Crossbow Hunting Regulations in Tennessee

What follows is a summary of current crossbow hunting laws and regulations in Tennessee. While we personally trust that all the references presented below are accurate and up to date, we are unable to provide any guarantees as to its complete dependability and accuracy. We do update the information here from time to time whenever we hear or read about any important change, however it is your responsibility to research the subject and contact an appropriate governmental institution to confirm the current legal status for crossbow hunting in Tennessee. Please treat everything you read on this page as a reference only.

Make sure to check out our list of top 5 recommended crossbows for hunting in the USA if you’re looking to get started.

Crossbow Hunting Regulations in Tennessee

You’ll be happy to hear that, according to TWRA, using a crossbow for hunting purposes in the state of Tennessee is legal during any hunting season where archery equipment is allowed, and including archery-only seasons. The crossbow is pretty much treated on par with a recurve or compound vertical bow.

The following are important things to keep in mind:

• Using any night vision device while hunting with a crossbow is illegal
• Using a red dot sight or reticle scope is legal, as long as it does not emit any light towards the target (for example, laser scopes)
• There are no restrictions on the minimum and maximum crossbow draw weight allowed, nor the minimum arrow length.

For most people (except the elderly as well as a few other exempted groups), hunting with a crossbow in Tennessee requires the acquisition of a Big Game Hunting license. For a full list of requirements, pricing, and other information pertaining to the purchase of such a license, please visit the following page at the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency website.

For more information, please contact TWRA directly: 615-781-6500.

Did We Mess Up?

Should you believe any of the above references and summaries are misleading, send us an e-mail and we will fix our omission immediately. The list above was last updated on July 31 2013, so if any changes happened after that date then they have not yet been included here. Please understand that while we do our very best to keep the resources above accurate, we cannot give any guarantees as to the freshness of these regulations. Please exercise caution and use the contact numbers provided in this article to confirm everything yourself before embarking on a crossbow hunting trip in Tennessee.