Regulations

Important information for trappers: Registered Fur Management Areas (RFMAs) where open seasons exist for Wolverine, River Otter, Canada Lynx, and Fisher - Species Limits (Quotas) have been removed for the 2024/2025 trapping season, please see page 16 of the Trapping Regulations for more information.

There are numerous regulations hunters need to be aware of before heading out into the field.

To ensure you follow all the correct licensing requirements, you need have to be aware of regulations pertaining to:

• Ammunition and weaponry
• Registration
• Restricted areas
• Tagging
• Vehicle use and more!

To learn and remain up-to-date on Alberta's hunting regulations, make sure you review the most current issue of the Alberta Guide to Hunting Regulations publication – updated each year in July.

Changes to the Wildlife Act and Wildlife Regulation

On May 21, 2025, Alberta’s government made changes to the Wildlife Act and Wildlife Regulation, which are foundational pieces of legislation guiding the management of wildlife in the province, as well as the rules hunters and trappers must follow when active on the landscape.

These changes modernized Alberta’s rules and regulations to better reflect contemporary science, social norms and technologies, as well as to correct inaccuracies or ambiguities that existed in Alberta’s legislation.

An overview of the amendments is provided below, but please consult both the 2025 guide to hunting regulations and the 2025 guide to trapping regulations, which will be released later in 2025, for all rules and regulations concerning hunting and trapping in the province.

