As I have written about a few times already this year, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) made changes to the deer hunting regulations for the fall 2026 hunting season.

One of the more notable ones to me, is the expansion of the Early Antlerless Deer Season by adding 10 WMUs to the hunt area. Mainly because they included the WMU where I learned to deer hunt and I still do a fair amount of deer hunting during the regular firearm season there.

This early season runs for nine days, which is a Saturday through the following Sunday, allowing hunters with Monday through Friday jobs, the opportunity to hunt two entire weekends.

Some of the WMUs are close enough to Chenango County that hunters could decide to go hunt there without needing to make extravagant overnight plans before or after hunting. So if you are planning to attempt to harvest an antlerless deer this weekend, or any other time in the nine-day season, here are some things to think about.

1. Meat storage or processing - The overnight temperatures for the next 10 days don’t get below 45 degrees, making hanging a deer for multiple days a very difficult proposition. So have a plan for what you are going to do if you are successful. I have seen some venison processors making social media posts about whether they are accepting deer harvested in the early season or not. If you want to process your harvest yourself, get the meat broken down into manageable sized pieces and get it into a cooler with ice. Bag the meat in something that will not let water through it, consider double-bagging it just to be safe.

2. Insects and ticks - To piggyback off the warm nights line of thinking, biting insects are still out in fair quantities since there hasn’t been a frost yet. With afternoon high temperatures reaching over 70 degrees, anticipate mosquitos being your company in the tree stand or the ground blind. I pulled my Thermacell unit out of my turkey hunting vest and put it in my deer hunting backpack so I can use it to keep the mosquitos at bay. I also hit my lightweight camouflage clothing with a permethrin treatment to repel ticks that get on to my clothing as I walk around.

3. Clothing - The warmer temperatures and the foliage level being close to full, your clothing options are likely the same lightweight clothing you use during spring turkey season. Remember that if you are hunting big game with a firearm, you MUST wear either a vest or hat that is blaze orange or pink with there being a minimum number of square inches that must be visible. Read the Big Game Hunting regulations online or in the printed regulations guide for the exact details.

4. Target Identification - This season is for antlerless deer only so hunters need to be sure they are shooting at a deer that is considered antlerless under the definitions of the regulations. So bring a pair of binoculars to make sure there isn’t one (or two) antlers greater than 3-inches long on the deer’s head before shooting it. With the warm days, many deer will move very close to dusk and can be difficult to identify. It is better to miss out on a harvest than to shoot the wrong animal.

I will be making a trip to stay at my mom’s house this Friday night so I can hunt Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon depending on my success rate.

I encourage hunters to look at the areas open to the early antlerless season and to consider trying to harvest an antlerless deer to help reduce the populations in areas the NYSDEC has determined are overpopulated. This will help the ecosystem while also filling your freezer.