Ask Fish and Game: License Age Requirement

Q. My son turns 12 the day after opening of the deer season we want to hunt; does he have to wait to buy a license and tag? A. To buy a license to hunt big game, a person must have completed a hunter education program - unless he or she was born before January 1975 - and must be 12 years old. But youths may buy a license while still 11 to apply for a controlled hunt, provided they turn 12 before the hunt. The tag, however, can't be issued until they turn 12. They must be 12 to buy a general season deer or elk tag.