Can I Shoot a Deer on My Property in Tennessee?

You can shoot a deer on your property in Tennessee, but owning the land does not put you outside the state’s hunting rules. You still need a hunting license and the right big game supplemental license unless you qualify for the farmland owner exemption, you can only hunt during the seasons the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency sets, you have to use a legal weapon during legal hours, and you must check the deer in by midnight on the day of harvest. Local city and county ordinances can also restrict firearm discharge on your own land, and those rules override the fact that state law would otherwise let you hunt.

The Farmland Owner Exemption

Tennessee gives certain resident landowners a break on licensing. If your land qualifies as farmland, you, your spouse, your children, your children’s spouses, and grandchildren and great-grandchildren under 16 can hunt on it without buying a hunting license or big game permits, provided everyone involved is a bona fide Tennessee resident.¹ Tenants can also qualify, but only if the primary purpose of the tenancy is agricultural.

The land must be owned by no more than one individual or one family, with “family” meaning kinship within the third degree plus any spouse with an interest in the property.¹ You have to carry a signed Farmland Owner License Exemption Statement describing the property and attesting to your eligibility, and produce it if a TWRA officer asks.

Here is the part that catches people. The exemption only waives license and permit purchases. Every other rule in this article still applies to you: seasons, bag limits, check-in, weapon restrictions, hunter education, and CWD rules. If you’re on farmland you own and you shoot a deer in July, you’ve broken the law regardless of the exemption.

Licenses If You Don’t Qualify

For residents 16 to 64 who don’t fall under the farmland exemption, the base Annual Hunting and Fishing Combination license is $33, and it covers small game and fishing only. To hunt deer you also need a Big Game supplemental license for your weapon type. Gun, Archery, and Muzzleloader supplementals each cost $33.² The minimum for a resident rifle hunter is $66.

Residents 13 to 15 can buy a Junior Hunt/Fish/Trap License for $9 that covers deer with no add-ons.² Children under 12 don’t need a license but must hunt with a licensed adult. Residents 65 and older pay $4 for the Annual Senior Citizen license, which already includes the big game supplementals.

Anyone born on or after January 1, 1969 has to complete a hunter education course and carry proof while hunting.³ A one-time-only Apprentice Hunting License is available for $11 if you want to hunt for a year before completing the course, but you have to hunt with an adult 21 or older who has completed hunter education.⁴

When You Can Actually Hunt

Deer can only be taken during the seasons TWRA sets, and the season depends on your weapon. For 2025–2026, archery-only runs from late September through early November in two segments, a muzzleloader-and-archery season follows in mid-to-late November, and the statewide gun season opens November 22 and runs through January 4, 2026. Muzzleloaders and archery equipment are also legal during gun season.⁵ Dates shift year to year, so check the current TWRA regulations before you hunt.

Legal shooting hours are 30 minutes before legal sunrise to 30 minutes after legal sunset.⁶ Spotlighting and night hunting are illegal on your own land the same as anywhere else.

Statewide, the antlered limit is two per season with no more than one antlered deer per day. Antlerless limits are set by Deer Management Unit and vary significantly. You can harvest up to the antlerless limit in each DMU you hunt, but moving between counties inside the same DMU does not reset the count.⁷

Legal Weapons

Tennessee allows several weapons for deer, each with its own requirements:

Rifles and handguns are legal during gun season. Full metal jacket ammunition is prohibited, and juveniles under 18 cannot hunt with handguns.
Shotguns must use slugs or single solid ball ammunition. Buckshot is not permitted for deer.
Muzzleloaders must be .36 caliber or larger and loaded from the muzzle.
Longbows, recurves, compound bows, and crossbows are all legal. Arrows and bolts must have sharpened broadheads, and explosive broadheads are prohibited.
Air guns must be .35 caliber or larger, pre-charged pneumatic, with a built-in air pressure gauge.

Fully automatic firearms, night-vision scopes, and thermal imaging devices are banned for hunting at all times. Dogs cannot be used to chase or take deer.

Local Ordinances and Distance From Dwellings

This is the piece that surprises most landowners. Many Tennessee cities and towns prohibit discharging firearms inside their corporate limits. Those ordinances apply on your property, and they override state hunting rules. If your land is inside city limits, archery may be your only legal option, and some municipalities restrict that too. Call your city or county government before you hunt and confirm what’s allowed on your parcel.

