Michigan Hunting License: Cost, Requirements & How to Buy

A Michigan hunting license costs $11 for a resident adult and $151 for a non-resident adult (fees verified 2026-10-30).

Every hunter in Michigan, resident or not, needs the base license before buying anything else. It's the gateway purchase that unlocks species-specific licenses for deer, bear, elk and more, rather than a hunting license in the all-in-one sense some states use.

What a Michigan base hunting license costs

The base license is $11 for residents aged 17 to 64 and $151 for non-residents aged 17 and over. Residents 65 and older pay $5, and youth aged 10 to 16 pay $6. The license is valid through March 31, 2027, and the DNR also lists a $1 DNR Sportcard. Non-residents who only want small game can skip the base license and buy a 3-day license for $50 or a 7-day license for $80. A resident hunt and fish combo license is $76 and the non-resident combo is $266. Prices come from the Michigan DNR's 2026 small game regulations summary.

What the base license does and doesn't cover

The base license unlocks small game hunting and is the required first purchase before you can buy a deer, bear, elk or other species license; it doesn't include any of those on its own. Think of it as the entry ticket rather than a complete hunting package.

How to buy your Michigan hunting license

Michigan.gov/DNRLicenses handles online sales for the base license and every add-on species license, and licenses are also sold at hundreds of authorized retail agents statewide, including many sporting goods and hardware stores.

Hunting in Michigan: what to expect

Michigan's deer camp tradition is one of the strongest in the country, particularly in the Upper Peninsula, where entire extended families still close down for opening weekend of firearm deer season. The UP's mix of state and national forest land gives Michigan hunters an unusually large amount of public land access compared to states further south, and the state also holds a competitive-draw elk hunt in the northern Lower Peninsula around the Pigeon River Country, one of relatively few huntable elk populations east of the Mississippi.

Public land and the Commemorative Bucks program

Michigan's state forest system, combined with the Ottawa, Hiawatha and Huron-Manistee national forests, makes the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula some of the most public-land-friendly deer and bear hunting in the eastern US, a genuinely different experience from the mostly-private hunting culture of states like Indiana or Ohio just to the south. Michigan also runs a Commemorative Bucks of Michigan scoring program that tracks the state's notable trophy deer and bear harvests, a point of local pride in many hunting communities.

Deer, bear and elk sit on top of the $11 base

Michigan's $11 resident or $151 non-resident base hunting license is required of every hunter and allows small game plus the right to buy species licenses. Deer, bear, elk and other species each take a separate license. The $11 resident figure is real and incomplete. A firearm deer season in the U.P. or the northern Lower Peninsula is the base plus a deer license, not $11 at the counter.

The 2026 base license is the first thing the DNR system will sell you. It does not include a harvest tag for a buck. Kill reporting is mandatory for deer; the license app is how most people do it. If you hunt with a group from Ohio or Indiana, each person needs their own Michigan stack. A Michigan host's license does not cover guests.

Public land north of Clare and the SGL pattern

State game areas in the southern Lower Peninsula are smaller, busier, and closer to Detroit and Grand Rapids. North of Clare, state forest land opens up and the hunting feels more like a Woods county. Opening day of firearm deer still stacks trucks on two-tracks. A midweek sit or a walk past the first mile of two-track is the usual filter.

Elk is a draw in a handful of northern units and is not something the base license hints at. Bear is a limited license too. If those are the reason you are looking at Michigan, read the current-year application calendar before you buy anything, because a base license in August does not put you in an elk camp in September.

How to renew a Michigan hunting license

There is no separate renewal process in Michigan. A hunting license is not extended in place; when it expires you buy a new one for the next license year through the same system you used the first time, and your customer profile, hunter or angler ID and any saved payment details carry over so the second purchase takes a couple of minutes. Base license valid through March 31, 2027; required of every hunter and allows small game and purchase of further licenses.

The fastest route is the official Michigan online licensing portal, which also lets you print or download the new license and add any stamps, tags or endorsements in one transaction. In-person license agents (sporting goods stores, bait shops and, in many states, county clerks) sell the same license at the same price, so use whichever is closer. Buying before the old license lapses is not required, but it avoids an accidental gap if a season opens before you get round to it.

Planning more than one? See the Michigan fishing license page too, see how much a hunting license costs in every state, compare non-resident hunting fees across states, browse every state, or use the state license finder.