New Hampshire Hunting

New Hampshire

White Mountain big woods tracking, lottery bull moose tags, and hardwood ridge ruffed grouse covers.

Public Access & WMAs

Public Lands to Hunt in New Hampshire

Official Regulatory Authority

New Hampshire Fish and Game Department (NHFGD)

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The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department oversees 130 designated Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) covering nearly 60,000 acres, complemented by over 750,000 acres within the White Mountain National Forest, 200,000+ acres of state forests and parks, and extensive conserved working timberland reservations in the Great North Woods. The Granite State offers true backcountry wilderness hunting for heavy-racked northern whitetails, black bear, moose, ruffed grouse, and woodcock.
White Mountain National Forest
Presidential & Sandwich Ranges | 750,000+ Public Acres

White Mountain National Forest

Encompassing the highest mountain peaks in the northeastern United States across Coos, Grafton, and Carroll counties. Vast tracts of northern hardwoods, high-elevation spruce-fir timber, and mountain notches offer legendary big-woods hunting for black bear, whitetail deer, moose, and ruffed grouse with limitless backcountry foot access.

Connecticut Lakes Headwaters & Great North Woods
Coos County Boreal Timber | 171,000+ Conserved Acres

Connecticut Lakes Headwaters & Great North Woods

Covering northernmost New Hampshire along the Canadian border. A working forest conservation easement guarantees permanent public hunting access across 171,000 contiguous acres of rolling spruce-fir forest, bogs, and logging cuts famous for premier ruffed grouse ("partridge"), snowshoe hare, woodcock, and trophy northern deer hunting.

Nash Stream Forest
North Country Mountain Valley | 39,500 Public Acres

Nash Stream Forest

Located in Stratford, Odell, Stark, and Columbia in northern New Hampshire. Embraces a wild, pristine mountain valley surrounded by rugged ridges and clear trout waters, managed for sustainable timber and open public hunting for black bear, whitetail deer, and ruffed grouse.

Great Bay & Bellamy River WMAs
Coastal Estuary & Tidal Marsh | 3,500+ Acres Combined

Great Bay & Bellamy River WMAs

Great Bay WMA in Newington and surrounding tidewater state tracts protect critical estuarine shoreline and salt marshes along Great Bay. Provides premier coastal waterfowl hunting for black ducks, scaup, and Canada geese, as well as archery deer hunting.

Bear Brook & Pawtuckaway State Forests
Southern Hardwood Uplands | 15,000+ Acres Combined

Bear Brook & Pawtuckaway State Forests

Bear Brook State Forest (10,000 acres) in Allenstown is New Hampshire's largest developed state park, open to hunting across extensive oak-pine forests and wetlands. Pawtuckaway State Forest (5,500 acres) in Nottingham features glacial erratics, boulder fields, and oak hills holding whitetail deer and wild turkey.