North Dakota Hunting License: Cost, Requirements & How to Buy
A North Dakota hunting license costs $20 for a resident adult and $150 for a non-resident adult (fees verified 2026-09-12).
North Dakota built a national reputation around its pheasant hunting and Prairie Pothole waterfowl, and its PLOTS program, which pays landowners to open private land to public hunters, is as important to actually finding a place to hunt as the license itself.
Resident small game/habitat combo license shown; the non-resident figure shown is the small game license, while a non-resident big game/bow license is $350. Deer licenses are separate from the general license: $30 for residents and roughly $350 for non-residents. There is no minimum age to hunt small game, waterfowl or furbearers, but anyone under 15 hunting with a firearm must be licensed and under direct adult supervision. Anyone born after Dec 31, 1961 must complete hunter education, with an Apprentice Hunting License available for ages 12+ who have not yet taken the course.
Fee last verified 2026-09-12.
Heading out for North Dakota hunting? Game wardens require carrying physical or digital license proof and valid tags. Equip yourself with a waterproof license and tag pouch, rechargeable wide-beam LED headlamp, and corrosion-resistant multi-tool pliers before your trip.
What a North Dakota hunting license costs
Residents pay $20 for the small game/habitat combo license; non-residents pay $150 for the small game license, or $350 for a big game/bow license. Deer licenses are separate from the general license: $30 for residents, and roughly $350 for non-residents once application and license costs are combined.
Who needs a license, and hunter education
There's no minimum age to hunt small game, waterfowl or furbearers in North Dakota, but anyone under 15 hunting with a firearm must be licensed and under the direct supervision of a parent, guardian or another adult authorized by a parent or guardian. Anyone born after December 31, 1961 must complete a certified hunter education course and provide a hunter education number to buy a license; an Apprentice Hunting License lets those 12 and older who haven't yet taken the course hunt small game and deer for one license year first.
License year and deadlines
North Dakota's license year runs April 1 through March 31, so licenses purchased any time after April 1 cover the full fall hunting season through the following spring.
How to buy your North Dakota hunting license
Licenses are purchased through an account on the North Dakota Game and Fish Department's website at gf.nd.gov, using the Purchase License link once logged in, and are also available at more than 80 vendor locations statewide.
Hunting in North Dakota: what to expect
North Dakota's pheasant hunting, concentrated in the southwestern part of the state around the Missouri Coteau and the badlands region, draws hunters from across the country every fall, supported heavily by CRP grassland and PLOTS-enrolled private acreage. The Prairie Pothole region across the north-central part of the state is one of the most important duck-breeding landscapes in North America, and it produces correspondingly strong waterfowl hunting each fall as local birds join migrants funneling down the Central Flyway.
PLOTS: North Dakota's public access program
Private Land Open To Sportsmen (PLOTS) is the backbone of North Dakota's hunting access model: the state pays landowners to keep enrolled land open to public hunting, and the program covers over a million acres in a state that's otherwise almost entirely private. The PLOTS guide, available as a paper atlas or through the Game and Fish Department's mapping tools, is essential for any out-of-state hunter planning a North Dakota trip, since without it there's very little obvious public land to fall back on.
How to renew a North Dakota hunting license
There is no separate renewal process in North Dakota. 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. License year runs April 1 through March 31.
The fastest route is the official North Dakota 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 North Dakota 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.