2024-2025 Hunting & Trapping Guide
This guide provides a summary of Indiana hunting and trapping regulations. This guide is not intended to be a complete digest of regulations. If you need complete versions of Indiana rules and regulations for hunting, they can be found in Indiana Code or in Indiana Administrative Code Title 312. See changes to Deer Regulations below.
Licenses & Fees
Regulations
- Deer
- Changes the definition of the deer license bundle to include only one (1) antlered deer and two antlerless deer;
- Sets forth the bonus county antlerless limits;
- Prohibits taking an antlerless deer with a firearm on Division of Fish & Wildlife-managed properties, as well as Salamonie, Mississinewa, and Patoka lakes;
- Changes the dates on which ground or tree blinds may be placed on certain department properties in deer reduction zones to being able to set them up starting at noon on Sept. 1 (this is only for properties in a deer reduction zone); and
- Allows hunters to use an infrared sensor to retrieve a legally taken (dead) deer.
- Wild Turkey
- Furbearers
- Small Game
- Waterfowl & Migratory Birds
- Other Game Birds
NOTE: AS of September 15, 2024, a new Deer Hunting Interim Rule (Indiana Administrative Code) for the 2024-25 season is in effect, and these changes are included in the 2024-2025 Hunting & Trapping Guide. The changes include the following provisions:
- Featured in 2024-2025 Hunting Guide
Avid Deer Hunter is All About CommunityRoger Getz has checked in more deer than any other hunter in Indiana since the online check-in system began. In 2023, the Valparaiso resident checked in his 100th harvest.
But that’s not all that makes him noteworthy.
No one taught Getz how to hunt. He learned largely on his own, by attending seminars and through trial and error. He shot his first deer in 1980 and has evolved into a mentor.
Despite being mostly self-taught, he credits his achievements to the community that surrounds him—whether it’s landowners, his wife, his fellow parishioners, fellow hunters, or the DNR.
Hunting mostly on private property, Getz collaborates with landowners on projects and helps them manage their wildlife habitat, which includes using some techniques he learned years ago, when he bought his own property.
He called his district wildlife biologist back then and asked what he could do to create habitat for deer, songbirds, and small game.
“The biologist came out and looked at the property and came back with a plan,” Getz says. “We planted 1,850 trees in the first year and continued planting more most years after. Forty years later, I have 60 varieties of trees, including 80-foot-tall spruces, oak trees, walnut trees, and crabapple trees—all for the animals and us to enjoy.”
Getz often gives most of the venison from his hunts to family, friends, and people from his church. His favorite memories from his hunting adventures involve other community members.
“I really enjoy getting together with other people and experiencing the camaraderie of working together—getting on stands together, hunting properties, shooting together, and eating lunch after hunting when we visit and share stories,” he says.
Getz believes in supporting other hunters with his own skills, serving as a mentor for many younger hunters.
“I teach them the basics and help them learn from their mistakes,” he says. “I help them appreciate the animal, the provisions, the landowners, the whole experience.”
Looking to follow in his footsteps and find your next best hunt? View our Where to Hunt map for hunting locations across the state at on.IN.gov/where2hunt.
Photo by Roger Getz
- Hunting Guide Disclaimer
The Indiana Hunting & Trapping Guide is available on eRegulations, a third party online service. The guide is a summary of Indiana hunting regulations. It is designed as a service to hunters and is not intended to be a complete digest of all hunting and trapping regulations. Most regulations are subject to change by administrative rule. New editions of the guide appear in mid-August. The eRegulations website has different privacy and security policies and contains advertising. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources neither endorses products or services listed or claims made; nor accepts any liability arising from the use of products or services listed.
- General Hunting Information
- Other Guides