 Maine's firearms hunting season for deer starts Saturday, November 1 for Maine residents and Monday, November 3 for non-residents
Soon you will be sitting in one of your favorite spots, watching the woods wake up around you in anticipation of a white-tailed deer passing through your shooting lane. Until then, it's time to do some last minute scouting, secure landowner permission (if you haven't already), gather your gear, start scent control, ensure your firearm is ready, and go over a few safety reminders:
- Always treat every firearm as if it is loaded
- Keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction at all times
- Always carry your firearm in a safe manner
- Be sure of your target and what is beyond
- Follow treestand safety by always wearing a safety harness and using a safety line. Once safely secured, use a haul line to pull up your unloaded firearm to you. Be aware of potentially hazardous trees nearby.
- Always tell someone where you are going and when you expect to return
- Bring a survival kit and compass, even the most experienced outdoors people can get turned around in the dark
We hope you have a safe, memorable season in the woods.
Either-Sex Deer Hunting
For 2025, in WMDs 21-25 and 29 during the firearms and muzzleloader seasons, hunters may harvest one deer, either antlered or antlerless, under the authority of their big game hunting license. This deer counts as the hunter's one deer for the year. If a hunter wants to take additional deer, an antlerless deer permit is required. View WMD map.
Additional antlerless deer may be taken if the hunter has antlerless deer permit(s) or with expanded archery antlerless deer permit(s) during the expanded archery season. View expanded archery zone map.
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Annual Bag Limit Reminder: Deer harvested during the regular archery and crossbow, firearms, and muzzleloader seasons count toward the same annual bag limit. A hunter who harvested an antlered deer during the regular archery and crossbow season cannot harvest another antlered deer during the firearms season.
Extra Antlerless Deer Permits Available for Purchase
Extra permits are available for purchase in WMDs 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 29 on a first come, first served basis.
You may buy up to three extra antlerless deer permits in total. If you already have a lottery permit, you may hold up to four total permits.
Have you purchased a permit through the lottery, but can't remember your permit number or information?
You can look up your permit using the Purchased Permit Lookup.
Access to Private Land is a Privilege, Not a Right
Be a Good Land User
Always ask permission before hunting on private property and learn what matters most to the landowner. Keep it clean, legal, and respectful. Don't forget to label all treestands and game cameras with your contact information, and ask for permission before putting them on private property (game cameras require written permission). It is up to us, today's hunters, to help maintain access for generations to come.
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Protect Maine's White-Tailed Deer
Do your part to keep Chronic Wasting Disease out of Maine
1. Follow Maine's import laws. It is illegal to transport wild deer, caribou, moose, or elk carcass parts into Maine from any state or province except New Hampshire. Hunters may return to Maine only with boned-out meat, hardened antlers (with or without skull caps), hides without the head portion, and finished taxidermy mounts. If still attached, skull caps should be cleaned free of brain and other tissues.
2. When hunting out of state, take extra precautions. When hunting deer, moose, caribou, or elk outside of Maine, take necessary steps to avoid handling, transporting, or consuming CWD-infected specimens - instructions found on our website. Hunters returning from hunts in jurisdictions with CWD should very thoroughly clean their gear (such as boots and knives) before returning to Maine and entering the Maine woods.
3. Don’t use urine-based lures. Instead, hunters should use synthetic, non-urine-based lures.
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