North Dakota Hunting Guide 2026: Upland Birds, Waterfowl, and Deer

North Dakota's 2026 fall seasons are open, and the dates that matter for upland birds, waterfowl, and deer are already finalized by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. This guide collects those official schedules, license basics, and the rules hunters ask about every year — PLOTS, blaze orange, nonresident limits, and chronic wasting disease — with links back to the source.

It is a field guide, not a substitute for the proclamation. If a date or limit on gf.nd.gov later changes, follow the department's page. The full text is in the 2026–27 Small Game, Waterfowl and Furbearer Proclamation.

Pro tip: Buy licenses at Game and Fish Buy and Apply before you leave town. Then use Seek N-Dakota to find fuel, a late supper, a room, or a processor near your unit. Start with Recreation and the city directory.

2026 upland bird seasons

Prairie chicken and sage grouse seasons are closed in 2026. The other upland seasons below are finalized.

Sources: the season dates calendar, pheasant page, and proclamation sections 12–17.

• Youth pheasant weekend. Licensed residents and nonresidents 15 or younger may hunt Oct. 3–4. An adult 18 or older must accompany the youth afield, may not carry a firearm, and may not hunt any species that weekend.
• Sharp-tailed grouse closure. The southeast corner bordered on the west by ND Highway 32, on the north by the Sheyenne River, on the south by ND Highway 11, and on the east by the Red and Bois de Sioux Rivers is closed.
• Ruffed grouse. The 2026 proclamation opens ruffed grouse statewide (the calendar still labels the unit "Restricted"). Birds remain concentrated in aspen cover, especially the Turtle Mountains and Pembina Hills, per the 2026 season outlook.
• Nonresidents, first week of pheasant. From Oct. 10–16, 2026, nonresidents may not hunt *any* game on Game and Fish wildlife management areas or Conservation PLOTS, except PLOTS land they own. Federal WPAs, other open federal land, state school land, and private land not in PLOTS are outside that ban.

Upland hours are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset, Central Time.

2026 waterfowl seasons

Residents may start regular duck and goose seasons on Sept. 26; nonresidents on Oct. 5. Youth and veteran/active-military days are Sept. 19–20 (veteran season requires a resident license).

Ducks, mergansers, and coots

Daily duck bag, including mergansers, is 6, with caps of 5 mallards (only 2 hens), 3 pintail, 3 wood ducks, 2 redheads, 2 canvasbacks, and 1 scaup. From Sept. 26–Oct. 4 add 2 bonus blue-winged teal (not during the Sept. 19–20 youth or veteran days). Daily coot limit is 15; possession is three times the daily bag. See the High Plains / Low Plains map on the ducks page.

Geese, including light geese

Light geese are snow geese (including blue geese) and Ross's geese.

Sources: Canada geese, light geese, and the hunting guide PDF. Daily Canada bag may total 8, with no more than 5 from the Missouri River Zone (possession 24, no more than 15 from that zone). Do not add early-season limits across the three early zones.

Goose and crane hours start one-half hour before sunrise and end at 2 p.m., except until sunset on Saturdays and Wednesdays, Sept. 26–Nov. 28. From Nov. 29 to the close of each goose season, hours are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset every day. Duck hours stay one-half hour before sunrise to sunset. Hunters 16 and older need a federal duck stamp for ducks, geese, swans, mergansers, or coots (not for the spring light goose order), plus a free HIP number and the state waterfowl stamp.

Nonresident waterfowl: 14 days in two 7-day periods, two different zones (NW, NC, NE, SW, SC, SE). A one-week trip may run both periods at once by selecting two zones for that week.

Spring light goose conservation order. The 2026 order ran Feb. 21–May 10, 2026, and is closed. For 2027 spring dates, check gf.nd.gov rather than reusing last spring's window.

2026 deer seasons

Deer gun licenses are issued by lottery (the June 3, 2026, deadline has passed; watch for leftovers). Openers below are 12 noon Central.

Sources: the deer page and 2026 Deer Hunting Guide.

Nonresident bow. For the first 9½ days, nonresidents may hunt only private land, excluding PLOTS, except that PLOTS landowners may hunt their enrolled property. Starting Sept. 14, private and public land are open to them. Nonresidents are allocated 1 percent of deer gun licenses in a unit through the second lottery.

License basics

You need only one certificate and one general game and habitat license per year, where those prerequisites apply. Fees below are from the resident and nonresident tables; confirm the total at checkout.

Youth, veteran, military, and gratis rules have extra exceptions; nonresidents under 16 can often buy small game or waterfowl at the resident fee. Buy licenses at gf.nd.gov/buy-apply.

Rules to know before you walk in

PLOTS. Private Land Open To Sportsmen is walk-in hunting on private land during legal seasons, or as signed. Travel on foot with a legal firearm or bow. Do not drive, ride an ATV or horse, camp, bait, train dogs, or leave gear unattended without the landowner's written permission. Agreements change, so use a current map and the 2026 PLOTS Guide (PDF).

Blaze orange. During the regular deer gun season, all big game hunters — including bowhunters — must wear orange. Youth deer and muzzleloader hunters must wear it too. Legal clothing is a head covering and an outer garment above the waist in *solid* daylight fluorescent orange, totaling at least 400 square inches (2026 Deer Hunting Guide).

Hunter education. Hunters born after Dec. 31, 1961, need a certified hunter education course to buy a license, with exceptions for people hunting only land they own or operate, some youth, and apprentice validations. Find a course at Hunter Education. Anyone under 15 afield with a firearm must be licensed and under direct, unaided verbal supervision of a parent, guardian, or authorized adult.

CWD. Game and Fish is sampling 2026 deer from units 2J1, 3B3, 3C, 3D1, 3D2, 3E1, 3E2, 3F1, 3F2, 4D, 4E, and 4F, and will test deer from elsewhere at a collection site, district office, or via a self-sampling kit. Fawns and head-shot deer cannot be tested. Leave 4–6 inches of neck on the head and keep it labeled. Results usually arrive in your Game and Fish inbox within four weeks. You may take a whole carcass out of the gun unit of harvest, but processing waste must go to a landfill or waste-management provider (not required for heads or lymph nodes submitted for testing). Importing whole out-of-state cervid carcasses is unlawful except for lower-risk parts in the CWD proclamation. See CWD and collection sites.

Other frequent rules. Non-toxic shot is required for waterfowl, cranes, snipe, and swans, and for upland game on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands. Electronic or recorded calls may not be used for waterfowl. Hunting big game over bait is prohibited on Game and Fish WMAs and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands.

Official links

All of the following returned a live page when checked on Nov. 12, 2026: season dates · regulations · signed proclamation PDF · hunting and trapping guide PDF · pheasant · ducks · Canada geese · light geese · deer · deer guide PDF · PLOTS · licensing · Buy and Apply · hunter education · CWD.

A good hunt usually runs through a small town cafe, motel, or locker plant. Find those places on Seek N-Dakota under Recreation, Dining, and city pages, or claim your listing if you run one of them. Dates and limits were checked against official Game and Fish pages and PDFs on Nov. 12, 2026 (America/Chicago).

Cover photo: Krista Lundgren / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an autumn view in the Kulm Wetland Management District, North Dakota. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.jpg).