Vermont Hunting License Cost: $28.00 and Up
Vermont prints the tags on the licence rather than selling them separately
What a season in Vermont actually costs to start
A resident hunting licence in Vermont is $28.00, sold as the Hunting. Vermont is one of eleven in this reading where the tags come with the licence rather than on top of it, which makes the price on the fee page the price of the hunt. 39 of the 50 states are built the other way, and in those the licence is the smaller half. A Vermont resident pays $28.00 for a hunting licence that covers small game and the regular November deer season outright, then adds $23.00 each for archery, muzzleloader or turkey and $5.00 for early bear, while antlerless deer and moose come only through a lottery.
- Resident licence $28.00, the Hunting
- Nonresident licence $102.00
- First deer on top of it $23.00, the Archery Deer (hunting license required)
- The licence runs runs a hunting licence to 31 December whatever month it was bought in
Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department sells it through its own licensing system, which is where a fee change appears first.
Every Vermont hunting licence, at the price Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department prints
Everything a Vermont licence holder needs for the species it names is in the licence itself. That is unusual: 39 of the 50 states read here sell the animal separately from the right to hunt it, and Alabama, Arkansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont and West Virginia do not.
- Hunting$28.00
small game and the regular November deer season on its own, with archery, muzzleloader, turkey and early bear each sold as a separate licence on top
annual
Hunting | $28.00 | $134.00
Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Small Game$50.00
small game, furbearers and other wild animals but no big game
annual
Small Game Licenses: Entitles the holder to take small game, furbearers and other wild animals (except big game) by any lawful means other than a trap.
Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Archery Deer Only (hunting license NOT required)$75.00
the archery deer season for a nonresident who holds no Vermont hunting licence
annual
Archery Deer Only ** (hunting license NOT required) | N/A | $75.00
Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Hunting$102.00
small game and the regular November deer season on its own, with archery, muzzleloader, turkey and early bear each sold as a separate licence on top
annual
Hunting | $28.00 | $102.00
Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Youth Hunting (under age 18)$8.00
the same hunting privileges at a resident youth rate, with a nonresident youth rate of $25.00
annual
Youth Hunting (under age 18) | $8.00 | $25.00
Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Permanent Licenses (66 or older)$60.00
hunting for the rest of the holder's life for one payment, and it can carry the archery, muzzleloader and turkey tags, but never the moose or antlerless lotteries or the waterfowl stamp
permanent, renewed free every year
A permanent license allows the holder to hunt or fish without purchasing additional licenses for the rest of their life. The eligible age is 66 and there is a one-time fee of $60.
Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Combination (Fishing and Hunting)$47.00
everything the hunting licence covers plus fishing, with a nonresident rate of $143.00
annual
Combination (Fishing and Hunting) | $47.00 | $143.00
Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source - Mentored Hunting License$10.00
supervised hunting within 15 feet of a licensed adult aged 21 or over, for somebody who has never taken a safety course or held a licence, and never moose
annual, and issued to any one person for only two separate calendar years
The cost for the mentored hunting license is: Resident - $10.00 Nonresident - $10.00
Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
When a Vermont hunting license expires Calendar year
Vermont runs a hunting licence to 31 December whatever month it was bought in. A licence bought in November is a licence with weeks left in it. The price is the same one printed beside the licence bought in January. 9 of the 50 states read here do this, against 9 that run a licence a full year from the day of sale, and the price is identical in both.
A Vermont annual hunting licence runs to 31 December of the year it was issued for, whatever day it was bought, so one bought in the autumn is finished within weeks while one bought in January covers the full year.
Annual licenses shall be valid from January 1 of the calendar year for which they are issued or from the day of purchase and issue in that year as certified by the issuing agent. All annual licenses shall expire on December 31 of the year for which they were issued.Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Hunter education in Vermont
Vermont 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.
Vermont sets no birth year cutoff and no minimum age for the course: anyone buying a first hunting licence must show either a hunting licence held before in any state or Canadian province or a hunter safety certificate, and a bow needs its own bowhunter course.
An applicant for a hunting or combination license must present either: A previous or current hunting license, combination license, or current hunter safety certification card, from any state or Canadian province.Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
Who counts as a Vermont resident
Vermont defines a resident in its own words rather than by a count of days, and the definition is quoted below because the price on one side of it is rarely close to the price on the other.
In order to obtain resident licenses, a person must have lived in Vermont for the six months immediately prior to applying for a license and NOT claimed residence elsewhere for any other reason.Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, read 23 September 2026. Read it at the source
39 of 50 states sell the animal separately from the right to hunt it
Vermont is one of 11 states in this reading that print the tags on the licence, which is why its fee page price is the price of the hunt. In the other 39, the licence is the first of two purchases and the number a search result shows is the smaller half.
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 Vermont beside every other state on licence price, first tag, and the two added together.
Vermont hunting license questions
More for Vermont
Hunting licenses in every state
Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department 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 included