Tennessee has no statewide minimum acreage for hunting deer on private land. The acreage minimums in TWRA regulations apply to licensed Private Wildlife Preserves, which are commercial captive-wildlife operations, not typical private-land hunting. Local ordinances can impose their own setback or acreage rules, which is one more reason to check locally.

State law also makes it a Class C misdemeanor to hunt on public lands and waters within 100 yards of a visible dwelling without the homeowner’s permission, punishable by up to 30 days in jail and up to a $50 fine.⁸⁹ That specific 100-yard rule is written for public land, not private property, but it should tell you something about the state’s expectations. Setting up a stand close to a neighbor’s house is a bad idea regardless of what the statute technically covers.

Checking In Your Deer

Every deer harvested in Tennessee has to be checked in by midnight on the day of harvest. The rule applies to everyone, including landowners hunting under the farmland exemption.¹⁰ Check-in has to happen before you transport the deer out of state or give it to anyone else.

The TWRA On The Go mobile app works without cell service and issues a harvest confirmation number immediately. Online reporting is also available. Keep the confirmation number until the deer is fully processed, and send it along if you drop the deer at a taxidermist or processor or give meat to someone.¹⁰ Evidence of the animal’s sex, species, and antler status has to stay with the carcass until check-in is done, so don’t field-dress in a way that removes it.

If the Deer Crosses Onto a Neighbor’s Land

A deer you shoot doesn’t always drop where you shot it. If a wounded deer crosses onto a neighbor’s property, you must get that landowner’s permission before stepping across the line to track or retrieve it.¹¹ Going onto a neighbor’s land without permission can produce a trespass violation and license revocation.¹² Talk to the neighbors before the season, not during a blood trail.

Chronic Wasting Disease Counties

If your property is in one of the 23 counties where CWD has been detected in wild deer, extra rules kick in. Those counties are Carroll, Chester, Crockett, Decatur, Dickson, Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, Henderson, Henry, Humphreys, Lauderdale, Lewis, Madison, McNairy, Shelby, Tipton, Wayne, Weakley, and Williamson.¹³

The main restriction is on carcass transport. You can move a carcass freely within the CWD Management Zone, but once it enters the zone it cannot leave. Deboned meat, cleaned antlers or skull plates, cleaned teeth, tanned hides, and finished taxidermy products are exempt and can be moved anywhere.¹⁴ If your processor or taxidermist is outside the zone, break the carcass down to approved parts first. Wildlife feeding restrictions also apply inside the CWD zone and affect what you can put out on your land during hunting season.

Penalties for Getting It Wrong

Hunting without a license is a Class C misdemeanor and can result in license revocation. Illegally killing or possessing a deer is a Class B misdemeanor, with a mandatory prison sentence on a second or subsequent offense.¹⁵

Courts also order restitution to TWRA based on the animal:

Antlerless deer or bucks with fewer than 8 points: at least $1,000 per animal.
Bucks with 8 to 10 points: at least $1,000 per animal plus $500 per antler point.
Bucks with 11 or more points: at least $1,000 per animal plus $750 per antler point.

A 12-point buck taken illegally can trigger at least $10,000 in restitution before fines and court costs. A court that convicts you must revoke your hunting license until restitution is paid in full.¹⁵ Hunting on someone else’s land without permission can also cost you your license at the court’s discretion.¹²

1
Justia. Tennessee Code 70-2-204 – Hunting and Fishing on Farmland – License Exemption to Owners, Tenants, and Specified Spouses and Relatives – Proof of Compliance
2
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. License Structure and Fees
3
TN.gov. Tennessee Hunter Education Information
4
Tennessee Secretary of State. Rules of Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Chapter 1660-01-28
5
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. 2025-26 Gun Hunting Season for Deer Opens November 22
6
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. General Hunting and Trapping Regulations
7
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Tennessee Deer Hunting
8
Justia. Tennessee Code 70-4-108 – Hunting From or Across Public Road or Near Dwelling – Penalty
9
Justia. Tennessee Code 40-35-111 – Authorized Terms of Imprisonment and Fines for Misdemeanors
10
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Tag Before You Drag, Game Check-In Procedures
11
Tennessee Secretary of State. Rules and Regulations Governing Tracking Wounded Deer
12
Justia. Tennessee Code 70-4-106 – Permission of Owner of Land to Take Wildlife or Big Game Required – Penalty for Violations
13
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. CWD in Tennessee
14
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. Deer Carcass Disposal and Transport
15
Justia. Tennessee Code 70-4-116 – Hunting, Killing and Possession of Deer, Bear, Wild Elk and Wild Turkey – Transporting – Tagging – Penalties