Missouri Hunting License: $11.50, $19.50 With a Tag
In Missouri the licence is $11.50 and the first deer costs $19.50
What a season in Missouri actually costs to start
A resident hunting licence in Missouri is $11.50, sold as the Small Game Hunting Permit. Hunting a deer on it means buying the Firearms Any-Deer Hunting Permit as well, at $19.50, so the first day costs $19.50 rather than $11.50. That is 70% 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 $11.50, the Small Game Hunting Permit
- Nonresident licence $108.50
- First deer on top of it $19.50, the Firearms Any-Deer Hunting Permit
- What the first morning costs $19.50
- 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 1967
Missouri Department of Conservation sells it through its own licensing system, which is where a fee change appears first.
Every Missouri hunting licence, at the price Missouri Department of Conservation prints
Eleven tags and permits were read off Missouri Department of Conservation's own fee pages for Missouri, 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 Hunting Permit$11.50
frogs, birds other than turkey, and mammals other than deer, with furbearers included for residents
annual
This permit allows you to hunt frogs, birds (except turkey), and mammals (except deer). Missouri residents may sell furbearers taken by hunting.
Missouri Department of Conservation, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Small Game Hunting Permit$108.50
the same small game as the resident permit, except that a nonresident may not take furbearers with it
annual
Nonresidents may not take furbearers with this permit, but may chase furbearers for training dogs during the closed season. They must purchase a Furbearer Hunting and Trapping permit.
Missouri Department of Conservation, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Nonresident Daily Small Game Permit$16.00
one day of small game hunting for a nonresident
daily
Nonresident Daily Small Game Permit | Nonresident | $16.00
Missouri Department of Conservation, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Small Game Hunting and Fishing Permit$22.50
the resident small game permit and a fishing permit in one purchase
annual
Small Game Hunting and Fishing Permit | Resident | $22.50
Missouri Department of Conservation, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Apprentice Hunter Authorization$12.50
hunting alongside a properly permitted adult mentor aged 18 or over without holding hunter education certification
annual
Apprentice Hunter Authorization | Resident | $12.50 | Nonresident | $12.50
Missouri Department of Conservation, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Military Reduced Cost Permit$5.50
a reduced cost permit for qualifying military personnel
annual
Military Reduced Cost Permit | Resident | $5.50
Missouri Department of Conservation, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Lifetime Small Game Hunting Permit (residents only)$465.50
small game hunting for life, priced by the age band the buyer is in
lifetime
Youth (0-15) $320.00, Age 16-29 $465.50, Age 30-39 $407.00, Age 40-59 $349.00, Age 60-64 $40.50
Missouri Department of Conservation, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
When a Missouri hunting license expires Licence year
Missouri 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.
Missouri runs a permit year from 1 March to the last day of February, so a permit is good from the day it is bought until the end of that February, and a handful of permits run to 30 June instead.
(5) Permits are nontransferable and are valid from the date of purchase through the last day of February of the prescribed permit year, except the Resident Migratory Bird Hunting Permit, the Nonresident Migratory Bird Hunting Permit, the Resident Ginseng Harvester Permit, the Nonresident Ginseng Harvester Permit, the Resident Trapping Permit, and the Nonresident Furbearer Hunting and Trapping Permit shall be valid through June 30.Missouri Department of Conservation, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Missouri hunter education: born on or after 1967
Missouri hangs hunter education on a birth date rather than on an age: the requirement reaches anybody born after 1967. 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 on or after the printed cutoff must hold hunter education certification to hunt a Missouri firearms season or to act as an adult mentor, and the agency sells an apprentice authorization for someone aged 16 or over who wants to hunt supervised instead.
Missouri's hunter education course is required for any hunter born on or after Jan. 1, 1967Missouri Department of Conservation, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Who counts as a Missouri resident
Missouri draws the resident line at 30 days, and the difference between the two sides of it is $11.50 against $108.50. The statutory definition is quoted below.
Any person who does not claim resident privileges in another state or country, and whose actual residence and legal permanent home address are both in Missouri, and have been for at least 30 days before applying for the permit. Owning real estate or attending a Missouri school does not in itself make you a legal resident.Missouri Department of Conservation, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
39 of 50 states sell the animal separately from the right to hunt it
Missouri 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 Missouri beside every other state on licence price, first tag, and the two added together.
Missouri hunting license questions
More for Missouri
Hunting licenses in every state
Missouri Department of Conservation 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