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Hunting and Ocean Fishing — The Resident Rate While You Serve

A serving member gets the $10 resident hunting licence instead of the $95 non-resident one, and is exempt outright from the non-resident marine fishing licence. Both turn on active duty. Neither reaches a veteran who has separated, and neither turns on a disability rating.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

A serving member gets the $10 resident hunting licence instead of the $95 non-resident one, and is exempt outright from the non-resident marine fishing licence. Both turn on active duty. Neither reaches a veteran who has separated, and neither turns on a disability rating.

What it's worth: $85 off a hunting licence, and no marine fishing licence fee at all

  • The hunting licence fee is $10 for a person who has resided in the State a year or longer, or who is a member of the armed forces on active duty and the spouse and children thereof. It is $95 for all other persons. The difference is $85 a year.
  • The wildlife division puts the same two figures on its own hunting page — $10 resident, $95 non-resident — and states that active duty personnel and their dependents stationed here are treated as residents for the licence.
  • The non-resident recreational marine fishing licence costs $20 for a day, $40 for seven days and $70 for a year. Members of the armed forces on active duty in the State, and their spouse and minor children, are excepted from needing one at all.
  • The hunting licence also requires a hunter education certificate or a written exemption, and proof of an approved course. Nothing about military service substitutes for it.

This record exists to correct a myth. There is no disabled-veteran hunting or fishing concession in the statute. §183D-22(b)(4) makes the licence free to residents aged sixty-five or over and to residents of Kalaupapa with Hansen’s disease — and to nobody else. A rating of any percentage does not appear anywhere in the fee schedule. The concession here is for serving members, not for disability.

Who is entitled to it

  • Both statutes turn on being a member of the armed forces on active duty.
  • Your home is in this state.

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

  1. 1For hunting, buy the licence online through the department’s portal, at a forestry and wildlife office, or from a registered vendor, and claim the $10 rate rather than the $95 one.
  2. 2Bring proof of hunter education. The certificate requirement is separate from the fee and applies to everyone; the only exception is for a person born before 1 January 1972 who can show a licence issued before 1 July 1990.
  3. 3Budget the $10 wildlife conservation stamp on top. It is a current-year stamp you endorse and affix to the licence, and it is not part of the fee the military rate reduces.
  4. 4For ocean fishing, do nothing. There is no licence to buy and no exemption form — the requirement simply does not apply to you while you are serving here. Carry your military identification in case you are asked.
File with
The land and natural resources department, or a registered licence vendor
Annual
Claimed once a year.
CorrectionThere is no disabled-veteran hunting or fishing concession in the statute. §183D-22(b)(4) makes the licence free to residents aged sixty-five or over and to residents of Kalaupapa with Hansen’s disease — and to nobody else. A rating of any percentage does not appear anywhere in the fee schedule. The concession here is for serving members, not for disability.
CorrectionThe $10 wildlife conservation stamp survives the military rate. A serving hunter pays $10 for the licence and $10 for the stamp, so the annual outlay is $20, not $10.
Worth knowingThe aquatic resources division’s summary table lists the exception as "active-duty military and their minor children". The statute it summarises also names the spouse. Where the two disagree, the statute is the law — a serving member’s spouse is within §188-72(a) even though the table omits them.
Worth knowingThe hunting statute attaches no "stationed here" condition to the $10 rate — it names any member of the armed forces on active duty, plus spouse and children. The wildlife division’s page adds "stationed in Hawaii". The fishing statute does say "on active duty in the State". Expect the counter to work from the page rather than the section.
Known gapThe freshwater game fishing licence is not priced in the statute — chapter 187A leaves those fees to departmental rule under §187A-5, and the rule was not read. Whether a military rate exists there is unresolved.

Sources

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