How to Check a Hunting Outfitter's License

Step 1: ask for the number

Ask the outfitter for its state outfitter, guide or registration number in writing, and the name on the license. In some states the business is registered; in others each guide holds a license. A legitimate outfitter expects the question and answers it quickly.

Step 2: find the right agency

Licensing is not always run by the wildlife agency. In our research, 19 states have a confirmed guide or outfitter license, registration or permit requirement, and the issuing body ranges from the wildlife agency to a separate licensing board. Each state page names the body and links the page we read, with the date. 11 of those states give a page where a license can be looked up or confirmed, such as Colorado's outfitter registration search run by its Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA Outfitters).

Step 3: look it up and compare

• The name on the record matches the business or guide you are dealing with.
• The status is active and the expiry date is after your hunt.
• The license covers the activity sold (for example big game guiding, not just fishing).
• Where states license areas or units, the record covers where you will hunt.

Where there is no public lookup

Some states have no public lookup, or none that shows numbers. Others, by our reading of the agency pages, have no state guide license for hunting at all (in our research: Alabama, Florida, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Texas, Washington). On Sun Up Hunts those listings are labelled plainly, "No public state license lookup" or "License not checked", and we never show a number we did not check. In those states, call or email the agency named on the state page, give it the outfitter's name and number, and ask it to confirm.

Federal land permits

If any part of the hunt is on a national forest, the outfitter needs a Forest Service special use permit in addition to any state license. The Forest Service handbook says outfitting and guiding on National Forest System lands must be authorized under a special use permit. Ask for the permit holder name and the forest it covers. Hunts on other federal lands, such as national wildlife refuges, have their own permit rules.

Red flags

• The outfitter will not give a number, or gives one that does not match any record.
• The name on the license is a different person or business with no explanation.
• The deposit is requested before any contract is sent.
• Pressure to pay quickly because a hunt "will be gone tomorrow".