Newfoundland and Labrador · licensing

How to Get a Hunting Licence in Newfoundland

By Hunters Guide. Every figure below was read on the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador pages cited, on September 19, 2026.

Newfoundland and Labrador publishes two required courses rather than one, and the province puts them in a single sentence: the federal firearms course and its own hunter education course. Then, separately, the licence. The pair costs $158 in class, and resident moose is $52.00.

This page covers the general licensing process only. Rights-based harvesting is governed separately, and readers with questions about it should go to the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and to the relevant First Nation or Indigenous government directly.

Steps for a first-timer in Newfoundland and Labrador, in order

The published route runs course, course, certificate number, then the licence product that matches the species. Each step feeds the next one, and the big game route has a calendar attached.

1. Sit the two courses. The guide pairs them in one requirement and prices them together at $158 in class, or $59 for the Hunter Education course on its own online.
2. Come out with a Hunter Certificate Number. The draw eligibility list names "Have a Hunter Certificate Number" as its own condition, alongside completing the course requirement.
3. Pick the counter that matches the species. Small game licences are sold through stores and Government Services Centres. Moose and Island caribou are draw-only.
4. If it is big game, apply in the draw window. The guide states that "Resident moose and caribou applications must be received by May 1, 2026."

Step four is the one with no give in it. And it's online only. The draw page states that "All resident big game applications must be submitted online via the Wildlife Information Management System."

What the courses and licences cost in Newfoundland and Labrador

Course fees are published directly in the 2026-27 guide, by format, with a combined option and a separate rate for minors. Five figures, one page, read September 19, 2026.

On the licence side, the 2026-27 licence fee table lists resident moose at $52.00, resident Woodland Caribou (Newfoundland) at $52.00, and black bear at $39.00 as an application fee. Read September 19, 2026.

The same course page lists where to register for the in-class route, naming College of the North Atlantic and the number 1-888-982-2268, and lists an online route for the Hunter Education Course. We link the government page rather than the online vendor it names. Read the registration line there and go from the province's own wording.

What Newfoundland and Labrador requires before a resident hunting licence

A resident hunting licence here is annual, species-linked authority to hunt, and the province gates it behind two completed courses. The 2026-27 Hunting and Trapping Guide states the pair in one line.

Here it is, unedited: "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." Read September 19, 2026.

Two courses. Two different governments behind them. One combined gate on resident licensing. The guide also sets a starting age for the courses themselves, stating that "Participants may take these courses starting at age 12 with parental consent."

What the two courses actually cover

The CFSC is the federal firearms safety course. The HE Course is the province's hunting course. The guide gives each one a short published description and a length. They are not two names for the same afternoon.

On the firearms side, the guide states that "The Canadian Firearms Safety Course (CFSC) teaches participants the basics of firearms safety and the laws related to firearms storage, handling and transportation." Format is published too: "This course consists of one day of classroom instruction followed by a written and practical test."

On the hunting side, the guide states that "The Hunter Education Course teaches participants basic concepts of wildlife conservation and management, hunting laws, hunter ethics and responsibility, outdoor safety and survival techniques," and that "The duration of this course is 6.5 hours followed by a written exam." Both read September 19, 2026.

Worth keeping straight: passing the CFSC and holding the federal Possession and Acquisition Licence are two different events. Our guide to the PAL in Canada covers the federal application, which is run by the RCMP and has nothing to do with the provincial guide above.

How does the big game draw actually work?

The Newfoundland and Labrador big game draw is a priority-pool lottery run through the Wildlife Information Management System. An applicant's pool number decides the order their application is considered in.

The guide states that the system runs nine pools and that "Pool 1 has the highest priority and Pool 9 has the lowest." It also publishes what happens to people who step away: applicants who "do not submit an application for three consecutive years" have their priority pool reset to Pool 8. Applicants select up to 8 management areas.

Then there is the second deadline, the one that catches people who already won. The guide states that "Payments for moose and caribou licences must be received by July 3, 2026." The same page sets the age line for the draw: "at least 16 years of age by August 31, 2026."

The Wildlife Division's role in this process

The Wildlife Division is the provincial body Newfoundland and Labrador names for wildlife licensing. The guide points at it by name when it describes how big game licences are issued.

The general information section states that "Resident moose licences for Newfoundland and Labrador and resident caribou licences for the Island of Newfoundland are only available through the Wildlife Division's big game draw process." The same division is named in the guide's youth section as the place consent forms are held on file for big game applicants aged 16 and 17.

Smaller licences do not run through the draw at all. The province's wildlife licences page states that "Small game licences are available at numerous sporting goods, hardware or general stores throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, or at Government Services Centres." Two different counters, same province, so know which one your species sits behind before you go looking.

