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Complimentary Lifetime Hunting and Fishing Licence

A free licence for life — not an annual discount — for a former prisoner of war, a veteran the VA finds unemployable, or a 100% service-connected disabled veteran.

Verified August 18, 2026

What this benefit is

A free licence for life — not an annual discount — for a former prisoner of war, a veteran the VA finds unemployable, or a 100% service-connected disabled veteran.

What it's worth: A hunting and a nontidal fishing licence, free, for life

  • Because it is a lifetime licence, the saving is every annual licence you would otherwise buy for the rest of your life rather than one year of fees.

Who is entitled to it

  • You are certified as a former prisoner of war.
  • The VA has determined you to be unemployable.
  • You are a 100% service-connected disabled American veteran.
  • You are a Maryland resident.

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. 1Go to a DNR Licensing and Registration Service Centre. The complimentary lifetime licence is issued there and not online, which is the step that stops most people.
  2. 2Bring VA documentation showing the finding your route turns on — former prisoner of war status, unemployability, or a 100% service-connected rating.
  3. 3Buy the Maryland Migratory Game Bird Stamp and the federal duck stamp separately each year if you hunt waterfowl. They are not part of the complimentary licence.
File with
A Maryland DNR Licensing and Registration Service Centre — in person
Documents you will need
va benefit summary letter
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
Worth knowingThis is a lifetime licence, not an annual waiver. There is nothing to renew, which also means there is no annual reminder — get it once and keep the card.
CorrectionUnemployability is its own route. A veteran paid at the 100% rate through individual unemployability but rated below 100% qualifies, and does not need to argue their way through the 100% test.
Worth knowingAn out-of-state veteran meeting the same tests may receive the lifetime licence too, but only if their own state extends a similar reciprocal privilege to Maryland residents. We gate this record on Maryland residence and flag the reciprocal route here rather than guessing which states reciprocate.
Known gapThe Maryland Migratory Game Bird Stamp, the federal stamp and the Big Game Harvest Record are excluded and are required annually. We hold the exclusions the handbook names and have not been able to read DNR’s own current list of what the licence bundles in.

Sources

Why only one source type: dnr.maryland.gov returns HTTP 403 to every request, so the administering agency's own pages could not be read. The Department of Legislative Services handbook is the State's own published account of the licence and states the eligibility tests and the exclusions in terms, so we publish on it and record the limitation.

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.