Washington and Other Western States Hunting License Cost
George Tsukamoto, Staff Biologist

One of the most frequent complaints we receive is the rising cost of hunting license, tag and other fees. I examined the hunting license fee structure for the eleven western states to get a comparative look at the basic cost of hunting for resident and nonresident hunters. But, first some background information.

State wildlife agencies across the country have similar hunting license fee schedule as Washington. The user pay program in the United States has been a successful model for the world. The user pay arrangement helps to support state wildlife agencies in accomplishing their mission to preserve, protect and perpetuate the wildlife resource for the public good.

Individual states receive federal aid as authorized by the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act of 1937. Revenues from a federal excise tax on the sales of firearms, ammunition, and archery equipment is apportioned back to the State’s based on the size and the number of licensed hunters in each state. Federal aid funds must be matched by non-federal dollars at a ratio of 25% state to 75% federal aid.

According to the 1996 National Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation Survey only 4% of the population participates in hunting in the States of Washington, Oregon, California, and Nevada each year. The national hunting participation rate is 7%.

In 1996, Washington was ranked number three of the eleven western states in the number of licensed hunters, slightly behind Oregon in second place. California leads with over a half million participating hunters. California has the highest human population according to the 2000 census, with about 34 million residents. Hunters represent only about 1.5 percent of the population in California. Washington is a distant second and Arizona third with over 5 million residents. Wyoming is the least populated state with less than a half million residents and Montana is the second least populated state with less than 1 million residents (Table 1).

An overwhelming majority of participants hunt within their own state of residence, 13.3 million or 95 percent of all hunters in the U.S. according to the National Survey (1996). In the west, several states provide considerable nonresident hunting opportunity. The States of Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, and Idaho allow over 25% nonresidents. Wyoming is unique, where nonresident deer and elk hunters outnumber resident hunters.

Currently, Washington deer tag fees are generally higher than the western states average by about 33% for residents and nonresidents. The nonresident deer tag fees have increased by about 17% from 1997. The trend nationally for a nonresident hunter is increased cost and/or less opportunity to hunt. Resident deer tag fees in the west show considerable variation, ranging from a low of $21 in Montana to a high of $64 in Nevada. However, the elk tag fees in Washington are below the west average (Table 1).

The cost of nonresident deer hunting is on the rise. Since 1997 deer hunting fees have risen approximately 18% for resident hunters in the western states (Table 2). Nonresident deer hunting fees have also risen approximately 20% for the same period.

The deer hunting cost differential between resident and nonresident vary widely ($167 in Arizona to $444 in Washington). Nonresident fees are always higher than resident fees, however, there is no apparent standard. The highest differential between resident and nonresident deer hunting fees is found in Montana where nonresidents pay 15.3 times the amount residents do. The western states average 7.3 times higher than residents

Table 1: A Comparison of Resident and Nonresident Information by State

* 1966 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, includes all hunters.

Table 2: Deer hunting fee increases and cost differential between resident and nonresident