Hunters GuidePrince Edward Island · licensing
How to Get a Hunting Licence in Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island runs hunter education as one course in two parts, an online component then an in-person field day. The licence is a separate thing. Right now the province is covering both the licence and the conservation fee for new resident hunters, and the online component too.
One phone number does most of the work here. It is 902-368-4683, and you will call it more than once.
The order of steps for a first-timer in Prince Edward Island
Four stages, three of them involving that same number. Each stage produces the thing the next stage asks for.
- The access code. PEI publishes a call to 902-368-4683 as the step that comes before registering for the online component.
- The online component. Published as free of charge for first-time hunters who are PEI residents, hosted by an outside provider the province links to.
- The field day. The online site issues a Field Day Voucher, then a second call to 902-368-4683 confirms attendance. The instructor runs extra training and checks the online material.
- The card and the licence. On completion the province publishes an updated Prince Edward Island Wildlife Card, plus a complimentary Wildlife Conservation Fund fee and PEI Hunting Licence.
Anyone after a Possession and Acquisition Licence has a separate federal errand on top, and PEI publishes the fee for its side of that: "Print the form and bring it to an Access PEI Office to register and pay the $60 CFSC fee." Our guide to the PAL in Canada covers that process, which belongs to a different government entirely.
What Prince Edward Island requires before it issues a hunting licence
A PEI hunting licence is annual permission to hunt in the province, sold alongside a separate conservation fee. The province publishes both together as the baseline. Training sits beside them rather than inside them.
The province's own sentence is short: "In order to hunt legally on PEI, you must have a valid hunting license and the Wildlife Conservation Fund fee." The page then names a Firearms Safety Course, a Hunter Safety Course and a Bow Hunting Safety Course as what most people also require. Note the wording: most people, not all, and PEI doesn't break the exceptions out.
The provincial eServices form confirms where the credential lands at checkout. It asks buyers a single question, "Do you have a PEI Wildlife Card/Hunter Safety Certificate?", before it goes any further. Read September 19, 2026.
How the PEI Hunter Safety Course works
The PEI Hunter Safety Course is the province's hunter education program. It is published as two components taken in sequence rather than as one sitting. The online half unlocks the in-person half.
PEI states it in four words: "The Hunter Safety education program has two components." The online component is hosted by an outside provider that the province links to, and access is gated behind a phone call. The page states that "before you register on the site you must call 902-368-4683 to get an access code for the on-line component."
Price is published for that half and only that half: "Currently, this component of the Hunter Safety Course is being offered free of charge to first time hunters who are residents of PEI." The word "currently" is the province's.
Finishing the online half produces a document, and that document is the ticket to the second half. PEI publishes it like this: "After successfully completing the on-line component, the site will issue a Field Day Voucher. This voucher enables you to participate in a field day where you will receive extra training and the instructor will confirm your knowledge and understanding of the on-line course materials." Then the same number again: "When you receive your voucher, call 902-368-4683 to confirm your attendance for the field day."
Bow hunters get a bigger version. PEI publishes that the Bow Hunting Safety Course also includes the Hunter Safety Course, a Tree Stand Safety Course and a practical bow shooting test, with registration by phone on 902-368-4683 or 1-800-368-4683.
What is there to hunt in Prince Edward Island?
Upland birds, hare, furbearers and migratory game birds. Not big game, and not because the season happens to be closed this year. Prince Edward Island has no big game season at all, and that single fact reshapes every other page you will read about hunting here.
It is provable rather than merely apparent. The Hunting and Trapping Seasons Regulations made under the Wildlife Conservation Act carry a Schedule I that lists the specified game animals in full: Pheasant, Ruffed Grouse, Hungarian (Grey) Partridge, Snowshoe Hare, Fox, Raccoon, Coyote and Red Squirrel. Schedule II, covering other harvestable wildlife, has exactly one entry, the American crow. There is no big game schedule. The office consolidation we read is current to September 3, 2022, and we read it on September 22, 2026.
Two details inside that schedule catch people out. Pheasant appears on the list with no open season against it, so its presence on the Island and its presence on the schedule are not the same thing as a season. And the Hungarian partridge season is published with a geographic exclusion, carved out by the Island's township lots rather than by anything a map app will show you.
The provincial Hunting Summary makes the same point from the opposite direction, stating that it is unlawful to "hunt any wildlife for which an open season has not been prescribed." Read September 22, 2026. Seasons and limits change annually, so the current summary is the document to check rather than this page.
How the annual licence differs from the safety course
The Hunter Safety Course is a one-time credential recorded on a wildlife card. The hunting licence is a dated product tied to a licence year. PEI publishes the card and the licence as two separate outputs of the same completion.
The split sits in one sentence: "Upon completion, the student will receive an updated Prince Edward Island Wildlife Card, a complementary Wildlife Conservation Fund and PEI Hunting Licence." The card is the credential. The licence and the fund fee are the annual pieces.
That giveaway is published as a current offer rather than a standing rule. PEI states that "The province is currently offering a complimentary PEI Hunting Licence and Wildlife Conservation Fund fee to all NEW resident hunters who successfully complete the Hunter Education program listed below." The capitals on NEW are the province's. The only licence year named anywhere on the page is the 2026-2027 one attached to the hunting workshop.
