Updated on September 7, 2026. Confirm every fee, quota window, and hunter-education rule on the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife licenses page before you buy. This is the field readout, not the hunting guide.
| Who this is for | Resident and nonresident whitetail hunters in Kentucky. Elk is a different drawing and a different permit. |
|---|---|
| Buy it here | Kentucky Fish and Wildlife — online license sales (Solar) or a license agent. Date of birth and Social Security number required. |
| Hunter education | Required if born on or after January 1, 1975, and age 12 or older. Carry proof. Kentucky accepts hunter-ed cards from the other 49 states. A one-time, one-year exemption permit exists. |
| What you actually buy | Annual hunting license and a statewide deer permit. 1-day and 7-day hunting licenses are not valid for deer. Sportsman’s License (residents) bundles the deer permit. |
| OTC vs draw | Statewide deer permit is over the counter for residents and nonresidents. Quota hunts on some WMAs, state parks, and Land Between the Lakes are a separate drawing. |
| License year | March 1 through the last day of February. New licenses every year except the senior lifetime sportsman’s product. |
| Antlerless / bonus | Statewide deer permit: four deer (one antlered and three antlerless, or four antlerless). One antlered deer cap statewide. Extra deer need an additional deer permit; zone bags still win. |
| WMA / public extras | Daniel Boone takes the same Kentucky deer permit. Peabody needs a user permit. Land Between the Lakes needs an LBL hunt permit. Some WMA and park gun hunts are quota (apply Sept. 1–30). |
| Youth / apprentice | Under 12: no hunting license or deer permit (elk and bear excepted). Ages 12–15: youth hunting license plus youth deer permit. Free Youth Weekend is a separate late-December window. |
| Where to hunt next | Kentucky deer hunting guide · Daniel Boone National Forest |
Buy the tag before you book the cabin
I have watched people roll into London with a Tennessee license in the console because the ridge “looks the same.” Kentucky does not care. You need a Kentucky annual hunting license and a Kentucky statewide deer permit to hang a deer on Kentucky dirt, including Daniel Boone, Peabody, and the Kentucky side of Land Between the Lakes.
The national walkthrough lives at how to get a hunting license. This page is only Kentucky’s cart. Seasons, zones, and where to sit stay on the Kentucky hunting guide.
Step 1: Hunter education
If you were born on or after January 1, 1975, and you are 12 or older, Kentucky wants a hunter-education card in your pocket. That is on the hunter education page. An in-person course finishes you the same day. An online course still needs a scheduled range day. Kentucky accepts hunter-ed cards from the other 49 states — bring the card or a reprint. The clerk cannot “look you up in Ohio.”
Never taken the course? Kentucky sells a one-time temporary exemption permit: valid one year from issue, residents and nonresidents, Kentucky only. Not accepted at Blue Grass Army Depot or Fort Campbell. You still buy the hunting license and the deer permit, and you hunt under a licensed adult who has already met hunter ed. Under 12 you are license-exempt, but an adult who meets hunter ed still has to be with you. Resident landowners hunting their own Kentucky farm are exempt from hunter ed on that farm — not at a WMA.
Step 2: Resident or not
Residency is not “I have a camp in McCreary.” On the license requirements page it is permanent legal residence plus 30 days in the state before you buy, or a full-time student enrolled at least six months, or military on permanent assignment here. An Indiana driver’s license with a Cadiz farm is a nonresident.
A nonresident who owns land in Kentucky still buys nonresident licenses and a nonresident deer permit. The landowner exemption is for Kentucky resident farm owners, and only on that farm. Nonresident deer permits are sold over the counter in a normal year. Confirm the current price band on the official fee sheet the week you buy. I am not pasting a number that will be wrong in October.
Step 3: What goes in the cart
Think in layers. The which license do I need page is the official checklist.
- Annual hunting license — resident or nonresident, ages 16–64. A 1-day or 7-day hunting license is legal for squirrel. It is not legal for deer, turkey, elk, or bear.
- Statewide deer permit — four deer: one antlered and three antlerless, or four antlerless. Statewide antlered cap is one buck, every zone, every method. Zone bags still cap you. Wording: license and permit descriptions.
- Additional deer permit if you want more than four. It adds two. You must already hold the statewide permit. Zone bags still win.
