, Section 2307 – Unlawful Taking or Possession of Game or Wildlife
Fines are not the only consequence. The Game Commission can revoke your hunting privileges. A first offense of any Title 34 violation can bring revocation for up to three years, and a second or subsequent offense has no fixed cap; the commission sets the period.13Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Title 34 – Game, Chapter 27 – Revocation Revocation applies to all hunting in Pennsylvania, with or without a license, so buying a new license does not get you around it.