The fees themselves are in the 2026 Hunting Summary. A resident game hunting licence is $5 at ages 18 to 59. It's no charge at 60 and over, and no charge for youth 12 to 17. The Wildlife Conservation Fund is $20 at ages 16 to 64 and $13 at 65 and over, charged once a year. Two footnotes matter: "The above fees do not include HST" and "No charge for first time hunters".
The PEI Provincial Hunting Workshop
The Provincial Hunting Workshop is an annual, station-based event PEI runs as an alternative route to hunter certification. It is paired with the online component of the Hunter Safety Course. It's free, and it has a registration window.
The province describes it as a day where "Participants (ages 12 and up) will rotate through stations learning about firearm safety, wildlife conservation, hunting regulations and enforcement, map and compass use, skeet shooting and waterfowl hunting techniques." What it produces is published too: "Participants who complete this (free of charge) workshop, along with the online portion of the Hunter Safety Course, receive hunter certification and a PEI Wildlife card as well as a free 2026-2027 hunting licence and Conservation fee."
As of the check date the window had closed. The page states that "Online registration for the upcoming Provincial Hunting Workshop is now closed." and follows it with "However, please call 902-368-4683 to inquire about late registration." Dated September 11, 2026, read here September 19, 2026.
Who runs hunter education in Prince Edward Island
Forests, Fish and Wildlife is the provincial division PEI names on its hunting pages, and it takes course registrations directly by phone. A second department name appears on the licence side.
The course page publishes general inquiries under the Forests, Fish and Wildlife Division at 183 Upton Road in Charlottetown, and states that people unable to register online are "encouraged to call Forests, Fish and Wildlife at (902) 368-4683 to complete their registration by phone."
The licence purchase runs under a department name rather than a division name. PEI's eServices form states that the personal information on it "is collected by the Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action". Same government, two labels, both worth recognising in PEI paperwork.
PEI's bow course bundles three courses and a shooting test
The province publishes the Bow Hunting Safety Course as a superset rather than an alternative. It states that the bow course "also includes" the Hunter Safety Course, a Tree Stand Safety Course, and a practical bow shooting test. Read September 22, 2026.
No syllabus is published for the bow course, the tree stand component, or the practical shooting test, and no standard is published for the test itself. If you want the detail, the province takes bow registrations by phone only.
What Prince Edward Island does not publish
Several numbers a reader would reasonably expect are absent from the provincial hunting pages. Naming the gaps beats guessing at them.
- No pass mark, question count or duration for either the online component or the field day.
- No start and end date for the licence year. The only year named is 2026-2027.
- No minimum age for the Hunter Safety Course itself. The age 12 figure that appears is attached to the Provincial Hunting Workshop.
For how the thirteen jurisdictions name their credentials, see how to get a hunting licence in Canada. The rest of the provincial set is on the guides hub, and PEI's own starting point is its hunting and firearms topic page.
Questions about hunting in Prince Edward Island
These five come up most, answered from the provincial pages linked above and read on September 19, 2026.
What is the PEI Hunter Safety Course?
It is Prince Edward Island’s hunter education program, and the province publishes it in two pieces. The government page states that "The Hunter Safety education program has two components," an online component followed by a field day run by an instructor. Registration for both runs through one provincial phone number, 902-368-4683, which the page publishes first as the way to get an access code and again as the way to confirm a field day. Checked September 19, 2026.
Does the PEI Hunter Safety Course cost anything?
The province publishes the online component as free for a defined group. Its page states that "Currently, this component of the Hunter Safety Course is being offered free of charge to first time hunters who are residents of PEI." A price for the field day is not published on that page. The separate federal firearms course is priced there, with the province stating that applicants "bring it to an Access PEI Office to register and pay the $60 CFSC fee." Read September 19, 2026.
What happens at the PEI field day?
The field day is the in-person half of the course, and the province describes it as extra training plus a check on the online material. The government page states that the voucher "enables you to participate in a field day where you will receive extra training and the instructor will confirm your knowledge and understanding of the on-line course materials." A pass mark, a question count and a duration for the field day are not published on that page, as read on September 19, 2026.
Which department handles hunting licences in Prince Edward Island?
Two names appear, one operational and one legal. The hunting course page publishes its general inquiries under the Forests, Fish and Wildlife Division at the J. Frank Gaudet Tree Nursery, 183 Upton Road, Charlottetown, and directs registration calls to Forests, Fish and Wildlife. The provincial eServices form for buying a hunting licence states that the information "is collected by the Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action." Both checked September 19, 2026.
What does a new PEI hunter receive after finishing the course?
A wildlife card and, for now, a licence the province is covering. The government page states that "Upon completion, the student will receive an updated Prince Edward Island Wildlife Card, a complementary Wildlife Conservation Fund and PEI Hunting Licence," and describes that offer as current rather than permanent: "The province is currently offering a complimentary PEI Hunting Licence and Wildlife Conservation Fund fee to all NEW resident hunters who successfully complete the Hunter Education program listed below." Read September 19, 2026.
Offers, phone numbers and workshop dates change, and PEI stamps its service pages with a published date. The course page above is dated September 11, 2026 and was read here on September 19, 2026. Confirm against the provincial course page and the eServices licence form before registering or buying. This page is orientation, not legal advice.