Kentucky Hunting License: $28.54, $65.54 With a Tag
In Kentucky the licence is $28.54 and the first deer costs $65.54
What a season in Kentucky actually costs to start
A resident hunting licence in Kentucky is $28.54, sold as the Annual Hunting. Hunting a deer on it means buying the Deer Permit (four deer) as well, at $37.00, so the first day costs $65.54 rather than $28.54. That is 130% 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 $28.54, the Annual Hunting
- Nonresident licence $169.12
- First deer on top of it $37.00, the Deer Permit (four deer)
- What the first morning costs $65.54
- 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 1975
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources sells it through its own licensing system, which is where a fee change appears first.
Every Kentucky hunting licence, at the price Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources prints
Nine tags and permits were read off Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources's own fee pages for Kentucky, 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.
- Annual Hunting$28.54
hunting, with deer, turkey, bear, elk and waterfowl each needing their own permit on top
Annual
Annual Hunting | $28.54 | $169.12
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - 1-Day Hunting (not valid for deer, elk, turkey or bear)$7.40
one day of hunting that cannot be used on deer, elk, turkey or bear
1-Day
1-Day Hunting (not valid for deer, elk, turkey or bear) | $7.40 | $26.43
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Annual Hunting$169.12
hunting, with deer, turkey, bear, elk and waterfowl each needing their own permit on top
Annual
Annual Hunting | $28.54 | $169.12
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - 7-Day Hunting (not valid for deer, elk, turkey or bear)$68.71
seven days of hunting that cannot be used on deer, elk, turkey or bear
7-Day
7-Day Hunting (not valid for deer, elk, turkey or bear) | Not available | $68.71
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Youth Annual Hunting (ages 12-15 only)$6.34
hunting for a 12 to 15 year old, with the youth species permits still to buy
Annual
Youth Annual Hunting (ages 12-15 only) | $6.34 | $10.57
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Senior Sportsman's (residents 65 years of age or older)$12.68
everything the Sportsman's License carries, from 65
Annual
Senior Sportsman's (residents 65 years of age or older)* (Includes same license and permits as Resident Sportsman's License.) | $12.68 | Not available
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Combination Hunting/Fishing$44.39
hunting and fishing, still with the species permits to buy on top
Annual
Combination Hunting/Fishing | $44.39 | Not available
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Sportsman's License$100.42
hunting and fishing with the statewide deer permit, both turkey permits, the waterfowl permit and the trout permit already in it
Annual
Sportsman's License* (Includes combination hunting/fishing, statewide deer permit, spring and fall turkey permits, Kentucky migratory bird/waterfowl permit and trout permit.) | $100.42 | Not available
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Senior Lifetime Sportsman's (residents 65 years of age or older)$190.26
the senior sportsman licences and permits for life, so long as Kentucky residency is kept
lifetime
Senior Lifetime Sportsman's (residents 65 years of age or older)* (Must maintain Kentucky residency; includes all senior sportsman's licenses and permits.) | $190.26 | Not available
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
When a Kentucky hunting license expires Licence year
Kentucky 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.
Kentucky runs a March to February licence year, so a licence bought in January is worth about six weeks and one bought in March is worth the whole of the coming season.
Kentucky's license year begins March 1 and continues through the last day of February. New licenses are required annually, except for the 3-year fishing license.Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Kentucky hunter education: born on or after 1975
Kentucky 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.
Kentucky requires the course of anyone born on or after 1 January 1975 before they hunt, and issues a one time exemption permit good for a year to someone new to it.
Per regulation 301 KAR 2:185 and statute KRS 150.170(3) , anyone born on or after January 1, 1975, is required to complete a Hunter Education Course before hunting in Kentucky.Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Who counts as a Kentucky resident
Kentucky draws the resident line at 30 days, and the difference between the two sides of it is $28.54 against $169.12. The statutory definition is quoted below.
A resident is any person who has established permanent and legal residence in Kentucky, and resided in Kentucky for 30 days prior to applying for a license, full-time students enrolled in an educational institution for at least six months, or military service personnel on permanent assignment in Kentucky.Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
39 of 50 states sell the animal separately from the right to hunt it
Kentucky 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 Kentucky beside every other state on licence price, first tag, and the two added together.
Kentucky hunting license questions
More for Kentucky
Hunting licenses in every state
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife 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