South Carolina Hunting License: $12.00, $18 With a Tag
In South Carolina the licence is $12.00 and the first deer costs $18
What a season in South Carolina actually costs to start
A resident hunting licence in South Carolina is $12.00, sold as the State Hunting License. Hunting a deer on it means buying the Big Game Permit as well, at $6.00, so the first day costs $18 rather than $12.00. That is 50% 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 different licences on different clocks, so the expiry depends on which one is in the wallet.
- Resident licence $12.00, the State Hunting License
- Nonresident licence $125.00
- First deer on top of it $6.00, the Big Game Permit
- What the first morning costs $18
- The licence runs runs different licences on different clocks, so the expiry depends on which one is in the wallet
- Hunter education required of anyone born on or after 1979
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources sells it through its own licensing system, which is where a fee change appears first.
Every South Carolina hunting licence, at the price South Carolina Department of Natural Resources prints
Nine tags and permits were read off South Carolina Department of Natural Resources's own fee pages for South Carolina, 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.
- State Hunting License$12.00
hunting, but not deer, bear or turkey and not on wildlife management area land
Annual
Annual | State Hunting License | $12.00 | Hunting license, valid 1 year from date of purchase.
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - State Hunting License$125.00
hunting, but not deer, bear or turkey and not on wildlife management area land
Annual
Annual | State Hunting License | $125.00 | Hunting license, valid 1 year from date of purchase
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - State Hunting License$75.00
hunting for ten consecutive days, without the big game or wildlife management area permits
10 Day
10 Day | State Hunting License | $75.00 | Basic hunting license, valid 10 consecutive days.
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Junior Sportsman License$16.00
hunting with the big game and wildlife management area permits, and freshwater fishing, for applicants aged 16 and 17
Annual
Annual | Junior Sportsman License | $16.00 | Includes State Hunting, Big Game, Wildlife Management Areas & Freshwater Fishing, for applicants 16-17 years of age. Remains valid, regardless of age until expiration. Expires 1 year from date of purchase.
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Senior Combination License$9.00
hunting with the big game, wildlife management area and migratory waterfowl privileges plus fishing, for life, from age 64
lifetime
64 Yrs or greater (Enclose copy of SC Driver's License or ID Card) ... Senior Combination License (date of birth July 1, 1940 or later)* $9.00 Combination Privileges: Freshwater Fishing, Freshwater Set Hook, Saltwater Fishing State Hunting, Big Game, WMA, Migratory Waterfowl
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Combination License$25.00
hunting with the big game permit and freshwater fishing, but not wildlife management area land
Annual
Annual | Combination License | $25.00 | Includes State Hunting, Big Game & Freshwater Fishing. Valid 1 year from date of purchase.
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Sportsman License$50.00
hunting with the big game and wildlife management area permits, and freshwater fishing
Annual
Annual | Sportsman License | $50.00 | Includes State Hunting, Big Game, Wildlife Management Areas & Freshwater Fishing. Valid 1 year from date of purchase.
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Apprentice License (Small Game Only)$12.00
small game hunting once, without the hunter education certificate
Annual
Annual | Apprentice License (Small Game Only) | $12.00 | Hunting license applicants born after June 30, 1979, who do not hold a hunter education certification may take this one time exemption from the hunter education certification requirement. Rules and Regulations for other requirements. Expires one year from date of purchase.
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Lifetime State Hunting License$300.00
hunting for life, for residents aged 16 to 63, with the big game permit still to be bought separately
lifetime
16 Yrs but less than 64 Yrs (Enclose copy of SC Driver's License or ID Card) State Hunting License (HE) $300.00
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
When a South Carolina hunting license expires Mixed
South Carolina runs different licences on different clocks, so the expiry depends on which one is in the wallet. One counter sells two licences that stop working on two different days. The fee table prints both prices and neither rule. The sentence the state uses is quoted below and links to the page it came from.
A South Carolina hunting licence runs one year or three years from the day it is bought, while the tags and permits that go on top of it run to 30 June instead.
Recreational licenses expire either one year or three years from date of purchase. Hunting tags (deer tags, bear tags, turkey tags), commercial licenses, shrimp licenses, special permits and nongame fish tags are valid for one season only and must be purchased for each season. Annual tags and permits will expire on June 30 each year.South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
South Carolina hunter education: born on or after 1979
South Carolina 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.
South Carolina requires a hunter education course certificate of anyone born after 30 June 1979 before a hunting licence can be bought, with a one time apprentice licence as the alternative.
All persons born after June 30, 1979 are required to complete a Hunter Education Course to purchase a hunting license.South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Who counts as a South Carolina resident
South Carolina draws the resident line at 30 days, and the difference between the two sides of it is $12.00 against $125.00. The statutory definition is quoted below.
For temporary, annual and three-year hunting and fishing licenses you must have been a resident for 30 days. For a lifetime license you must have been a resident for 180 days. For a disability and commercial licenses, you must have been a resident for 365 days.South Carolina 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
South Carolina 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 South Carolina beside every other state on licence price, first tag, and the two added together.
South Carolina hunting license questions
More for South Carolina
Hunting licenses in every state
South Carolina 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