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Hunting Licenses / Tennessee

Tennessee Hunting License: $33.00, $66 With a Tag

In Tennessee the licence is $33.00 and the first deer costs $66

$33.00
Resident licence
Combination Hunt/Fish Annual (ages 16-64)
$33
What the first deer costs on top
$66 for the licence and the tag together
365 days from purchase
When it stops working
365 days
9 / 9
Licences and tags read here
each one linked to the fee table it came from
The short answer

What a season in Tennessee actually costs to start

Tags on topTennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

A resident hunting licence in Tennessee is $33.00, sold as the Combination Hunt/Fish Annual (ages 16-64). Hunting a deer on it means buying the Supplemental Big Game Gun as well, at $33, so the first day costs $66 rather than $33.00. That is 100% 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 365 days from the day it was bought.

  • Resident licence $33.00, the Combination Hunt/Fish Annual (ages 16-64)
  • Nonresident licence $305.00
  • First deer on top of it $33, the Supplemental Big Game Gun
  • What the first morning costs $66
  • The licence runs runs a licence 365 days from the day it was bought
  • Hunter education required of anyone born on or after 1969

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency sells it through its own licensing system, which is where a fee change appears first.

What the agency sells

Every Tennessee hunting licence, at the price Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency prints

Nine tags and permits were read off Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency's own fee pages for Tennessee, 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.

  • Combination Hunt/Fish Annual (ages 16-64)$33.00

    fishing and small game, with nothing toward deer, bear, boar, turkey or waterfowl

    Annual

    Combination Hunt/Fish Annual (ages 16-64) Minimum license required to fish and/or hunt small game - Supplemental Licenses are required in order to hunt deer, bear, boar (feral hog), turkey, and waterfowl. | $33.00
    Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
  • Annual Hunt - Small Game/Waterfowl - No Big Game$110.00

    small game and waterfowl for a year, with no big game

    Annual

    Annual Hunt - Small Game/Waterfowl - No Big Game | $110.00
    Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
  • Annual - All Game$305.00

    every game species for a year, big game included, with no supplemental to add

    Annual

    Annual - All Game | $305.00
    Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
  • 7-Day - All Game$214.00

    every game species over seven days, big game included

    7-Day

    7-Day - All Game | $214.00
    Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
  • Junior Hunt, Fish & Trap (Ages 13-15)$9.00

    hunting, trapping and fishing for a resident aged 13 to 15 with no supplemental to add

    Annual

    Junior Hunt, Fish & Trap (Ages 13-15) Valid for hunting, trapping, and sport fishing. Must be purchased before 16th birthday. No supplemental licenses are required, but WMA permits will need to be purchased in addition to this license. | $9.00
    Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
  • Annual Senior Citizen Hunt/Fish/Trap$4.00

    hunting, trapping and fishing from 65 with no supplemental to add, though management area permits still apply

    Annual

    Annual Senior Citizen Hunt/Fish/Trap Can only be purchased when 65th birthday is reached. A valid Tennessee driver's license or proof of age and residency is required. No supplemental licenses are required, but WMA permits will need to be purchased in addition to this license. | $4.00
    Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
  • Annual Sportsman (ages 16-64)$165

    hunting, trapping and fishing with every state supplemental and non quota permit already in it

    Annual

    Annual Sportsman (ages 16-64) An all-inclusive license valid for hunting, trapping, and sport fishing without any state supplemental licenses or non-quota permits, and allows holders to apply for quota permits at no additional fee. | $165
    Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
  • Apprentice Hunter Education Permit$11.00

    a year of hunting under supervision in place of the education certificate, bought on top of the licences

    one year from the date of purchase

    This license is available to all hunters 10 years of age or older who have not completed the mandatory hunter education course. It exempts the hunter from the mandatory hunter education requirement for one (1) year from the date of purchase, but may only be purchased for up to three (3) consecutive years during the lifetime of the hunter.
    Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
  • Lifetime Sportsman License, Adult Ages 13-50$1,976.00

    everything the Annual Sportsman carries, for life, even after a move out of state

    lifetime

    Adult Ages 13-50 | $1,976.00
    Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
The second purchase

The tags and permits that sit on top of a Tennessee 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 Tennessee 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 Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency's own fee pages, dearest resident price first.
Tag or permitSpeciesResidentNonresidentHow it is issued
Deer Bait Privilege LicenseDeer$50$100Over the counter
Supplemental WaterfowlWaterfowl$37None printedOver the counter
Supplemental Big Game GunDeer$33None printedOver the counter
Supplemental Big Game ArcheryDeer$33None printedOver the counter
Supplemental Big Game MuzzleloaderDeer$33None printedOver the counter
Supplemental TrappingFurbearer$33$200.00Over the counter
Supplemental Big Game GunTurkey$33None printedOver the counter
Federal Duck StampWaterfowl$30.50$30.50Over the counter
Migratory Bird PermitWaterfowl$1.00$1.00Over the counter

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the page this was read from, read 23 September 2026

The clock

When a Tennessee hunting license expires 365 days

Tennessee runs a licence 365 days from the day it was bought, so the month it was bought in makes no difference to what it is worth. 9 of the 50 states read here run instead to 31 December, where a November purchase is a purchase with weeks left in it.

A Tennessee annual licence runs a year from the day it is bought, so there is no bad month to buy one, though the migratory bird permit and the federal duck stamp keep fixed dates of their own.

License Expiration Dates: Annual licenses and permits are valid 365 days from the date of purchase unless otherwise noted. Example: If you purchase an annual license on February 1, that license expires on February 1 the following year. Some items, such as Migratory Bird Permits, Captive Wildlife Permits, Slat Basket Tags, and the Federal Duck Stamp, have fixed expiration dates regardless of the date of purchase.
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
The requirement people find out about at the counter

Tennessee hunter education: born on or after 1969

Tennessee hangs hunter education on a birth date rather than on an age: the requirement reaches anybody born after 1969. 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.

Tennessee requires the course of every hunter, resident or not, born on or after 1 January 1969, and sells a one year apprentice permit up to three times in a lifetime for those who have not taken it.

All hunters, resident or nonresident, born on or after January 1, 1969, must possess proof that they have successfully completed a Hunter Education course. Hunter Education certification is accepted from all other states. Those under 10 years of age do not need a Hunter Education certificate, but must be accompanied by an adult at least 21 years of age who must remain in a position to take immediate control of the hunting device.
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, 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
Which price applies

Who counts as a Tennessee resident

Tennessee draws the resident line at 90 days, and the difference between the two sides of it is $33.00 against $305.00. The statutory definition is quoted below.

Persons who do not drive, do not possess a valid driver's license, do not have a TN state ID, or a driver's license or ID from another state, but who have lived in Tennessee for 90 consecutive days with the genuine intent of making Tennessee their permanent home, may prove residency by presenting to a TWRA license agent any two of the following documents
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
How Tennessee compares

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

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

Tennessee hunting license questions

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Hunting licenses in every state

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency 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