Craters of the Moon Hunting Deadline Lands December 16

The Federal Register published Executive Order 14429 on September 22, 2026, and the order gives the Interior Secretary until December 16, 2026, to allow hunting of species that are not covered by the Endangered Species Act listing law at two named monuments. President Trump signed Reinvigorating America’s Hunting Heritage on September 17, and the White House text matches the Federal Register publication. The 90-day clock runs from the signing date, not from the September 22 print date.

A hunter planning Craters of the Moon or Castle Mountains should treat December 16 as the federal deadline for that access change, not as an opening morning. Seasons, tags, and weapons rules still come from the state, and the order does not itself sell a license. Visitors sorting a trip to the Idaho unit can start with the Craters of the Moon National Preserve guide. National parks are written out of the hunting expansion.

December 16 Is the Hunting Deadline at Two Monuments

Section 2(a) directs the Secretary of the Interior, within 90 days of September 17, to allow hunting inside Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. Ninety days from September 17 is December 16, 2026. The monument dates to Proclamation 1694 of May 2, 1924, and the order also cites the November 9, 2000 boundary enlargement under Proclamation 7373. The direction covers the monument and the preserve as one unit.

The species line is narrow. The secretary is told to allow hunting of species that are not subject to 16 U.S.C. 1533. That section is the Endangered Species Act provision for listing threatened and endangered species. Animals on that list stay outside this direction. The order does not name elk, deer, or any other game animal, and it does not set a season, a bag limit, or a weapon rule.

The president wrote that appropriately managed hunting would not put the objects of historic and scientific interest at those monuments at risk. Publication does not flip the gate by itself. Interior still has to take the allowing action, consistent with existing law. Until that notice exists, a reader should not travel on the assumption that hunting is already legal on the lava fields.

Castle Mountains Shares the Same 90-Day Clock

Castle Mountains National Monument is the other place named in section 2(a). Proclamation 9394 established it on February 12, 2016. The same December 16 deadline applies, and the same limit applies: species not subject to the Endangered Species Act listing section. The order does not describe trails, camps, or which state season book controls the hunt.

California hunters still need whatever license and tag the state requires once Interior acts. The federal order does not replace that step, and it does not say which species the state currently authorizes on or near the monument. The practical read of the Castle Mountains National Monument guide is place and access, not a hunting calendar. Confirm the species and the season with California wildlife authorities after Interior publishes its action.

National Parks Stay Outside This Hunting Order

Section 2(b) is a separate, slower instruction. Within 180 days, which is March 16, 2027, the Secretaries of War, Interior, Agriculture, and Commerce are to propose changes to policies that restrict recreation access on lands they manage. The exception is explicit: national parks, and national monuments other than the two named in section 2(a), are not part of that hunting expansion.

The proposal list says agencies should generally allow hunting unless a local resource condition justifies a closure, except within national parks. Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and every other national park are outside that sentence. Other national monuments are not given the December 16 hunting direction. A park trip planned for this fall does not gain a hunt because this order was printed.

Lead ammunition and lead tackle appear in that same 180-day proposal list, as items the policy changes should permit. They are not authorized on September 22. A hunter who uses lead today is still under the rule already in force on that unit. The March 16, 2027 date is a deadline to propose modifications, not the day a new ammunition rule takes effect.

Forest Service River Lotteries Have a November 16 Mark

Section 2(c) is the piece that changes how some people apply for a river trip. Within 60 days of September 17, which is November 16, 2026, the Secretary of Agriculture must review high-demand Forest Service river access lotteries and initiate a reform. The reform has two priorities written in the order: put United States citizens first, including people who applied before and did not win, and prohibit automatic computer entries.

Initiate is the verb. November 16 is not the morning a new drawing opens, and the order does not name individual rivers. Anyone waiting on a permit should watch the Forest Service notice that actually rewrites the application, rather than assume today’s lottery form is already illegal. Automatic computer entries are what the reform is supposed to prohibit. The publication alone does not void an application already in the system.

A related 90-day task sits with Interior, not Agriculture. By December 16 the department is to propose regulations that improve how seasonal migratory game bird hunting is authorized. Flyway Councils stay full partners, and the order tells Interior to weigh annual surveys, existing guidance, and history. That is a process proposal for waterfowl rules, not a new season that opens on December 16.

Within a year, by September 17, 2027, Interior is also told to encourage states to expand Sunday hunting. Encouragement is not a repeal of a state Sunday closure.

Hunters Still Need a State License and an Agency Notice

Four checks matter more than the signature. First, look for Interior’s allowing action before you treat either monument as open to hunting. Second, hold the state license, tag, and season dates for the animal you mean to hunt. Third, confirm the animal is not listed under the Endangered Species Act. Fourth, if the trip is a Forest Service river permit, wait for the lottery notice that cites this reform before you change how you apply.

Section 6 says the order does not create a right a private person can enforce in court against the United States. It also has to be carried out consistent with existing law and with the money Congress has provided. A signed deadline is a direction to the secretary. It is not a permit in your pocket, and it is not a reason to ignore a closure sign already posted at a trailhead or a put-in.