Rhode Island Hunting License: $24.00, $38 With a Tag

Q: What does a nonresident hunting license cost in Rhode Island?

$65.00 for the Non-Resident Hunting License, against $24.00 on the other side of the residency line. Tags are priced separately for nonresidents too, and both figures are in the table on this page.

Q: How current are these prices?

Every figure here was read on 23 September 2026 off Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife's own fee pages and links back to the page it came from. Fees are set by statute or by a commission and move between seasons, so the link beside each price is what governs on the day.

$24.00

Resident licence

Resident Hunting License

$14.00

What the first deer costs on top

$38 for the licence and the tag together

a fixed licence year

When it stops working

licence year

8 / 6

Licences and tags read here

each one linked to the fee table it came from

The short answer

What a season in Rhode Island actually costs to start

Tags on topRhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife

A resident hunting licence in Rhode Island is $24.00, sold as the Resident Hunting License. Hunting a deer on it means buying the Resident Deer Permit as well, at $14.00, so the first day costs $38 rather than $24.00. That is 58% 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 $24.00, the Resident Hunting License
Nonresident licence $65.00
First deer on top of it $14.00, the Resident Deer Permit
What the first morning costs $38
The licence runs runs a licence year with its own start and end dates, set by the state rather than by the calendar

Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife sells it through its own licensing system, which is where a fee change appears first.

What the agency sells

Every Rhode Island hunting licence, at the price Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife prints

Six tags and permits were read off Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife's own fee pages for Rhode Island, 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 Hunting License$24.00
deer, turkey, pheasant and quail, small game, doves and waterfowl, each still needing its own permit or stamp where one is listed
annual
Resident Hunting License (must be 15 years old) 1 | $24.00 | $26.00
Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Non-Resident Hunting License$65.00
the same game a resident licence covers, with the same separate permits and stamps on top
annual
Non-Resident Hunting License (must be 15 years old) 1 | $65.00 | $68.00
Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Non-Resident Tourist Hunting License (3-day)$20.00
three days of hunting for a visitor
3 day
Non-Resident Tourist Hunting License (3-day) | $20.00 | $23.00
Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Resident Junior Hunting License$14.00
hunting for a resident aged 12 to 14, who must hunt in the immediate company of a licensed adult
annual
Resident Junior Hunting License (12–14 years old) 2 | $14.00 | $16.00
Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Non-Resident Junior Hunting License$40.00
hunting for a non-resident aged 12 to 14, who must hunt in the immediate company of a licensed adult
annual
Non-Resident Junior Hunting License (12–14 years old) 2 | $40.00 | $43.00
Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Permanent Resident Combination LicenseNo Fee
hunting and freshwater fishing for life, for a resident 65 or older or with a permanent disability
permanent
Any resident 65 years or older or with a permanent disability may obtain a free permanent license through the online system, at any license vendor, or at the DEM Office of Boat Registration and Licensing.
Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Resident Combination License$43.00
hunting and freshwater fishing on one licence
annual
Resident Combination License (Hunting & Fishing) | $43.00 | $45.00
Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Active Military Personnel Hunting License$24.00
hunting at the resident rate for active military personnel
annual
Active Military Personnel Hunting License | $24.00 | $26.00
Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source

The second purchase

The tags and permits that sit on top of a Rhode Island licence

A tag is attached to one animal of one species, and the last column is the part that decides a calendar rather than a budget. Over the counter means it can be bought on the way to the woods. A draw means the application closed months ago.

Nothing in the Rhode Island fee pages read here is allocated by a draw, so the tags below are bought rather than applied for. 35 of the 50 states run a draw for at least one species, which puts the decision months ahead of the hunt.

Tags and permits read off Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife's own fee pages, dearest resident price first.
Tag or permit	Species	Resident	Nonresident	How it is issued
Resident All Outdoors Deer Package Permit	Deer	$84.00	None printed	Over the counter
RI Game Bird Permit	Small game	$18.50	$19.50	Over the counter
Resident Deer Permit	Deer	$14.00	$27.50	Over the counter
Resident Turkey Permit	Turkey	$9.00	$23.00	Over the counter
State Waterfowl Stamp	Waterfowl	$9.00	$10.00	Over the counter
Migratory Bird (HIP) Permit	Waterfowl	No Fee	No Fee	Over the counter

Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife, the page this was read from, read 23 September 2026

The clock

When a Rhode Island hunting license expires Licence year

Rhode Island 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.

Rhode Island runs a licence year from 1 March to the last day of February, so a licence bought late in that year is good for whatever is left of it.

The license year begins March 1st and ends on the last day of February annually

Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source

The requirement people find out about at the counter

Hunter education in Rhode Island

Rhode Island requires hunter education, and it sets the requirement without a birth year cutoff, so the test is what the applicant has done rather than when they were born. 29 of the 50 states read here use a birth year instead, and those years run from 1949 to 1986.

Rhode Island publishes no birth year cutoff. It applies the rule to anyone buying a hunting licence or archery permit for the first time, who must show a hunter education certificate, a previous hunting licence from any state, or proof of military status.

Persons applying for a hunting license or archery permit for the first time or not having been a member of the armed forces must complete a course in safe hunting or archery practices and have been issued a Hunter Education Certificate to obtain a license. License applicants must present a valid hunter safety certificate from Rhode Island or other state, or possess a previous hunting license from RI or other state, or present proof of current or honorably discharged military status.

Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source

A wide shallow wetland on a clear November morning, ducks scattered across the open water, a cottonwood in yellow leaf on a small island beside a low wooden viewing deck, and a flat brown horizon under a pale blue sky — Waterfowl is the clearest case of what these pages are about. The state licence is the first line on the receipt, and a duck morning adds a state stamp, a federal stamp and a harvest survey registration on top of it, none of which the licence price includes. “Llano Seco Unit (2024)-L1006548”, Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0

How Rhode Island compares

39 of 50 states sell the animal separately from the right to hunt it

Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island beside every other state on licence price, first tag, and the two added together.

Rhode Island hunting license questions

How much is a hunting license in Rhode Island?

A resident hunting licence in Rhode Island is $24.00, sold as the Resident Hunting License. Hunting a deer on it means buying the Resident Deer Permit as well, at $14.00, so the first day costs $38 rather than $24.00. That is 58% 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.

Do you need a tag as well as a license in Rhode Island?

When does a Rhode Island hunting license expire?

Does Rhode Island require hunter education?

Rhode Island requires hunter education, and it sets the requirement without a birth year cutoff, so the test is what the applicant has done rather than when they were born. 29 of the 50 states read here use a birth year instead, and those years run from 1949 to 1986. Rhode Island publishes no birth year cutoff. It applies the rule to anyone buying a hunting licence or archery permit for the first time, who must show a hunter education certificate, a previous hunting licence from any state, or proof of military status.

What does a nonresident hunting license cost in Rhode Island?

Where do you actually buy one in Rhode Island?

How current are these prices?

More for Rhode Island

Rhode Island fishing licenseThe same agency, the other licence, and an expiry rule that works differently again.Rhode Island tick activityWhat the woods are doing this week, measured against the years behind it.Rhode Island first snowWhen the weather that ends most of these seasons usually arrives.Rhode Island unattended vehicle lawWhat the state says about a truck left running at a trailhead on a cold morning.

Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife 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