Where does Newfoundland publish its pass mark?

Not in the Hunting and Trapping Guide, which is where anyone would look. Read only the guide and you would conclude the province never printed a pass mark at all. It did, once, in a departmental news release from November 17, 2022, in a backgrounder written as a list of questions.

That backgrounder says: "Chapter review quizzes at the end of each section help prepare for the final exam, which consists of 50 multiple-choice questions. A mark of 80 per cent is required to pass, consistent with classroom examinations." Read September 22, 2026. Eighty per cent of fifty questions is forty.

The same page answers three more things the guide leaves open. The online course "takes a similar amount of time to complete as the classroom course, approximately 6.5 hours". Once you register, "students have 90 days to complete the full course". And on attempts: "Your course fee includes two attempts at the exam." It also notes minimum time requirements for moving through the course, so it is not a thing you can click through in an afternoon.

A 2022 release is not a current regulation, and the course has had four years to change since. It is quoted here because it is the province's own published statement and nothing more recent supersedes it. The Wildlife Division is the place to confirm any of it before you rely on it.

What is not published on the pages we read

A published gap is a question the government page simply does not answer, and this province leaves a few. Naming them is more useful than filling them with a guess.

• Pass mark and question count for the CFSC. Not published on the guide pages read September 19, 2026. For Hunter Education both ARE published, though not on the guide: a 2022 departmental news release gives 50 questions and 80 per cent, and the section above sets out where.
• A licence year with a start and end date. The guide is published as the 2026-27 edition, and the draw and payment dates above are printed, but no licence-year start and end date appeared on the pages we read.
• Whether a credential from elsewhere counts here. That is its own question with its own answer per jurisdiction, and it is not one we are answering in passing on a provincial page. Our guide to whether hunter education transfers sets out what each government publishes.

For the shape of the whole country, including what each province and territory calls its credential, start at hunter education in Canada. The rest of the provincial walkthroughs live on the guides hub.

Questions about Newfoundland and Labrador hunting licences

Does Newfoundland and Labrador require the Canadian Firearms Safety Course as well as hunter education?

The province publishes both in a single requirement. The 2026-27 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." That is one sentence naming two separate courses from two separate governments. The CFSC is federal. The HE Course is the province’s own. Read September 19, 2026.

How old does someone have to be to take the two courses?

Twelve, with a parent involved. The 2026-27 Hunting and Trapping Guide states that "Participants may take these courses starting at age 12 with parental consent." The guide’s youth section adds two lines of its own. It states that "Beginning at age 12 a youth may hold a licence to shoot small game/coyote or wolf, ptarmigan, fur-bearing animals and Migratory Game Birds." It also states that "Youth may hold a licence to shoot big game beginning at 16." Read September 19, 2026.

What do the Newfoundland and Labrador courses cost?

Five figures. The 2026-27 Hunting and Trapping Guide lists the Canadian Firearms Safety classroom course at $99 and the Hunter Education classroom course at $59. The two combined in class are $158. The Hunter Education online course is $59, and a combined classroom course for minors is $68. All five figures read on the government course page on September 19, 2026.

What is the pass mark for the Newfoundland and Labrador Hunter Education exam?

80 per cent, on an exam of 50 multiple-choice questions. The guide pages do not print it, which is why it is easy to conclude the province never published it. One document does. It is a Government of Newfoundland and Labrador news release from November 17, 2022, in a backgrounder written as questions and answers: "Chapter review quizzes at the end of each section help prepare for the final exam, which consists of 50 multiple-choice questions. A mark of 80 per cent is required to pass, consistent with classroom examinations." Read September 22, 2026.

How long does the Newfoundland and Labrador online course take, and how many exam attempts are included?

About 6.5 hours, inside a 90-day window, with two attempts included. The same November 2022 backgrounder puts the online course at "takes a similar amount of time to complete as the classroom course, approximately 6.5 hours". On the window it states that "Once registered, students have 90 days to complete the full course". On attempts it states that "Your course fee includes two attempts at the exam." It also notes there are minimum time requirements for progressing through the course, so it cannot simply be clicked through. Read September 22, 2026.

How does a resident get a moose or caribou licence in Newfoundland and Labrador?

Through the draw, not over a counter. The 2026-27 Hunting and Trapping Guide states that "Resident moose licences for Newfoundland and Labrador and resident caribou licences for the Island of Newfoundland are only available through the Wildlife Division’s big game draw process." Applications run through the Wildlife Information Management System. The guide lists eligibility as being a resident, being "at least 16 years of age by August 31, 2026," holding a Hunter Certificate Number, and having completed the course requirement. Read September 19, 2026.