1. Residency – to qualify as an Alberta resident, a hunter must have at least six months of primary residence in Alberta. This is in addition to existing requirements for Canadian permanent resident status or citizenship, or 12 months of residence in Canada preceding the relevant date.
2. The crossbow permit is no longer needed, but those wanting to use a crossbow in archery season must still demonstrate medical justification. The medical assessment form must still be carried and be signed by an authorized medical practitioner. This form will be considered invalid if improperly filled out or incomplete.
3. You may now shoot at migratory birds from an unanchored, powered boat, however, the boat cannot be moving due to the momentum imparted by a motor (or sail).
4. Prohibited ammunition for big game is now all rimfire ammunition and all centrefire ammunition with a bullet size less than .22 calibre. This means that centrefire .22 cartridges like .223, .22-250, .22 Creedmoor etc. are legal for big game.
5. The minimum draw weight for bows has been reduced to 35lbs to draw an arrow 28 inches to its head.
6. Black bear hunting with dogs is now permitted in Wildlife Management Units 344, 346, 347, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353, 354, 355, 356, 439, 440, 441, 442, 444, 445, 446, 511, 524, 525, 527 and 537 in September and October during an open season.  This is being done in order to support predator management in areas where caribou recovery is a concern.
7. Tracking dogs can now be used to help recover big game that have been shot at and presumed dead or wounded. The dog can only be brought into the area after the shot and must remain leashed at all times while in an area with an open season for big game. NOTE: hunting big game while accompanied by a dog other than for cougars and black bears where prescribed, or with a pack-dog in the 400 Wildlife Management Units, remains illegal.
8. Muskrats and double crested cormorants can now be hunted by an owner or occupant, or a resident authorized in writing by the owner or occupant, without a licence on private land.
9. Double crested cormorants are a game bird huntable during duck seasons. Their flesh may be abandoned or wasted, but dead birds must be recovered from the field and disposed of.
10. The minimum edible portions of big game that must be recovered by hunters, if fit for consumption, are: the four quarters, the loins and the neck.
11. The minimum edible portions of game birds that must be recovered by hunters, if fit for consumption, are: the breasts.
12. The skins of black bears and cougars may now be abandoned only if the edible portions of the meat of those animals are recovered. A hunter may thus abandon the skin or meat of a cougar or black bear, but not both. If skins are abandoned, the meat must be tagged like other big game animals, such as deer, elk or moose.
13. Undersubscribed licences – permitted licence combinations will now allow a resident hunter to buy one undersubscribed licence of any kind even if that hunter already holds a license of that type. For example: if a hunter draws an antlerless elk special license or buys a resident antlerless elk license, they can still buy an undersubscribed antlerless elk special licence if one is available after the draw.
14. Youth minimum age – As of August 1, 2025, the youth minimum age to hunt big game is now 10 years old. This means that a 10-year-old can hold a big game licence and can apply for big game draws. NOTE: youth under 16 still need written parental consent to buy a hunting licence, youth must be supervised by an adult with a valid hunting licence unless they hold a federal minor’s firearm permit that permits them to use a firearm for hunting.
15. Youth under 10 are exempt from the need for a provincial game bird licence while hunting game birds. However, they must be supervised by a licenced adult and any birds they harvest are considered part of the adult’s limit. The youth under 10 shares the supervising adult’s legal harvest limits for legally huntable species.
16. Bear bait station signs no longer need a compulsory Wildlife Identification Number, but instead can include a WIN or substitute a name and telephone number for the person responsible for the bait.
17. Turkey can be now hunted with any weapon that is not prohibited for hunting upland game birds.
18. Someone hunting on a game bird shooting ground may now use any weapon that is allowed for hunting game birds provided they are authorized by the landowner or the holder of the game bird shooting ground licence.
19. Hunters cannot be accompanied by domestic sheep or goats (e.g. ‘pack goats’) while hunting in Wildlife Management Units 302, 303, 306, 308, and 400 through 446.
20. Anyone guiding a resident hunter for game bird hunting for gain or reward must be a registered guide and outfitter, or must work for a registered outfitter.
21. Resident use of outfitter allocations – a resident may continue to access outfitter allocated licences. This is now a permanent entitlement.
22. Anyone who kills a male sheep over one year of age must now submit their report and deliver the complete unaltered skull with horns and eye intact within 14 days after the close of the season or 30 days after the date that the animal was killed—whichever occurs first.
23. Trophy sheep are now called ‘class 1 sheep’ and trophy antelope are now called ‘class 1 antelope’. Non-trophy sheep are now called ‘class 2 sheep’ and non-trophy antelope are now called ‘class 2 antelope’. 
24. All tracking devices attached to animals that are legally killed or found dead must be reported and returned to Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Services.
25. Definition of a vehicle – Non-motorized mobility aids, such as non-powered wheelchairs, are now exempt from being classified as a vehicle. Users of these devices will not be required to have a Weapons Discharge Permit to shoot from these devices while hunting.
26. Game meat at functions – A non-profit or charity registered in Alberta may serve legally acquired, complimentary game meat at fund raising events. The event may have an associated entry fee or donation request, but the organization must not charge extra for the game meat.
27. Feeding or Attracting wildlife – In addition to existing prohibitions on the intentional feeding of bears, wolves, cougars and coyotes, it now prohibited to place an attractant where it is accessible to bears, wolves or cougars, or to place an attractant with the intention of attracting bears, wolves or cougars.
28. Bill of lading- a Bill of lading is no longer needed if sharing legally hunted game animal parts after the tag has been removed. A tag may only be removed at residence or commercial facility like a butcher when the animal is processed. All other possession of wildlife must still be accompanied by prescribed documents.
29. Taxidermy permits – a taxidermy permit can now be issued for a location that includes the living quarters of a private dwelling
30. Repeal of clothing requirements – high visibility clothing has not been required in practice for many years in Alberta, this provision has now been formally repealed.
31. The medical eligibility requirements for a Weapons Discharge Permit have been slightly relaxed to acknowledge an expanded list of physical challenges that still prevent a hunter from being mobile in the field.
32. Sale of marked wildlife – wildlife that have been permanently marked to authorize them for sale may now be sold immediately after that permanent marking, there is no longer a need to wait for three years.
33. The processed skins of grizzly bear, or cougar, or the horns or antlers of a big game animal that have been registered for sale may be sold as or as part of an artisan product.
34. Temporary shelter permits – these now allow the holder to posses the wildlife or controlled animal for up to 30 days only.
35. Registration for sale – parts of an animal such as skins and horns may be registered for sale by the person who killed the animal under authority of a recreational licence now includes an animal from any jurisdiction as long that person can demonstrate the authority under which it was killed.
36. Cougar may be hunted, other than by trapping or by the use of dogs, on privately owned land by the owner or occupant of that land, or a resident who is authorized in writing by the owner or occupant of that land to hunt on the land.
37. Minors hunting with firearms – minors who possess a federal minors firearm permit and who are using that firearm in accordance with their permit’s conditions may be exempt from being supervised while using a firearm for hunting. If not in possession of a valid minors permit, they are still required to be supervised by an appropriately licenced parent, guardian or authorized adult.
38. Night hunting and night shooting – the Damage Control Licence may now include exemptions on the prohibitions for hunting and shooting at wildlife at night. These conditions will only be included under very specific wildlife management situations and will include a host of conditions around safe practices and to the satisfaction of law enforcement and neighbours. Further guidance will be developed.

If you have questions about the recently made amendments to the Wildlife Act and Regulation, please contact FP.HuntingAndFishingBranch@gov.ab.ca

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Updated: Jun 12, 2025