Deer Season Around Blue Ridge Runs Until New Year's. These Are the Weeks Trail Users Should Circle.
October 22, 2026
October 22, 2026
Firearms deer season opened on October 17 on the Chattahoochee National Forest land around Blue Ridge that sits outside the Wildlife Management Areas. Under Georgia's 2026–2027 regulations, it doesn't stop until January 1. Three WMAs that reach into Fannin County keep calendars of their own, with short firearms hunts that line up with Veterans Day week, Thanksgiving week and the week between Christmas and New Year's.
So if you walk Stanley Gap, the Benton MacKaye Trail or the route out to Long Creek Falls, the useful question this fall is which of those calendars the ground under your boots follows.
Outside the WMAs, Chattahoochee National Forest land east of I-75 has a buck-only firearms deer season from October 17 through January 1. Bear firearms season on the same land runs over the same dates. Fannin County is in the Forest Service's Blue Ridge Ranger District, and that general federal-land schedule applies there.
Archery season comes back to that land from January 2 through 10, after the firearms dates end.
Two rules shape what that means on a weekday walk:
That 150-yard buffer around developed sites and roads is a big reason a trailhead parking lot can feel calm while the ridges past it are active.
The Wildlife Management Areas sit on top of the national forest and run their own hunt dates. Three of them reach into Fannin County, and each one touches trails that people around Blue Ridge use.
Blue Ridge WMA covers 20,900 acres in Fannin, Union and Lumpkin counties, all of it Forest Service property. Its check station is reached from the Dahlonega side, by GA 60 and USFS Road 69. This is the high country toward Springer Mountain. According to the Benton MacKaye Trail Association, the Appalachian Trail and the Benton MacKaye Trail share Springer Mountain, cross back and forth for their first seven miles, split at Long Creek Falls, and the BMT then crosses the Toccoa River on the Swinging Bridge.
Rich Mountain WMA covers 19,955 acres in Gilmer and Fannin counties, and the U.S. Forest Service owns most of it. Its check station is on Stanley Creek, reached from Ellijay by Highway 515 and County Road 151. The DNR's own Rich Mountain WMA map labels Aska Road, Stanley Gap and the Benton MacKaye Trail. That matters to anyone who rides or hikes the Aska Trail System. It's a 17-mile Forest Service network less than 10 miles from downtown Blue Ridge, and the BMT shares part of it along the Stanley Gap Trail.
Cohutta WMA is the giant of the three, at 96,583 acres in Murray, Fannin and Gilmer counties. The Forest Service describes the Cohutta Wilderness as having trails along the Jacks and Conasauga rivers. The BMT continues west from Blue Ridge through the Cohutta and Big Frog wildernesses.
Archery is close to a constant on two of these areas this fall. Rich Mountain's buck-only archery runs September 12 through November 23 and again from November 30 through January 1. Cohutta's runs October 5 through December 1 and December 7 through January 1. The firearms windows are the dates to put on a trail user's calendar.
Here are the WMA firearms dates for 2026, in order, from the current Georgia regulations:
Three of the five windows land on holiday weeks: Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and the week between Christmas and New Year's. The first week of December is the one stretch where two WMAs hunt at once.
Sundays aren't off-limits either. Georgia's WMA rules include hunts set for "Saturdays and Sundays only during statewide season," and several of the windows above run through a Sunday.
The early-season WMA hunts are already over. Blue Ridge WMA's bear-only firearms hunt ran September 26 to October 2. Cohutta's first firearms window ran October 1 to 4.
Georgia's orange rule is written for hunters. A hunter, and anyone with that hunter, must wear an outer garment with at least 500 square inches of fluorescent orange or blaze pink above the waist during primitive-weapons and firearms deer and bear seasons. That requirement covers WMAs and federal lands. As written, the rule names hunters and the people accompanying them. This is general information, not legal advice, so check the current Georgia hunting regulations or call DNR if you need the exact rule for your situation.
The Forest Service's guidance for everyone else is more direct. The Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest's safety page, updated in August 2026, puts it this way:
"Avoid wearing white or tan during deer and turkey season. Wear hunter orange or another highly visible color."
The agency's national hunting-season page extends that to dogs: "If accompanied by a dog, the dog should also wear hunter orange or a very visible color on a vest, leash, coat or bandana." The same page reminds hunters that "other recreationists are enjoying the forest as well." The Blue Ridge Mountains visitor bureau's hiking page gives the short version: "If hiking during hunting season, wear a brightly colored vest."
A tan fleece and a brown dog on a ridge in November look a lot like the animal a hunter is waiting for, and that's the whole reason for the white-and-tan warning.
You can find the gear locally. These stores sell outdoor apparel or sporting goods, though it's worth calling ahead to confirm orange is in stock:
For more on the trails themselves, see our Blue Ridge outdoor guide for new cabin owners. Riders who also use the Cartecay Tract outside Ellijay, a separate 2,165-acre unit of Rich Mountain WMA, can catch up on the trail rebuild there.
A lot of cabins around Blue Ridge back up to national forest, and the land behind your property line runs on the same hunting calendars as the trails. If you're wondering how that line works for your own place, or for one you're thinking about, Char Stacy is happy to walk through it with you. Let's Connect.
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