Minnesota Hunting License: $22, $34 With a Tag
In Minnesota the licence is $22 and the first deer costs $34
What a season in Minnesota actually costs to start
A resident hunting licence in Minnesota is $22, sold as the Small Game License. Hunting a deer on it means buying the Deer Firearm License as well, at $34, so the first day costs $34 rather than $22. That is 55% 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 $22, the Small Game License
- Nonresident licence $102
- First deer on top of it $34, the Deer Firearm License
- What the first morning costs $34
- 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 1979
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources sells it through its own licensing system, which is where a fee change appears first.
Every Minnesota hunting licence, at the price Minnesota Department of Natural Resources prints
Fifteen tags and permits were read off Minnesota Department of Natural Resources's own fee pages for Minnesota, 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.
- Small Game License$22
small game only, with stamps and big game licences bought separately
annual
Resident Small Game License | $22 | State and federal stamps not included. HIP certification needs to be completed if intending to hunt migratory birds. Proof of Hunter Education/Firearms Safety or Apprentice validation may be required.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Small Game License 72-Hour$19
small game for seventy two consecutive hours
72 hour
Resident Small Game License 72-Hour | $19 | This license is valid for 72-consecutive hours for small game.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Small Game License$102
small game only, with stamps and big game licences bought separately
annual
Nonresident Small Game License | $102 | HIP certification needs to be completed if intending to hunt migratory birds. State stamps may be required to take trout, pheasant and waterfowl. Federal Duck Stamp is required to hunt migratory waterfowl.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Small Game License 72-Hour$75
small game for seventy two consecutive hours
72 hour
Nonresident Small Game License 72-Hour | $75 | This license is valid for 72-consecutive hours for small game.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Small Game License Youth Ages 16-17$5
small game, for residents aged 16 and 17
annual
Resident Small Game License Youth Ages 16-17 | $5 | State and federal stamps not included.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Small Game License Senior Ages 65 And Older$13.50
small game, residents 65 and older, with state stamps not required
annual
Resident Small Game License Senior Ages 65 And Older | $13.5 | Small game hunting license. State stamps not required.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Individual Sports License$41
one person's fishing and small game hunting in one purchase
annual
Resident Individual Sports License | $41 | State and federal stamps not included. HIP certification must be completed if intending to hunt migratory birds.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Combination Sports License$57
a married couple's fishing plus one small game hunting licence
annual
Resident Combination Sports License | $57 | This license does not include small game license for the spouse. HIP certification must be completed if intending to hunt migratory waterfowl. Stamps not included.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Lifetime Small Game License Age 16 To 50$430
small game for life, for a resident aged 16 to 50 at purchase
lifetime
Resident Lifetime Small Game License Age 16 To 50 | $430
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
When a Minnesota hunting license expires Licence year
Minnesota 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.
Minnesota runs a licence year from 1 March to the end of February, so a licence bought in the autumn expires at the end of the following February whatever date it was bought.
A license year runs from March 1 through the end of February.Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Minnesota hunter education: born on or after 1979
Minnesota hangs hunter education on a birth date rather than on an age: the requirement reaches anybody born after 1979. 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.
Anyone born after 31 December 1979 needs a firearms safety certificate, an apprentice hunter validation or accepted equivalent proof before a licence to hunt with a firearm is issued, and the class may be attended from age 11.
If you were born after December 31, 1979, you will need one of the following to get a license to hunt wild animals with a firearm in Minnesota. A Firearms Safety Certificate An Apprentice Hunter Validation A past hunting license with a firearms safety mark, or Proof of completing a hunter education and firearms safety course from another stateMinnesota Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Who counts as a Minnesota resident
Minnesota draws the resident line at 60 days, and the difference between the two sides of it is $22 against $102. The statutory definition is quoted below.
To qualify as a resident, a person must live in Minnesota for at least 60 days before buying a license. Residents 21 years of age and older need a current Minnesota driver's license or public safety ID, or a receipt for one that's at least 60 days old.Minnesota 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
Minnesota 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 Minnesota beside every other state on licence price, first tag, and the two added together.
Minnesota hunting license questions
More for Minnesota
Hunting licenses in every state
Minnesota 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