Duck Season 2026-27 Is Almost Here: Your Mid-South Countdown

Arkansas opens in 30 days. Mississippi and Tennessee follow the next weekend. Louisiana's West Zone hunters go even sooner. If you hunt public water, the work that decides your season happens between now and then: draws, permits, scouting, and getting the boat right.

This page has the opening dates, the deadlines that close before opening day, and a week-by-week list.

Opening days at a glance

All four states allow 6 ducks a day with species limits inside that total. Louisiana's mix is a little different: 1 black duck, no more than 1 hen pintail, and no mottled ducks for the first 15 days (LDWF). Scaup limits change partway through the season in Mississippi and Tennessee (MS law page, TN law page). Arkansas allows 1 scaup a day (AGFC 2026-27 Waterfowl Guidebook, p. 1).

River hunters: your Tennessee or Arkansas license works on the open Mississippi only on days both states are open. For 2026-27 that's Nov 28–29, Dec 10–23 and Dec 26–Jan 31. For Mississippi and Arkansas resident licenses it's Nov 27–29, Dec 10–23 and Dec 26–Jan 31. We worked those dates out from the official season pages above and the reciprocity agreements (AGFC Code H1.03, MDWFP reciprocal agreements). Both agreements leave out WMAs, some tributaries, and floodwater on private land. Read the Mississippi River at Memphis guide before you go.

Deadlines that close before opening day

These are the dates that cost people a season. Everything below was checked Oct 22, 2026. Our draw-deadline calendar keeps the full list.

Tennessee

• Fri, Oct 23 at noon: wheelchair-blind applications are due (noon on the fourth Friday of October). TWRA
• Mon, Oct 26: Tier 1 permanent blinds must be finished by the fourth Monday in October (TWRA 2026-27 Hunting Guide, p. 82). The TWRA news release for the early quota hunt also lists Oct 26 as the deadline to claim an early-segment permit (TWRA news, Sept 17, 2026).
• Oct 21–Nov 10 (open now): applications for the mid-segment WMA quota hunts, which cover hunt days Dec 22–Jan 11 (TWRA; hunt-day range from the guide's table, p. 55).
• Mon, Nov 9 at 6 p.m. local: in-person leftover drawing for early-segment blinds (TWRA public-land duck hunting).
• Nov 18–Dec 8: applications for the late segment (Jan 12–31) (TWRA).

Arkansas

• Every week of the season: AGFC's WMA permit draws take applications from 3 p.m. Thursday to midnight Sunday ahead of each hunt period, and winners are emailed Monday (AGFC special permit hunts). The exact weekend-by-weekend dates are on AGFC's draw-date sheets. Not confirmed We haven't confirmed them yet, so check AGFC before you plan around a specific weekend.
• Permit-only areas this year include Buckingham Flats GTR, Prairie Bayou WMA, the Wiville West Tract and the new St. Francis River Permit Unit (Guidebook p. 4). The St. Francis unit's map and site count weren't published as of Oct 22, 2026. See our St. Francis guide.
• Sun, Nov 1: waterfowl rest areas on WMAs close to all entry through Feb 15 (Guidebook p. 44). Do your rest-area scouting before then, from the boundary.
• Nov 14–20: no boats at all on "Common Restriction A" WMAs such as Dagmar and Black Swamp (Guidebook pp. 4, 44). That's the week before opener, so get your scouting runs done earlier.
• Nonresidents: you need a 3-day ($40) or 30-day ($200) nonresident WMA waterfowl permit for any WMA, and you can't hunt Dave Donaldson Black River WMA during the Nov 21–29 segment (Guidebook pp. 4, 14, 42).

Mississippi

• Closed: the 2026-27 WMA waterfowl draw ran Oct 1–15. MDWFP says results usually go out within a week (MDWFP draw hunts). Check your account now.
• Free-lance WMA days: each WMA opens to walk-up hunting only on certain days of the week (MDWFP hunt days). Know yours before you drive.
• North Mississippi refuges (Coldwater River, Dahomey, Tallahatchie, Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee) need a $15 North Mississippi NWR permit (MDWFP license prices).

