Is a multi-year resident license valid if you move out of state?

Hi folks,

My daughter is moving out of state for several years of grad school. We wonder if she buys a multi-year license if she can still apply, legally and ethically, for bonus points in her absence. I can't find the answer in the guide books anywhere.

Thanks in advance,
DEADicated

I'd call and check for sure but if she doesn't claim residency in the other state she should be ok.

I don't think it matters. As I understand it, you can apply for bonus points regardless of res/NR status. She might be building NR points that would then convert to resident points when/if she moves back.

Same for me. I have 14 NR elk points. If I decided to move to Utah, I could then use my points as a resident once the time limit to convert to a resident is satisfied.

However if you are asking if she can still apply as a resident, while away at school, I think as mtnrunner suggests, she is still considered a resident while she is a student.

txhunter58

venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)

I know in the case of a lifetime license. If you own a lifetime fishing and hunting license and you move out of state. You do not loose you lifetime license. You just have to pay the extra fee for being a nonresident. I am sure it would be the same for a dedicated hunter. Is she loosing resident status going to school ? I guess it depends on what she does when moving to her new state. Like getting a drivers license there and not coming back to her home state.

Thanks for your thoughts guys. I hadn't thought of the lifetime license angle. Obviously that one is good enough (i.e. you don't need to purchase a new non-resident hunting license) to apply in the drawings. Since my daughter is only buying bonus points and not applying for non-resident tags, she should be fine.

She will get a driver's license out there, but won't be buying a Maryland resident hunting or fishing license. It shouldn't matter if she's officially a resident of Utah or not during the term of her Utah multi-year resident hunting/fishing license, as she should be able to hunt small game and go fishing here when she's visiting.

You are correct. My son was out of state for school for 8 years. As long as he didn't establish residency for hunting purposes he was still considered a Utah resident to hunt here. The same applies for military service.

I sent the DWR an email a while back and asked

"If I have a lifetime license and move out of state, can I still apply as a resident?" This is what they sent me:


"You have to apply as a non resident if you no longer live in Utah."

Bobby, that makes sense to me. You would obviously have to apply for non-resident tags, but you wouldn't need to buy a new non-resident license in order to apply for them, since you have the lifetime license, or in our case, the multi-year resident license. And since my daughter will only applying for bonus points, she should be perfectly fine. Thanks for your information.

As someone who has lived in both Idaho and Utah while hunting both states I can say that what she does for residency matters.

I haven't had a multi-year license in Utah, but with an Idaho multi-year license you are required to let the Idaho Fish and Game know if you move, especially if you move out of state. If she changes residency for the purpose of getting in-state tuition or anything of that sort then she will no longer be a resident of Utah and not eligible for a resident license. I'm not saying that she couldn't have a resident license and just apply for points and be fine, but legally that is what you are dealing with. Lifetime licenses still require that you notify them immediately if you move out of state. You don't have to pay for a new license, but they do issue you a non-resident or resident lifetime license accordingly.

Trix isn't necessarily right. If you change residency for ANY reason, not just for buying hunting licenses, then you no longer qualify for a resident hunting license in your previous state. College is a little different situation, especially if the student is still living at home during the summers and never taking up an official residence in another state. If that is the case then as long as the student never claims ANY residency privileges in the other state they can maintain their Utah residency.

I was prompted to research this a lot further as I had a friend who moved from Idaho to Utah for a brief time and had some issues. He lived in Idaho still for part of the year for work. He still had an Idaho driver's license, and never bought a hunting or fishing license in Utah. He got a resident Idaho hunting license to put in for the hunts each year he was in Utah. Yet a couple years down the road the IF&G show up at his work to arrest him. He ended up paying $8000 in fines and lost hunting privileges for 5 years. Never even killed an animal in Idaho in those years. He wasn't trying to avoid the law, he just didn't know the law. I still wonder why he got punished worse than convicted poachers, but that's a different topic all together.

If it was me I'd just buy a nonresident license and use it to apply for the bonus points. You can use a one year license for two application periods if you do it right and nonresident licenses in Utah are cheap. If she's living with you during the summers, then don't worry about it, but if she is moving there to live there, then just get the nonresident license and she'll for sure be good. No reason to push it. A lot of risk for saving a few dollars.

IDhunter?s last paragraph is the secret. Buy the license a few days before the application deadline one year, next year apply before that date and the old license is still good until 365 days.

$65.00 over 2 years shouldn't break the bank.

Thanks IdahoHntr, that sounds like a truly bad experience.

I appreciate all your responses. Maybe the every-other-year non-resident license is the way to go. It is about the same cost that way as buying the full-time multi-year resident license and there is no risk of being in trouble with the law. The only drawback I can see is that she may not be able to hunt small game or fish with us if the non-resident license is expired during one of the seasons.

Thanks again,
DEADicated