Texas deer season 2026-27 in the Hill Country: general season Nov. 7 to Jan. 3, late seasons, Gillespie County bag limits, licenses and exotics.
The Texas general deer season opens Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, in both the North and South zones. Gillespie County, where Harper sits, is in Texas Parks & Wildlife's North Zone. This page gives the 2026-27 dates and rules for whitetail deer in Gillespie and the counties around it, and what changes when the animal is an exotic.
2026-27 deer season dates in Gillespie County
- Archery only: Oct. 3 to Nov. 6, 2026 (archery endorsement required)
- Early youth-only: Oct. 30 to Nov. 1, 2026 (closed)
- General season: Nov. 7, 2026 to Jan. 3, 2027
- Late youth-only: Jan. 4 to 17, 2027, for licensed hunters 16 and under
- Special late: Jan. 4 to 17, 2027, antlerless deer and unbranched bucks only
For context, the South Zone general season runs two weeks longer, to Jan. 17, 2027. Gillespie has no muzzleloader-only season.
Bag limits in the Hill Country
Gillespie allows 5 deer, no more than 2 bucks, all seasons combined, so deer taken in the archery and youth seasons count against it. The county page lists no antler restriction, so the 13-inch spread rule that applies in some Texas counties does not apply here.
The statewide limit sits on top of the county limit: 5 whitetail a license year, no more than 3 bucks, counting every county you hunt. Take 2 bucks in Gillespie and you have one buck left for the rest of Texas.
In the special late season you may take only antlerless deer and unbranched bucks. An unbranched buck has at least one antler with no more than one point. A point is a projection at least an inch long, and the tip of the main beam counts as one.
We checked the neighboring county pages on Nov. 3, 2026. Kerr, Kendall, Kimble, Llano, Mason and Blanco carry the same dates and the same 5-deer, 2-buck limit. Anywhere else, check your county's page.
Licenses, tags and hunter orange
- Resident Hunting License: $25
- Youth Hunting License: $7, for anyone under 17, resident or not
- Non-Resident General Hunting License: $315, the only license that covers whitetail for a non-resident 17 or older
- Non-Resident Special 5-Day Small Game/Exotic: $48 for five consecutive days, valid for exotics but not for whitetail
Tag a deer as soon as it is down: fill in the property name and county on the license tag and attach it to the animal. Hunter orange is recommended but not required on private land, and Gillespie is not one of the counties with mandatory whitetail harvest reporting. For hunter education and the rest of the paperwork, read Do you need a hunting license to hunt exotics in Texas?
MLDP properties run on different dates
Some ranches are enrolled in TPWD's Managed Lands Deer Program and hunt on MLDP tags, which are valid only on the property they were issued for. Under the Harvest Option, any buck may be taken by any lawful means from Nov. 7, 2026 to Feb. 28, 2027, and the annual bag limit does not apply to deer taken on MLDP tags. Every hunter on MLDP tags still needs a Resident or Non-Resident General hunting license. If you hear of a Texas ranch taking bucks in February, this is the reason.
Exotics have no season
Exotics follow a different rulebook. On private property, Texas has no closed seasons, no state bag or possession limits and no required means and methods of take for exotic animals. A hunting license is still required. Read the details in TPWD rules on exotic animals.
Every exotic TPWD names as an example is on our species list: aoudad, axis deer, elk, sika, fallow, red deer, blackbuck and nilgai. The red deer is the animal behind the red stag. With no season to work around, the animal and the weather decide when to come, and we cover that in the best time of year to hunt exotics.
The whitetail keeps a calendar. The exotics don't.
A whitetail and an exotic on one trip
Whitetail are hunted only in season. Exotics can be hunted any day the ranch is open, so a fall or winter trip can put both on the list. Black Eagle's whitetail trophy fee is $5,000. The lodge and guide rate is $350 per hunter per day, and a non-hunting guest is $150 a day. You pay a trophy fee only for animals taken.
Hunts run on your timeline, up to 8 hunters a day. The ranch is open year-round except Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 26, and Christmas Day, Friday, Dec. 25.
Say you hunt two days and take a whitetail and an aoudad. That is $700 in day rates, plus $5,000 and $3,500 in trophy fees: $9,200, plus your license. Each added animal adds its own trophy fee, and you can see every trophy fee on one page. Ask us about whitetail dates when you reserve, and we'll confirm your whitetail days when we call.
Rules can change from year to year. Before you hunt, check Gillespie County rules from Texas Parks & Wildlife, or your own county's page. Then reserve your days.
