Several Hunting Seasons Beginning in Delaware

DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife announced today that additional Delaware hunting seasons are opening this month, including expanded Sunday deer hunting opportunities. Sunday deer hunting is allowed on all Sundays through the end of the deer season on Feb. 3, 2019, using only those hunting methods legal for the respective established deer hunting seasons. Please refer to the Department’s Sunday Hunting webpage for Sunday deer hunting information, including hunting opportunities on state wildlife areas.

Hunting seasons opening in October:

• Snow goose: Oct. 3 – Feb. 2, 2019, and Feb. 9, 2019
• Muzzleloader deer: Oct. 5-14, including Sundays
• Antlerless deer: Oct. 15, 19-22, and 26-29, including Sundays
• Youth Waterfowl Hunt: Saturday, Oct. 20
• Ducks, coots, and mergansers: first season split Oct. 26 – Nov. 6

Continuing hunting seasons include:

• Moorhen, gallinule, sora, Virginia rail, king rail, and clapper rail: through Nov. 21
• Common snipe: through  Nov. 24, and Dec. 15 – Jan. 26, 2019
• Archery and crossbow deer: through Jan. 31, 2019, including all Sundays (archery and crossbow can also be used Feb. 1 – 3 during the late muzzleloader deer season)
• Gray squirrel: through Feb. 2, 2019 (closed during November shotgun deer season)
• Coyote hunting season: through Feb. 28, 2019
• Crows: through March 31, 2019 (Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays only)
• Groundhog: through June 30, 2019

Delaware hunting license or License Exempt Number (LEN) is required to hunt, and most waterfowl hunters are required to purchase a Delaware waterfowl (duck) stamp. More information on hunting license and Delaware waterfowl stamp requirements is available at Delaware Licenses. Waterfowl and other migratory gamebird (except crow) hunters willneed a federal Harvest Information Program (HIP) number. To register for a HIP number or LEN number, hunters can go to Delaware Hunter and Trapper Registration or call toll free 855-335-4868. For hunters age 16 and older, a federal migratory bird stamp is also required to hunt waterfowl.

To purchase a hunting license, either in person or online, hunters born on or after Jan. 1, 1967, must have a basic hunter education safety course card/number. Hunters who took a Delaware hunter safety course starting in 2008 can print their hunter safety card by going to http://de.gov/huntersafety. Hunters who took their Delaware hunter safety course before 2008 should call the Hunter Education Office at 302-735-3600, ext. 1, to obtain a hunter safety card.

Registered motor vehicles used to access designated wildlife areas owned or managed by the Division of Fish & Wildlife are required to display a Conservation Access Pass (CAP). Hunters can opt to receive one free annual CAP with the purchase of any Delaware hunting license. To obtain a free CAP, or to purchase an additional pass, hunters will need the registration card for the vehicle to which the pass will be assigned.

Delaware hunting licenses, Delaware waterfowl stamps, and Conservation Access Passes can be purchased online at Delaware Licenses, at the license desk in DNREC’s Dover office at 89 Kings Highway, Dover, DE 19901, or from hunting license agents statewide. Federal migratory bird stamps are available at U.S. Post Offices, Bombay Hook and Prime Hook national wildlife refuges, and online at Federal duck stamps.

For more information on hunting, click 2018-2019 Delaware Hunting & Trapping Guide and Wildlife Area Hunting Maps. Hard copies of guide and newly-updated hunting maps are also available at the license desk in DNREC’s Dover office. More information on hunting licenses, season details, and Conservation Access Passes is also available by calling the Wildlife Section office at 302-739-9912.