Idaho Hunting License: $15.75, $40.50 With a Tag
In Idaho the licence is $15.75 and the first deer costs $40.50
What a season in Idaho actually costs to start
A resident hunting licence in Idaho is $15.75, sold as the Hunting - Adult. Hunting a deer on it means buying the Deer - Adult as well, at $24.75, so the first day costs $40.50 rather than $15.75. That is 157% more than the licence price a search result would have shown. 39 of the 50 states read here work the same way. The licence itself runs a hunting licence to 31 December whatever month it was bought in.
- Resident licence $15.75, the Hunting - Adult
- Nonresident licence $185.00
- First deer on top of it $24.75, the Deer - Adult
- What the first morning costs $40.50
- The licence runs runs a hunting licence to 31 December whatever month it was bought in
- Hunter education required of anyone born on or after 1975
Idaho Department of Fish and Game sells it through its own licensing system, which is where a fee change appears first.
Every Idaho hunting licence, at the price Idaho Department of Fish and Game prints
Nine tags and permits were read off Idaho Department of Fish and Game's own fee pages for Idaho, each one priced below with the row it sits in. A tag is a second purchase, and the licence price on its own is the first half of what a season costs.
- Hunting - Adult$15.75
hunting, with a tag or permit needed on top for many species
Annual
Hunting - Adult | $15.75
Idaho Department of Fish and Game, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Hunting - Adult$185.00
hunting plus a three day fishing licence, with a tag or permit needed on top for many species
Annual
Hunting - Adult | $185.00 | Details: Includes 3-day fishing license. NOT valid to hunt pheasant for first 5 days of pheasant season.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Hunting - Small Game - 3-Day$71.75
three consecutive days of small game, upland and migratory birds, turkey and furbearers
3-Day
Hunting - Small Game - 3-Day | $71.75 | Details: Upland & migratory game birds, turkey, cottontail, snowshoe hare, huntable furbearers & unprotected & predatory birds and animals. NOT valid to hunt pheasant for first 5 days of pheasant season. Valid for 3 consecutive days.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Hunting - Junior (10-17 yrs)$8.25
the same hunting licence at a junior price
Annual
Hunting - Junior (10-17 yrs) | $8.25 | Details: 9-year olds may purchase this license to enter a controlled hunt, if they will be 10 years-old at the time of the hunting season.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Combination - Hunting and Fishing - Senior (65+ yrs)$13.75
hunting and fishing from age 65 after six months of Idaho residency
Annual
Combination - Hunting and Fishing - Senior (65+ yrs) | $13.75 | Details: Applicant must have been a resident in the State of Idaho for 6 months immediately preceding application for license.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Combination - Hunting and Fishing - Adult$38.75
hunting and fishing on one resident document
Annual
Combination - Hunting and Fishing - Adult | $38.75
Idaho Department of Fish and Game, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Hunting Passport$1.75
one year of hunting with an adult mentor, for a first time hunter who has not taken hunter education
calendar year
Idaho’s Hunting Passport is a component of Fish and Game’s mentored hunting program. It allows any first-time hunter, resident or nonresident, age 8 and older to try hunting for one year with an adult mentor without first having to complete an Idaho hunter education course. ... Cost is $1.75.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Combination Hunting and Fishing - Disabled American Veterans$5.75
hunting and fishing for a qualifying Idaho resident veteran
Annual
Combination Hunting and Fishing - Disabled American Veterans | $5.75 | Details: RESIDENTS ONLY - Letter from Veterans Affairs office showing a percentage of disability ... with at least 40% disability.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
When a Idaho hunting license expires Calendar year
Idaho runs a hunting licence to 31 December whatever month it was bought in. A licence bought in November is a licence with weeks left in it. The price is the same one printed beside the licence bought in January. 9 of the 50 states read here do this, against 9 that run a licence a full year from the day of sale, and the price is identical in both.
An Idaho hunting licence runs to the end of the calendar year whatever day it was bought, so one bought in December is nearly spent.
The Hunting Passport is a calendar year item just like a hunting license and expires on December 31 of the year in which it was obtained.Idaho Department of Fish and Game, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Idaho hunter education: born on or after 1975
Idaho hangs hunter education on a birth date rather than on an age: the requirement reaches anybody born after 1975. Every state that publishes a cutoff publishes a different one, and across this reading they run from 1949 to 1986, which is why a national answer to this question is always wrong somewhere.
Idaho asks anyone born on or after January 1, 1975 to hold hunter education certification before it will sell them a hunting licence, and exempts anyone who can show a previous hunting licence or another state's certificate.
Hunter Ed Certification is required for all hunters born on or after January 1, 1975, in order to purchase an Idaho hunting license. Hunters who show proof of a previously held hunting license or hunter education certificate from Idaho or another state are exempt. All courses are open for anyone aged 9 to adult.Idaho Department of Fish and Game, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Who counts as a Idaho resident
Idaho draws the resident line at 180 days, and the difference between the two sides of it is $15.75 against $185.00. The statutory definition is quoted below.
Proof of residency is required to buy any resident license. A resident is anyone who has been domiciled in this state with a bona fide intent to make this their place of permanent abode, for a period of not less than 6 months immediately preceding the date of application for any license, tag or permit. A senior resident is anyone age 65 and older who has lived in the state at least 6 months immediately preceding the date of application for a senior license or tag.Idaho Department of Fish and Game, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
39 of 50 states sell the animal separately from the right to hunt it
Idaho works the way most of the country does. Of the 50 states read here, 39 sell the tag apart from the licence and 11 print it on the licence instead. Where the tag is separate, the middle state adds 95% to the licence price before anybody has left the driveway.
Resident licences across these states run from $10 to $64.54, and nonresident licences from $50 to $410, which is the widest spread on any licence this site has read. 25 states run a licence year of their own, 9 give a full year from the day of sale, and 9 end it on 31 December whatever month it was bought.
The national table puts Idaho beside every other state on licence price, first tag, and the two added together.
Idaho hunting license questions
More for Idaho
Hunting licenses in every state
Idaho Department of Fish and Game read 23 September 2026, with every licence price, tag price, expiry rule and hunter education cutoff above linked to the page it came from. Fees are set by statute or by a commission and change between seasons, so the agency page beside each figure is what governs on the day. Tags on top