Big Game Notes Before Hunting
Limits and Hours
The limit is one animal per tag and the hunting hours are one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset for all big game hunts, unless otherwise specified. New hunts, dates or units added to a hunt in 2025 are marked in bold italics.
PLEASE NOTE: Additional access may be available through private lands. Please visit the “Incentive and Compensation Maps” page on the NDOW website for more information.
Helicopter Overflights and Your Hunt
Helicopter surveys may be conducted during hunting seasons. The monitoring flights are timed to occur during the most effective months of the year to check on important parameters including ratio of bucks to does, fawn recruitment, and calf production. While we try to avoid surveys during open hunting seasons, sometimes it cannot be avoided. We apologize for any disturbance this may cause and will make every effort to limit this activity during your hunt.
Minimum Legal Requirements For Taking Edible Meat From The Field
Hunters are encouraged to use as much of their harvest as possible. Although most meat from big game is edible, below are the minimum lawful requirements.
In the case of a big game mammal, the meat of the front quarters as far as the distal joint of the radius-ulna (knee), hind quarters as far as the distal joint of the tibia-fibula (hock), and the meat along the backbone between the front and hind quarters. (Refer to NAC 503.0047)
- Front Quarter (Shoulder)
- Hind Quarter (Thigh)
- Backbone (Backstrap / Tenderloin)
Diagram showing the main meat cuts on a deer — shoulder, hindquarter, and backstrap — to help hunters identify prime areas for butchering and processing wild game efficiently.
