Legal shooting hours
One-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset.
Agency source agency
INDIANA RUT AND SEASON DATA
When is the rut in Indiana?
Indiana has published rut timing at county precision. The source method is 17 years of deer-vehicle collision records from 2003-2019, normalized by county and year, smoothed with local regression; Figure 9-7 maps the mean county peak date.. Examples: Adams: Nov 10; Allen: Nov 6; Bartholomew: Nov 11. The table has 92 published units. Source: the agency publication linked on this page.
agency
Published rut units
COMPLETE: county peak dates transcribed from Indiana DNR 2019 report Figure 9-7.
| Unit | Peak window | Method | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adams | Nov 10 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Allen | Nov 6 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Bartholomew | Nov 11 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Benton | Nov 8 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Blackford | Nov 15 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Boone | Nov 10 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Brown | Nov 13 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Carroll | Nov 7 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Cass | Nov 7 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Clark | Nov 10 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Clay | Nov 7 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Clinton | Nov 8 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Crawford | Nov 8 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Daviess | Nov 16 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Dearborn | Nov 7 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Decatur | Nov 9 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| DeKalb | Nov 7 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Delaware | Nov 9 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Dubois | Nov 10 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Elkhart | Nov 7 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Fayette | Nov 9 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Floyd | Nov 7 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Fountain | Nov 9 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Franklin | Nov 9 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Fulton | Nov 10 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Gibson | Nov 11 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Grant | Nov 9 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Greene | Nov 13 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Hamilton | Nov 10 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Hancock | Nov 7 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Harrison | Nov 11 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Hendricks | Nov 12 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Henry | Nov 6 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Howard | Nov 8 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Huntington | Nov 9 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Jackson | Nov 13 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Jasper | Nov 8 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Jay | Nov 11 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Jefferson | Nov 10 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Jennings | Nov 9 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Johnson | Nov 12 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Knox | Nov 15 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Kosciusko | Nov 8 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| LaGrange | Nov 8 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Lake | Nov 7 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| LaPorte | Nov 4 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Lawrence | Nov 12 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Madison | Nov 10 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Marion | Nov 7 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Marshall | Nov 7 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Martin | Nov 14 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Miami | Nov 6 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Monroe | Nov 9 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Montgomery | Nov 10 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Morgan | Nov 10 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Newton | Nov 14 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Noble | Nov 9 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Ohio | Nov 2 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Orange | Nov 11 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Owen | Nov 10 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Parke | Nov 9 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Perry | Nov 8 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Pike | Nov 9 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Porter | Nov 8 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Posey | Nov 15 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Pulaski | Nov 10 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Putnam | Nov 10 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Randolph | Nov 8 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Ripley | Nov 8 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Rush | Nov 12 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| St. Joseph | Nov 6 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Scott | Nov 10 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Shelby | Nov 10 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Spencer | Nov 9 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Starke | Nov 10 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Steuben | Nov 7 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Sullivan | Nov 12 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Switzerland | Nov 9 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Tippecanoe | Nov 9 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Tipton | Nov 6 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Union | Nov 6 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Vanderburgh | Nov 14 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Vermillion | Nov 9 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Vigo | Nov 10 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Wabash | Nov 6 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Warren | Nov 9 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Warrick | Nov 7 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Washington | Nov 12 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Wayne | Nov 11 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Wells | Nov 13 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| White | Nov 7 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
| Whitley | Nov 9 | movement_dvc | Agency source | Verify with your state agency |
Whitetail presence
White-tailed deer are managed and hunted throughout Indiana.
Presence source agency
2026-27 deer seasons
| Season | Zone or scope | Dates | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deer Reduction Zone | designated Deer Reduction Zones | Sep 15, 2026 to Jan 31, 2027 | Agency guide |
| Youth | statewide | Sep 26, 2026 to Sep 27, 2026 | Agency guide |
| Archery | statewide | Oct 1, 2026 to Jan 3, 2027 | Agency guide |
| Firearms | statewide | Nov 14, 2026 to Nov 29, 2026 | Agency guide |
| Muzzleloader | statewide | Dec 5, 2026 to Dec 20, 2026 | Agency guide |
Legal light, bag limits, and calls
Bag limits
Season total: 7; Antlerless maximum: 6; Antlered maximum: 1. Statewide limit is one antlered and six antlerless deer, subject to county antlerless limits and license restrictions.
Bag-limit source agency
Electronic deer calls
TODO: Indiana deer-specific electronic-call rule was not confirmed in the official text reviewed.
No source URL in this data law
Phase calendar for the 2026 season
This calendar is an inference from the published movement anchor Nov 10. It is not a county-by-county observation.
| Phase | Window | What the model says |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-rut | Before to Oct 21, 2026 | Not defined in the reports; default label for days before seeking. |
| Seeking | Oct 22, 2026 to Nov 1, 2026 | Bucks begin searching for does; rising daily movement. |
| Chasing | Nov 2, 2026 to Nov 9, 2026 | Overlaps seeking and the start of breeding in the reported calendar. |
| Peak breeding / tending | Nov 10, 2026 to Nov 23, 2026 | Highest buck daily distance and daylight share; routes set by doe groups; tending bouts ~24-48 h. GPS work finds no population-wide 'lockdown' phase (agency: https://deerassociation.com/lockdown-phase-myth/). Map movement week likely spans late seeking, chasing and early breeding. |
| Post-rut | Nov 24, 2026 to Dec 7, 2026 | Movement eases back toward dawn/dusk; bucks return to food; mature bucks cruise for the last estrous does (Hellickson rattling: mature bucks responded most in post-rut). |
| Second rut | Dec 8, 2026 to Dec 21, 2026 | Unbred does recycle ~28 days after first estrus (agency: https://deerassociation.com/triggers-whitetail-rut/); doe fawns may cycle later. Days 35-41 are the 'second-rut tail'. A hypothesis for cameras to confirm, not local data. |
| Late season | Dec 22, 2026 to season close | Food-driven; mature bucks reach open food at or after sunset unless it is cold; sit food on cold-front afternoons. |
Evidence label: inference. Expect local variation.
Official guide links
Questions about Indiana
When is the rut in Indiana?
Indiana has published rut timing at county precision. The source method is 17 years of deer-vehicle collision records from 2003-2019, normalized by county and year, smoothed with local regression; Figure 9-7 maps the mean county peak date.. Examples: Adams: Nov 10; Allen: Nov 6; Bartholomew: Nov 11. The table has 92 published units. Source: the agency publication linked on this page.
What are the 2026-27 deer seasons in Indiana?
The table above lists the season rows present in Hockline's local data. Verify rows marked for agency confirmation.
Are electronic deer calls legal in Indiana?
TODO: Indiana deer-specific electronic-call rule was not confirmed in the official text reviewed.