recreationstate

A Free One-Year Hunting and Fishing Licence, and a Discount if You Are Disabled

A free full-privilege sportsman’s licence for one year, issued once to a veteran discharged on or after 1 July 2005, plus a steeply discounted three-year licence for a permanently and totally disabled resident.

Verified August 18, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: One free year of hunting and fishing, then a discount if you are disabled

Estimated on the published resident Georgia Sportsman package price, which is the closest paid equivalent to the full-privilege licence the One Time Veterans Licence grants.
The One Time Veterans Licence runs for one year from the date of issue and is issued only once.
The disability route is a discount, not a waiver, so no fee saving is claimed for it here.

Who is entitled to it

You served in the U.S. armed forces.
You are permanently and totally disabled, which opens the discounted three-year disability licence.
You were discharged on or after 1 July 2005 after 90 or more days of active federal duty, which opens the free One Time Veterans Licence.
Your home is in Georgia.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

1For the free route, show a DD214 recording an honorable discharge on or after 1 July 2005 and 90 or more days of active federal duty.
2Time the free licence rather than claiming it the day you become eligible. It runs one year from issue and it is issued once, so a season you will actually hunt is worth more than a season you will not.
3For the disability route, expect a discounted three-year disability sportsman’s licence rather than a free one, and apply on paper — the Wildlife Resources Division does not issue or renew that licence online.
4Take the three-year disability licence over the annual one if you are offered both: the annual one asks for fresh disability documentation every year, the three-year one asks once.

File with: Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division
Documents you will need: dd214
Periodic recertification: Confirmed at intervals rather than annually.

CorrectionThe disability route is a DISCOUNT, not a free licence. Summaries built on the older honorary-licence language promise a permanently and totally disabled veteran free hunting and fishing; the Department of Veterans Service now publishes a discounted three-year disability sportsman’s licence instead. Only a totally blind resident is listed for a free lifetime honorary fishing licence. Budget for a fee.

CorrectionThere is no one-year window from coming home. The One Time Veterans Licence is gated on a 90-day active federal duty period and an honorable discharge dated 1 July 2005 or later, and the one year is how long the licence lasts from issue — not how long you have to ask for it. A veteran discharged years ago and told the window had closed was told wrong.

Worth knowingThe free licence has no disability requirement at all, and it is a full-privilege sportsman’s licence rather than a stripped-down one. Once it expires there is a further discount: an honorably discharged resident veteran can buy the adult lifetime sportsman’s licence at 20% off between 16 and 49.

Known gapThe Department of Veterans Service does not publish the actual price of the discounted three-year disability licence, and the Wildlife Resources Division fee page refuses this network, so we cannot say what the discount is worth. Ring 1-800-366-2661 before assuming it is small.

Sources

authority · published policyGeorgia Department of Veterans Service — Hunting and Fishing Licenses (State Benefits for Georgia Veterans)
operating · published policyGeorgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division — One-Time Veterans Hunting & Fishing Licence

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