Canada · hunting licences

How to Get a Hunting Licence in Canada

By Hunters Guide. Every jurisdiction below was checked against its own government source on September 19, 2026.

A hunting licence in Canada comes from the province or territory where you hunt, after you pass its hunter education course. Hunting with a firearm adds a second, federal licence: the Possession and Acquisition Licence, which comes from the RCMP.

Two governments, then, and the order matters. Almost everywhere, it comes down to four steps.

1. Pass your hunter education course. Each province and territory runs its own, under its own name, and the table below lists them.
2. Get a PAL if you will hunt with a firearm. That starts with passing the Canadian Firearms Safety Course. Then you apply to the RCMP.
3. Buy the licence and any tags. Every government sells its own, for the year or the season, and often per species.
4. Read the regulations for where you hunt. Seasons change every year. So do limits and methods.

Two licences from two governments

Hunter education is the provincial or territorial credential attached to hunting. The Possession and Acquisition Licence is something else, the federal firearms licence issued by the RCMP. Different government. Separate process.

The two get confused often enough that several governments publish both in one place. Newfoundland and Labrador's Hunting and Trapping Guide states that "a person must pass both the Canadian Firearms Safety Course (CFSC) and the Hunter Education (HE) Course to become eligible to apply for resident hunting licences and to hunt game with a firearm." New Brunswick publishes its Hunter Education Course right beside the Canadian Firearms Safety Course. Nova Scotia labels them Part A and Part B.

For the federal side, there's a separate walkthrough: how to get a PAL in Canada. If you're in British Columbia, CORE vs CFSC pulls the two courses apart.

Hunter education and licensing in each province and territory

Thirteen jurisdictions use thirteen names. The table gives each one's name for its hunter education credential and the body it names behind it. Click the jurisdiction for our step-by-step guide to getting licensed there.

Two rows are thin on purpose. Saskatchewan's provincial licence page gives its program no single course name. It refers to a "recognized firearm safety/hunter education course" and points readers to the Saskatchewan Association of Firearm Education. Nunavut is the other. It publishes its online course as "voluntary, free and open to all Nunavut residents", and the row reports it that way.

What a hunting licence costs across Canada

Hunting licence prices are set by each province and territory. Most provinces charge about $10 to $35 for a resident's base licence. PEI's is $5 and the NWT's is $0. A deer or comparable big game licence adds roughly $10 to $70 on top. Each figure, with its source, is in our hunting licence cost by province table. For every species, see hunting tag fees by province.

How long getting licensed takes

Getting a first hunting licence takes a few days to several weeks, going by what the provinces publish. It's days where the course and the licence are both online. It stretches to weeks when a classroom seat, a mailed card or a draw gets in the way. On the federal side, a first PAL adds at least 28 days. Each stage is broken out in how long it takes to get a hunting licence.

Why the course is one-time and the licence annual

A hunter education credential records that a person passed a course. A hunting licence is different: a dated permission a government sells, for a season or a year. The course stays with the person, while the licence is tied to the calendar.

It shows in how governments word the requirement. Saskatchewan frames it by birth date: "People born after January 1, 1971, must hold a certificate from a recognized firearm safety/hunter education course in order to apply for and hold a Saskatchewan game or fur licence." Yukon uses a birth date too but a different one, applying HEED to hunters born after April 1, 1987. Alberta goes by experience instead. There, the course applies to first-time hunters.

Hunting in a different province

A licence covers only the province or territory that issued it, so hunting somewhere new means buying that jurisdiction's licence. Does your hunter education count there? That's each government's own call, and we won't guess at it. What we do is collect the wording each one publishes, in hunter education transfer between provinces.

Practice exams for each course

A practice exam is study material written to a published curriculum. Passing one doesn't give you the credential. It does show you what's stuck before you sit the real thing. Ours are free, and each one is written to its program's official outline.

• BC CORE Practice Test, 100 questions
• Alberta Hunter Education Practice Exam, 60 questions
• Ontario Hunter Education Practice Exam, 60 questions
• CFSC Practice Test, 60 questions
• Manitoba Hunter Education Practice Exam, 60 questions
• Nova Scotia Hunter Education Practice Exam, 60 questions
• New Brunswick Hunter Education Practice Exam, 60 questions
• Quebec Hunter Education Practice Exam, 60 questions
• Newfoundland Hunter Education Practice Exam, 60 questions
• NWT Hunter Education Practice Exam, 60 questions
• Saskatchewan Hunter Education Practice Exam, 60 questions
• Yukon Hunter Education Quiz, 60 questions
• PEI Hunting Regulations and Species Quiz, 60 questions
• Quebec Bow and Crossbow Practice Exam, 60 questions
• New Brunswick Bowhunter Practice Exam, 60 questions

Questions about hunting licences in Canada

Is there one hunting licence for all of Canada?

No. Each province and territory issues its own hunting licences, and each licence covers only the place that issued it. The federal Possession and Acquisition Licence is something else: a firearms licence, not a hunting licence, even though hunting with a firearm calls for one.

Is there a national hunter education course in Canada?

No. It's set jurisdiction by jurisdiction, and each of the thirteen provinces and territories publishes its own program under its own name. British Columbia has CORE. Ontario has the Ontario Hunter Education Course, and Yukon has HEED. One course here is federally standardised, the Canadian Firearms Safety Course. That one sits under the RCMP and is a different thing entirely.

What is the difference between hunter education and a PAL?

Hunter education is a provincial or territorial credential, attached to hunting. The Possession and Acquisition Licence is the federal firearms licence from the RCMP, and it covers owning, buying and borrowing a firearm. So that's two governments, two processes and two pieces of paper. Newfoundland and Labrador states that "a person must pass both the Canadian Firearms Safety Course (CFSC) and the Hunter Education (HE) Course to become eligible to apply for resident hunting licences and to hunt game with a firearm."

Which governments publish the federal firearms course as part of hunter education?

New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador all publish the two together. New Brunswick lists the Canadian Firearms Safety Course alongside its Hunter Education Course. Nova Scotia calls them Part A and Part B. In Newfoundland and Labrador, both are named in a single requirement. Elsewhere, the hunter education program gets a page of its own.

Do hunter education certificates expire?

It depends on the province or territory, so check your own. Saskatchewan ties its requirement to birth date, stating that "People born after January 1, 1971, must hold a certificate from a recognized firearm safety/hunter education course in order to apply for and hold a Saskatchewan game or fur licence." Alberta goes by whether someone is a first-time hunter. Thirteen governments, thirteen ways of putting it, and we won't flatten that into one rule.