Louisiana

• LDWF's waterfowl lottery hunts usually take applications in the summer (LDWF lottery hunts). Not confirmed We couldn't confirm the exact 2026-27 deadline on LDWF's own site, so treat it as closed and check LDWF.
• Hunting an LDWF WMA takes a WMA access permit on top of your license (LDWF waterfowl licensing guide; LDWF fee list).

Federal refuges (all states)

National wildlife refuges set their own rules, and many need a signed refuge permit you carry. Several close their sanctuaries in mid-November. For example, Cache River NWR's sanctuaries close Nov 15–Feb 28 (Cache River NWR hunting), and parts of Reelfoot NWR close Nov 15 (Reelfoot/Lake Isom brochure). Print the brochure for every refuge you plan to hunt.

Week by week until opening day

This week (Oct 22–Nov 1): paperwork and the stuff that takes time to ship

• Buy licenses, state stamps and the Federal Duck Stamp (good July 1 through June 30, USFWS). Do your HIP certification in every state you'll hunt. Tennessee handles it through its $1 Migratory Bird Permit (TN law page).
• Put in for the Tennessee mid-segment quota hunt. It's open now.
• Order anything you'll need shipped: wader patch kits, decoy line and weights, a spare prop, shells. Shelves and shipping both get slow in November.
• Scout Arkansas rest-area edges before Nov 1, while you still can.
• Do the boat and motor service now (see our pre-season gear prep guide).

Nov 2–8: scout water, not birds

• Water decides everything this year. Arkansas is in a long drought (AGFC, Oct 7, 2026), and the Mississippi at Memphis read 2.85 ft at 2 a.m. today with a falling forecast (NWS MEMT1, read Oct 22, 2026). Check our migration map river layer and the gauge notes on each spot guide.
• Run your launch at daylight. Low-water ramps, fresh sandbars and stumps that were under water last year are this year's problems. Mark them on your GPS.
• Arkansas speck and snow goose hunters are already in the field (Oct 31–Nov 8 segment, AGFC). Watch how your area's boat traffic shapes up.

Nov 9–15: lock in the plan

• Tennessee leftover drawing is Mon, Nov 9 at 6 p.m.
• Louisiana West Zone opens Sat, Nov 14. Mississippi goose season opens Fri, Nov 13 (MDWFP).
• Choose a Plan A, B and C for opening morning. On crowded public water, Plan A is often gone by 4 a.m.
• Pattern-test your gun with the load you'll actually shoot, and check the plug. All four states require the gun to hold no more than 3 shells (50 CFR 20.21).
• Get the dog's feet, coat and conditioning sorted.

Nov 16–21: Arkansas and Louisiana East Zone opener

• Remember the Nov 14–20 no-boat days on Common Restriction A WMAs.
• Pack the night before. Check the shell count if you're on Dagmar or Black Swamp: 25 shells max, nothing bigger than No. 2 shot (Guidebook pp. 42, 44).
• On Arkansas WMAs, shooting ends at noon and you must be off the water by 1 p.m. (Guidebook p. 41).
• Opening Saturday: Nov 21.

Nov 22–28: Mississippi and Tennessee open

• Mississippi opens Fri, Nov 27. Tennessee opens Sat, Nov 28.
• Tennessee's possession limit is only 1× the daily bag on opening day and 2× on day two (TWRA guide, pp. 55–56). Don't stack birds from two hunts.
• Reelfoot hunters: shooting there ends at 3 p.m., and you need the Reelfoot Preservation Permit ($3 a day, $10 for 3 days, $16 a year) unless you're exempt (Reelfoot guide).

What we're watching

• Water. Rain decides whether the timber floods. The NOAA winter outlook leans wetter for the Lower Mississippi Valley (our outlook breakdown), but it doesn't promise rain before opening day.
• Bird numbers. Breeding mallards were estimated at 5.9 million, 26% under the long-term average (USFWS 2026 Waterfowl Population Status). Full breakdown in our 2026 Mississippi Flyway forecast.
• St. Francis. The new permit unit's map and rules. We'll post them as soon as AGFC publishes them.

FAQ

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