Where the Woods Stay Quiet at Promised Land This Fall, Sundays Included

"All 2026-27 seasons include the Sundays that fall within their listed start and end dates." The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners put that sentence in its final approval of the 2026-27 hunting seasons on April 11, 2026. For anyone in Hemlock Farms who heads over to Promised Land State Park on weekends, this is the first fall where every Sunday is a hunting day while deer and bear seasons are open.

That makes the choice of trail the thing that decides how quiet a walk will be. Promised Land and the Delaware State Forest around it have about 50 miles of trails. The state has already marked which parts of them stay closed to hunting.

Sunday stopped being the day off

For generations, Pennsylvania had a Sunday hunting ban, so a Sunday in the woods meant woods without hunters. Act 36 of 2025 ended that. The Pennsylvania Game Commission says the law was signed July 9 and took effect Sept. 7, 2025. The 2026-27 seasons are the first full slate built around it. Any Sunday that falls inside a season's dates is open, and seasons that used to end on Saturdays will now mostly end on Sundays.

The one exception is migratory game birds, such as waterfowl, woodcock and mourning doves. They stay off-limits on Sundays this season. Promised Land's own hunting page says the same thing. Hunting is permitted daily during established seasons on about 1,300 acres of the park, and only migratory bird hunting is barred on Sundays.

You may have seen DCNR's Sunday-hunting page, which lists three specific Sundays: November 15, November 22 and November 29. That limit covers seven named parks in southeastern Pennsylvania. Promised Land isn't one of them.

What's open on the days the park leads a hike

The park's free Fall Hiking Series started Sept. 21 and has four hikes left. Each one starts at 9:30 a.m. and covers two to four miles, with talk about local plants and wildlife along the way. The DiscoverNEPA listing for the Loggers Trail Loop hike describes about 2.5 miles of wooded trail that can be rocky, rooted, wet or muddy. It asks walkers to bring sturdy shoes, water, bug spray and hunter orange clothing.

This table explains the orange. It lines up each remaining hike date, from DCNR's event calendar, with the Wildlife Management Unit 3D seasons open that day, from the Game Commission's 2026-27 schedule.

Here's the rest of the fall calendar, with the Sundays included:

• Archery deer, statewide: Oct. 3 to Nov. 20, then again Dec. 26 to Jan. 24, 2027
• Archery bear, WMU 3D: Oct. 3 to Nov. 20
• Muzzleloader and special firearms bear, statewide: Oct. 22 to 25, which includes Sunday, Oct. 25
• Fall turkey, WMU 3D: Oct. 31 to Nov. 8, which includes Sundays, Nov. 1 and Nov. 8
• Regular firearms bear: Nov. 21 to 24, which includes Sunday, Nov. 22
• Regular firearms deer, statewide: opens Saturday, Nov. 28, and runs through Dec. 13
• Extended firearms bear, WMU 3D: Nov. 28 to Dec. 6

The last organized hike is Nov. 6. That's three weeks before the firearms deer opener, but the woods aren't empty until then. Archery season covers every one of the remaining hike dates.

The no-hunting zones are where you'd want to walk anyway

DCNR lists the areas of Promised Land where hunting isn't allowed: the lakes, Conservation Island, the Day-use Area, the Bear Wallow Cabin area, Pickerel Point, and other areas shown on the park map. That list covers most of the park's best walks, the lake-edge stretches families use for an easy morning or a visit with guests.

Conservation Island is the easiest choice. The Conservation Island Loop is a 1.01-mile self-guided nature trail with a matching booklet. It circles the island with lake views and benches along the way. A shorter 0.31-mile Conservation Island Trail cuts through the middle and connects to the loop, and there are non-flush restrooms at the trailhead. Both are rated easiest. Since the island and the lake around it are closed to hunting, you can walk there on a Sunday in early November without thinking about which seasons are open.

Pickerel Point is also closed to hunting. It's one of the few spots in the park with camping all year, through limited campsites and camping cottages. The Rhododendron Trail is a 2.2-mile easiest-rated trail that runs between Pickerel Point Road, Burley Inlet Trail and the Day Use Area. DCNR describes it as the bike-friendly way to get between the Park Office and the Day Use Area without riding on State Route 390.

Two other rules on that page affect where you'll run into hunters. The Lower Lake Campgrounds are open only to late-season deer archery, and the east side of the park is open for deer archery only. DCNR also says there are no firearm restrictions at Promised Land. The park map with hunting boundaries shows park no-hunting areas, park hunting areas, archery-only areas and late-season deer archery areas in different shading. The map is marked as revised June 6, 2023, so it's worth calling the park office to confirm a boundary before you plan around it.

Past the park line, the rules widen

Many of Promised Land's trails cross into the Delaware State Forest, and the rules change there. DCNR's Delaware State Forest hunting guidance says hunting is permitted throughout the forest except in safety zones around buildings and picnic areas.

That affects one of the area's best-known walks. The Bruce Lake Trail starts at a trailhead on Route 390 and follows an old state forest road 2.5 miles to Bruce Lake, a natural glacial lake. It then continues 7.5 more miles to meet the Boundary Trail on the eastern side of Promised Land Lake. The whole trail is outside the park, so the forest's general rule applies the entire way. The same goes for the Egypt Meadow Trail, a 0.75-mile out-and-back that ends at the Egypt Meadow Lake spillway. The Civilian Conservation Corps built that lake in 1935, on a meadow whose grass was once cut for packing material at Dorflinger's Glass Works in White Mills.

Orange works a little differently depending on whose land you're on. DCNR's Promised Land hiking page tells visitors to know the hunting seasons and areas and to wear fluorescent orange during hunting season. On state game lands, the Game Commission goes further. It says non-hunters must wear fluorescent orange there from Oct. 1 through Jan. 31. For dogs, DCNR's rule on park trails is a leash no longer than six feet and physical control at all times.

The park winds down while the seasons ramp up

The visitor season at Promised Land ends just as hunting picks up. The beaches are open Memorial Day to mid-September. DCNR lists Beechwood campground as open early April through mid-October, and Northwoods and Hemlock Hill as open early May through mid-October. The park's Lower Lake campground map, revised March 2, 2026, says all three close in mid-October, without giving exact dates. The park itself stays open every day of the year, sunrise to sunset.

Two free programs remain once the leaves are mostly down. A guided Forest Bathing walk meets at the Bear Wallow parking lot at 10 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 2. The Fall Hiking Series ends Friday, Nov. 6, at 9:30 a.m. After that, the next big dates are the regular firearms bear season, Nov. 21 to 24, and the firearms deer opener on Saturday, Nov. 28. For a walk that weekend, the Conservation Island loop is closed to hunting and has benches along the water.

At Saw Creek Real Estate, we know the fall weekend calendar around Lords Valley well, from trail days to archery dates. If you're showing Hemlock Farms to family or guests this season, we'll walk you through the area. Call our office for a personal tour.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.