- Sportsman’s License (residents) — hunt/fish plus the statewide deer permit and both turkey permits. It does not include additional deer permits, a Peabody user permit, an LBL hunt permit, elk, or bear.
Youth ages 12–15 buy a youth hunting license and a youth deer permit. A parent or guardian signs at purchase.
Step 4: When it goes on sale
Kentucky’s license year starts March 1. If you wait until the Friday before the gun opener, you will still get a statewide deer permit in a normal year. The part that disappears is a quota slot on Taylorsville, Clay, or a state-park hunt.
KDFWR deer quota applications run September 1–30. Drawn hunters still buy the hunting license and the statewide deer permit. No substitutions. Apply at the quota hunts page. Land Between the Lakes firearm deer is a different system — use the LBL hunting page, not the KDFWR quota form.
How you carry it, tag it, and report it
Buy online and you will not get a paper license in the mail. You get an authorization number. Carry that number or a printed copy, plus a photo ID. Electronic licenses are allowed. I still screenshot Solar because phones die in a holler. Agents: find a license agent.
Kentucky does not hand you a Michigan-style kill tag to notch. Fill out a harvest log as soon as the deer is down and before you move it: species, date, county, sex. Then telecheck by midnight the day you recover it: My Profile or 1-800-245-4263. A carcass tag is required if the deer leaves your possession. Official walkthrough: recording, checking, tagging, and transporting. Field mechanics: how to tag a deer. CWD sampling inside the Surveillance Zone is not a license. Symptoms: CWD in deer.
Public land does not always need a second license — except when it does
Daniel Boone takes the same Kentucky hunting license and statewide deer permit. What it does not take is a 1-day hunting license or a Tennessee tag. Pioneer Weapons is a weapons restriction (bow, crossbow, muzzleloader), not a second permit.
Two extras sit in the cart. Peabody WMA user permit — required of all users on that coalfield WMA; Sportsman’s License does not include it. Land Between the Lakes hunt permit — on top of the Kentucky license and deer permit on the Kentucky side of LBL. Firearm deer there is quota; archery still needs the LBL permit. Quota WMA hunts still want the statewide deer permit after you draw. Baiting, orange, and Sundays live on the Kentucky hunting guide. After the permit is paid for: public land deer hunting.
Youth and first-timers
Under 12, resident or nonresident, you do not buy a hunting license or a deer permit. You still follow seasons, zone bags, orange, the harvest log, and telecheck. Ages 12–15 buy youth products. During Free Youth Weekend (first weekend after Christmas; confirm dates on the deer hunting page) youth 15 and under hunt statewide without a license or deer permit, with an adult. The adult does not need a license if the adult is not hunting. Adults who have not finished hunter ed use the one-year exemption permit, supervised by a licensed adult who has already met hunter ed.
Common ways this goes wrong
- Buying a 1-day or 7-day hunting license and walking into a deer stand.
- Buying only the deer permit and skipping the annual hunting license — or the reverse.
- A Tennessee, Indiana, or Ohio license on Kentucky dirt because the ridge continues across the line.
- A nonresident landowner hunting their Kentucky farm on a resident cart.
- Peabody or LBL without the extra user/hunt permit, or moving the deer before the harvest log is filled out.
Where to hunt once the permit is in the truck
Start with the Kentucky deer hunting guide for seasons, zone bags, baiting, CWD counties, and the public-land list. Ridges and hollers: Daniel Boone. Woods people skip: where to hunt. Kentucky is white-tailed deer country.
Neighboring hunts we already cover: Tennessee, Ohio, and Indiana. Those are other carts. Nonresident checklist: planning an out-of-state deer hunt. The other live how-to in this licenses folder is how to get a Michigan deer license — different cutoff year, different cart.
Parent hub: how to get licensed · deer hunting · hunting by state.
FAQ
Can a nonresident buy a Kentucky deer permit over the counter? Yes, in a normal year: annual nonresident hunting license plus nonresident statewide deer permit. Quota WMA hunts and LBL firearm deer are the parts that draw.
Does a Tennessee license work on Daniel Boone? No.
Do I need a separate license for Daniel Boone? No. Same Kentucky hunting license and statewide deer permit. Pioneer Weapons is still that permit, just primitive weapons only.
Where do I report a deer? Harvest log in the field, then telecheck by midnight at 1-800-245-4263 or My Profile.