Virginia hunting license

How much is a Virginia hunting license?

A one-year resident Virginia hunting license (the License to Hunt, age 16 and up) costs $28.00, and the nonresident version costs $136.00, as listed by the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) for the current license year. DWR says the issuance fee is already built into those prices, so the number you see is the number you pay.

The basic license covers small game only. If you plan to chase whitetails or gobblers, add the Deer and Turkey License, which is $28 for residents and $136 for nonresidents. Bear is a third layer: $26 for residents and $176 for nonresidents. A resident who hunts all three would spend $82 buying the pieces one at a time.

Residents who hunt and fish a lot can look at the Resident Sportsman package at $130, which rolls hunting, fishing, bear, deer and turkey, archery, muzzleloader and trout privileges into one purchase. Residents can also lock in the basic license for longer: two years for $54, three for $80 or four for $106. The table below lays out these options side by side.

Who needs hunter education for a Virginia hunting license?

Virginia ties hunter education to experience and age, not to a birth year. You must show you passed a course before buying a license if you are 12 to 15 years old, or if you have never bought a regular hunting license before. A hunter who held a regular license in the past does not need the course, no matter when they were born.

Kids under 12 are exempt from the course, but they must be accompanied and directly supervised by a licensed adult. Virginia residents 12 and older can finish an all-online course with no classroom session. Everyone else uses the self-study plus classroom format. Class dates and course links are on the DWR hunter education requirements page.

Not ready for a class yet? The Apprentice Hunting License lets a first-time hunter, resident or nonresident, hunt for two years without hunter education. The catch: a licensed adult over 18 has to accompany and directly supervise you the whole time, and the license is off-limits to anyone who has held a Virginia license before.

Where do you buy a hunting license in Virginia?

Most hunters buy online at GoOutdoorsVirginia.com or in the GoOutdoorsVirginia mobile app, which keeps your license on your phone. You can also call (804) 367-1000 during business hours, or walk into a license agent, some Circuit Court clerk offices, or DWR headquarters. Regional DWR offices do not sell licenses.

Settle two questions before you check out. First, do you need big game? Deer, turkey and bear are separate add-ons, so pick them at the same time as the base license. Second, would a multi-year or Sportsman option save you money over buying each year? Full details sit on the DWR licenses page.

1. Pass hunter education if you are 12 to 15 or have never held a regular license, or choose the Apprentice license instead.
2. Open GoOutdoorsVirginia.com or the app, call (804) 367-1000, or visit a license agent.
3. Pick the License to Hunt (one to four years for residents, or a 3-day trip license) and add deer and turkey or bear if needed.
4. Pay, then keep the license and your tags with you in the field.

Buy a Virginia hunting license on the official site

How do deer, turkey, bear and elk tags work with a Virginia hunting license?

Big game is never included in the base license. Deer and turkey come on one add-on license, bear on another, and bonus deer permits are sold separately if you want extra antlerless deer. The resident Sportsman and Youth Combination packages already include bear, deer and turkey.

After a kill, you must validate a tag before you move the animal. Then report the harvest by the app, online or by phone at 866-468-4263. That reporting rule covers deer, bear, elk and turkey. DWR explains each step on its harvest validation page.

Elk are a different story. DWR offers five antlered elk licenses through a lottery in the Elk Management Zone. For the 2026 hunt (October 10-16), applications ran February 1 through March 31, 2026. The lottery page lists a $15 resident or $20 nonresident application fee, and a $40 resident or $400 nonresident elk license for those drawn. Dates for 2027 are not posted yet, so watch the elk lottery page.

Do kids need a hunting license in Virginia?

Resident children under 12 need neither a license nor hunter education. Nonresident children under 12 skip hunter ed but still buy a $13 license. In both cases the child must be accompanied and directly supervised by a licensed adult.

Between 12 and 15, residents can buy the Junior License for $8.50, or the Resident Youth Combination for $16, which also covers bear, deer and turkey, archery and muzzleloader seasons. For a young hunter who wants big game, that combination costs less than the adult Deer and Turkey License alone. Remember that hunter education becomes mandatory at 12, so plan the course before that birthday season.

Parents thinking long term can also look at the Resident Junior Lifetime license (under 12) at $260, or the Infant Lifetime license at $130. Both are covered in the rules section below.

What does a nonresident Virginia hunting license cost?

A nonresident Virginia hunting license costs $136.00 for one year. Deer and turkey add another $136, and bear adds $176, so a visitor after all three species pays $448 before any bonus permits.

For a short trip, Virginia sells a Three-Day Trip License to Hunt: $75 for nonresidents and $17 for residents. It covers the basic hunting privilege for those three days, but deer, turkey and bear still need their own licenses on top. Nonresidents who hunt here every year can also consider the $630 nonresident lifetime license.

Visitors follow the same hunter education rule as residents: if you are 12 to 15, or have never bought a regular hunting license anywhere, bring proof of a course. Planning a route that crosses state lines? See the Tennessee hunting license and North Carolina hunting license guides.

Other Virginia license rules worth knowing

These rules come up often, especially for new hunters and visitors. The DWR general regulations page has the full text, and our guide to every hunting license by state compares Virginia with the rest of the country.

• License length: the License to Hunt is good for one year from the day you buy it. Bear and deer/turkey licenses, including those inside packages, run July 1 to June 30. The Apprentice license lasts two years.
• Blaze orange: during firearms deer seasons and the youth and apprentice deer weekend, hunters of any species wear a solid blaze orange or pink hat or upper-body garment visible all around, or display 100 square inches at shoulder level. Waterfowl and dove hunters are exempt.
• Landowners: resident or nonresident landowners, their spouses, children, grandchildren (and their spouses) and parents can hunt their own land without a license. Tenants who live on the land need written permission from the owner, and lessees who live elsewhere are not exempt.
• Seniors: residents 65 and older pay $9 for the annual license and need no license on private land in their home county or city.
• Disabled hunters and veterans: totally and permanently disabled residents can buy a $15 lifetime license; service-connected totally and permanently disabled veterans get a free resident lifetime license, and nonresident disabled veterans pay $28.50 a year.