Deer bow-hunting season starts Sept. 6
Fairfax County’s deer hunting season starts on Saturday, Sept. 6, and runs through Feb. 14, 2026. The program is aimed at curbing deer overpopulation.
The program allows authorized archery groups to shoot deer in certain parks from 30 minutes before sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset Monday-Saturday.
Parks will remain open to the public. According to the county’s wildlife department, archery hunters go through a screening program to participate. Hunters must comply with all requirements for licenses, permits, and hunter safety education.
Bow hunting is conducted from tree stands, with archers shooting downward.
Archery is allowed in these parks in or near the Annandale/Mason District area:
- Accotink Stream Valley Cluster – Accotink Stream Valley Park, Eakin Park (Mantua section), Sally Ormsby Park, Eakin Community Park, Brookfield Park, Carrleigh Parkway, Hunter Village Park.
- Holmes Run Cluster – Holmes Run Stream Valley, Lillian Carey Park, Mason District Park, Roundtree Park, Deerlick Park, Franconia Park.
- Lake Accotink Cluster – Lake Accotink, Wakefield Park, Americana Park, Long Branch Stream Valley.
Another component of Fairfax County’s deer culling program includes nighttime sharpshooting conducted by the Police Department. Sharpshooting operations are allowed in 12 parks countywide, including Annandale Community Park.
Shooters use night-vision equipment, thermal imaging, and suppressed firearms. During these operations, county staff and police officers are stationed in parking lots and trailheads to keep the public out.
During the 2024-25 deer hunting season, archers killed 547 deer. That includes 27 in the Accotink Stream Valley Cluster and 24 in the Lake Accotink Cluster. Sharpshooters killed a total of 53 deer.
Between 2014 and 2025, the county reported non-recovery/wounding rates of approximately 4 to 11 percent. The non-recovery rate last year was just over 8 percent.
According to Fairfax County, it’s necessary to reduce the deer population because they damage the environment, cause vehicle crashes, harbor ticks that cause Lyme disease, and are susceptible to Chronic Wasting Disease.
This is disgusting. First, killing 25 deer in our community will do NOTHING on a biological level to reduce the overpopulation of deer in Eastern Fairfax. And they have a wounding rate of 10 percent?!!??
We have a solution. We tried for YEARS to get DNR to allow deer contraception. They won’t allow it. This is a boondoggle for archery enthusiasts who want an easy kill. Our tax dollars should NOT support this cruelty.
Please sit on my roof with your silenced rifle. They have decimated my plants even after applying deep spray.
Hopefully they have a successful season with the meat to food banks. And reducing the vehicle collisions is a plus as I have seen them roadside many times.
I completely agree with Holly Hazard, above. Killing and maiming innocent deer causes excruciating pain and is cruel. It makes me sick that these sensitive, peaceful animals are suffering all winter in the park next to my house. Hunting–whether by bow and arrow or bullet–is primitive and sadistic. The continued use of these painful methods shows a lack of creativity and lack of concern for our fellow earthlings. This is the 21st century. We can do better than this. Birth control would be a humane solution. There needs to be more investment and scientific work to make animal birth control effective for free-roaming animals.
Placing archers in populated areas is one of the least intelligent ideas in this the modern world. There are contraceptive programs that are effective. That way you don’t have to worry about wounding the animals (barbaric) and letting them suffer. You also don’t have to worry about some “archer” hurting a human.