Illinois Hunting License: $12.00, $37 With a Tag
In Illinois the licence is $12.00 and the first deer costs $37
What a season in Illinois actually costs to start
A resident hunting licence in Illinois is $12.00, sold as the Resident. Hunting a deer on it means buying the Either-Sex (ES) Permit as well, at $25.00, so the first day costs $37 rather than $12.00. That is 208% 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 licence year with its own start and end dates, set by the state rather than by the calendar.
- Resident licence $12.00, the Resident
- Nonresident licence $57.00
- First deer on top of it $25.00, the Either-Sex (ES) Permit
- What the first morning costs $37
- The licence runs runs a licence year with its own start and end dates, set by the state rather than by the calendar
- Hunter education required of anyone born on or after 1980
Illinois Department of Natural Resources sells it through its own licensing system, which is where a fee change appears first.
Every Illinois hunting licence, at the price Illinois Department of Natural Resources prints
Ten tags and permits were read off Illinois Department of Natural Resources's own fee pages for Illinois, 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.
- Resident$12.00
the base licence an Illinois resident hunts anything on, before the habitat stamp and the species permit
annual
Resident $12.00 X X X
Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Nonresident$57.00
the base licence a nonresident hunts anything on, before the habitat stamp and the species permit
annual
Nonresident $57.00 X X
Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Nonresident (5 day)$35.00
five days on the same base licence a nonresident annual gives
5 day
Nonresident (5 day) $35.00 X X
Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Youth Hunt/Trap$7.00
hunting and trapping under 18 while supervised by an adult of 21 or older holding the right licence
annual
Any hunter/trapper under 18 years of age may purchase this license. Hunters/trappers with this license must be supervised by an adult who is 21 years of age or older and has the appropriate Illinois hunting or trapping license.
Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Resident Senior$6.00
the resident base licence at half price for a hunter aged 65 to 74
annual
Resident Senior $6.00 X X X Only available to hunters age 65 to 74 (inclusive).
Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Resident Sportsman Combo Hunt/Fish$25.50
the resident base hunting licence and the resident fishing licence together
annual
Resident Sportsman $25.50 X X X Combo Hunt/Fish
Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Apprentice$7.00
hunting without the hunter safety course while supervised by a licensed hunter of 21 or older
annual
Apprentice hunters must be supervised by a validly licensed Illinois resident or nonresident hunter who is 21 years of age or older. A hunter safety course is not required to purchase this license.
Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Illinois Veteran$6.00
the resident base licence at half price for a certified Illinois veteran
annual
Illinois veterans who served overseas or were mobilized by the President of the United States and have a form DD214 can submit their form to IDNR's Springfield office at DNR.License@illinois.gov and ask to be certified as qualifying for half priced licenses.
Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Resident Lifetime$360.00
the resident base licence for life, bought online only
lifetime
Resident Lifetime $360.00 X
Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
When a Illinois hunting license expires Licence year
Illinois runs a licence year with its own start and end dates, set by the state rather than by the calendar. The year turns on a date the state picked, usually in the spring or early autumn, so what a licence is worth depends on where in that year it was bought. The sentence the state uses is quoted below and links to the page it came from.
An Illinois annual licence goes on sale on 1 March and runs to 31 March the next year, so the earliest buyer gets thirteen months and a February buyer gets about one.
Annual hunting licenses and state stamps go on sale 1 March and are valid through 31 March of the following year.Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Illinois hunter education: born on or after 1980
Illinois hangs hunter education on a birth date rather than on an age: the requirement reaches anybody born after 1980. 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.
Illinois asks anyone born on or after 1 January 1980 for a hunter safety certificate or proof of an earlier hunting licence from any state, and an apprentice licence is sold without the course.
Anyone born on or after January 1, 1980 is required to complete a hunter safety education course (certificate of competency) or provide evidence of holding a hunting license issued by Illinois or another state in a prior year before purchasing a hunting license.Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Who counts as a Illinois resident
Illinois draws the resident line at 30 days, and the difference between the two sides of it is $12.00 against $57.00. The statutory definition is quoted below.
"Resident" means a person who in good faith makes application for any license or permit and verifies by statement that he or she has maintained his or her permanent abode in this state for a period of at least 30 consecutive days immediately preceding the person's application, and who does not maintain permanent abode or claim residency in another state for the purposes of obtaining any of the same or similar licenses or permits covered by Wildlife Code (520 ILCS/5).Illinois Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
39 of 50 states sell the animal separately from the right to hunt it
Illinois 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 Illinois beside every other state on licence price, first tag, and the two added together.
Illinois hunting license questions
More for Illinois
Hunting licenses in every state
Illinois Department of Natural Resources 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