In Arizona, the list of animals you can hunt without a license is short: children under 10 accompanied by a licensed adult can take non-big-game species, participants in Arizona Game and Fish Department introductory events can hunt during scheduled hours, and livestock owners can take a specific bear or mountain lion that has attacked their animals. Almost everything else — including coyotes, bobcats, house sparrows, and European starlings — requires a valid Arizona hunting license, even when there is no bag limit or closed season.
The Default Rule in Arizona
State law starts from a wide baseline: no person may take any wildlife without a valid license or commission-approved proof of purchase, and you must carry it while hunting.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 17-331 – License or Proof of Purchase Required “Take” means pursuing, shooting, trapping, killing, capturing, snaring, or netting, and “wildlife” covers all wild mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans, and fish.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 17-101 – Definitions
Those definitions leave very little room. If it moves and it’s wild, assume you need a license unless a specific statute or rule says otherwise.
Children Under 10
A child under 10 can hunt wildlife other than big game without a license, provided a properly licensed adult who is at least 18 accompanies them. One license holder can supervise no more than two unlicensed children at a time.3Arizona Game and Fish Department. Hunting Licenses
This applies to both residents and nonresidents. The child can hunt small game, upland game birds, and other non-big-game species. The supervising adult remains responsible for all other regulations, including seasons, bag limits, and legal methods of take.
Arizona Game and Fish Introductory Events
The Arizona Game and Fish Department periodically runs introductory hunting events for newcomers. During the scheduled event hours, participants do not need a hunting license and may take small game, fur-bearing animals, predatory animals, and certain other designated mammals.4Legal Information Institute. Arizona Code R12-4-311 – Exemptions from Requirement to Possess an Arizona Fishing License or Hunting License While Taking Wildlife
A Department employee, certified hunter education instructor, or authorized volunteer has to be present. If migratory game birds are on the event roster, participants still need any stamps federal law requires, including a Federal Duck Stamp for waterfowl. The exemption does not extend to hunts requiring a permit-tag or nonpermit-tag, so big game is off the table even at these events.4Legal Information Institute. Arizona Code R12-4-311 – Exemptions from Requirement to Possess an Arizona Fishing License or Hunting License While Taking Wildlife
Livestock Operators After a Bear or Mountain Lion Attack
A landowner or lessee running livestock can take a bear or mountain lion that has recently attacked or killed their animals, without a hunting license or tag. The conditions are strict, and missing them can void the protection.
You must notify the Arizona Game and Fish Department within five days of setting traps or beginning pursuit. Within ten days of actually taking the animal, you must file a written report with the Department that includes your name and address, the number and type of livestock lost, and details about the animal taken, including its sex and estimated age.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 17 Game and Fish 17-302
Methods are limited too. You can use leghold traps without teeth (jaw spread no wider than eight and a half inches), leg snares, firearms, or other legal hunting weapons. Traps must be inspected within 72 hours, and any non-target animals must be released. Dogs are allowed to help pursue the offending bear or lion. If the Department asks for evidence of the livestock attack, you have 48 hours to provide it.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 17 Game and Fish 17-302
Self-Defense Is Not a Hunting Exemption
Any person can take wildlife in self-defense or to protect another person when immediately necessary, and no license is required for that specific act. This is not something you can plan a trip around. You must notify the Department within five days, and you cannot retain, sell, or remove any part of the animal from the site without Department authorization.6Justia Law. Arizona Code 17-301.01 – Protection From Wildlife Treating it as a workaround for unlicensed hunting invites serious legal trouble.
Rodent Control and Garden Pests
Arizona law allows traps and poisons for rodent control on public land where those methods are otherwise banned. The carve-out covers “traps for rodent control or poisons for rodent control for the purpose of controlling wild and domestic rodents,” but it explicitly excludes fur-bearing animals.7Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 17-301 – Times When Wildlife May Be Taken; Exceptions; Methods of Taking This addresses method of take rather than licensing, and it fits pest control on your property more than recreational hunting.
Administrative rules also exempt certain garden pests from the license requirement when taken from private property: crayfish, nonnative crustaceans, and terrestrial mollusks such as brown garden snails, decollate snails, pillbugs, and woodlice.4Legal Information Institute. Arizona Code R12-4-311 – Exemptions from Requirement to Possess an Arizona Fishing License or Hunting License While Taking Wildlife
Animals People Wrongly Assume Are License-Free
This is where hunters most often get caught out. Several species that seem like obvious free targets actually require a valid Arizona hunting license.
Coyotes, Foxes, Skunks, and Bobcats
Arizona classifies these four as “predatory animals” by statute.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 17-101 – Definitions A general hunting license covers “the take of small game, fur-bearing animals, predatory animals and upland game birds,” which means you need one to pursue any of them.3Arizona Game and Fish Department. Hunting Licenses Predatory animals do have year-round open seasons with no bag limits, and that is probably where the confusion comes from. A year-round open season is not a license exemption.
House Sparrows and European Starlings
Neither species is protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act because they belong to nonnative, human-introduced bird families.8Federal Register. List of Bird Species To Which the Migratory Bird Treaty Act Does Not Apply Federal non-protection does not remove the state license requirement. A USDA analysis of Arizona bird management noted that house sparrows, though unprotected, still require a hunting license under state law.9USDA APHIS. Bird Damage Management in Arizona
Nongame Animals Generally
The general hunting license also covers nongame animals. Some nongame mammals, including coatis and Gunnison’s prairie dogs, have designated seasons and bag limits set by commission order. Even nongame species without specific season restrictions fall under the general license requirement.
Penalties for Skipping the License
Hunting without a required license is not a slap on the wrist. A general violation of Arizona’s game and fish laws is a class 2 misdemeanor. Knowingly taking big game during a closed season is a class 1 misdemeanor. Selling or bartering unlawfully taken wildlife is a class 6 felony with potential prison time.10Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 17-309 – Violations; Classification The Arizona Game and Fish Commission can also revoke hunting privileges. A basic license runs between $5 and $57 depending on age and residency, which is small money against fines, jail exposure, and loss of future hunting rights.3Arizona Game and Fish Department. Hunting Licenses
Private Land Still Needs Permission
A license exemption is not a right to hunt anywhere. Arizona landowners can post their land closed to hunting, and entering posted land that also displays “no trespassing” language exposes you to criminal trespassing charges.11Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 17-304 – Prohibition by Landowner on Hunting, Fishing, Trapping or Guiding; Trespassing; Posting; Requirements Even on unposted land, refusing a reasonable request to leave from the owner or law enforcement can bring trespassing charges. Get explicit permission before hunting on any private property, exemption or not.
Method Limits on Public Land
Arizona bans leghold traps, body-gripping kill traps, poisons, and snares on all public land, including state land, national forests, BLM land, national parks, military installations, state parks, and county or municipal land. The narrow exceptions cover government health agencies conducting disease surveillance, licensed hunting with firearms or archery equipment, and permitted scientific research.7Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 17-301 – Times When Wildlife May Be Taken; Exceptions; Methods of Taking These method rules apply whether or not you have a license, so even license-exempt activities like rodent control on public land are limited in what tools you can use.