Hunting tags: transfer: youth program

The law creates a limited exception to the ban on transferring hunting tags, allowing young licensed hunters to use a parent’s, guardian’s, or grandparent’s tag under supervision.

What the law does ​

• Requires the Fish and Game Commission to establish and regulate a hunting-tag transfer program.
• Allows tags for antelope, elk, deer, bears, and bighorn rams to be transferred from a parent, legal guardian, or grandparent to an eligible child or grandchild age 17 or younger.
• Requires the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to charge the transferor a cost-recovery fee and deposit it in the Big Game Management Account.
• Preserves the young recipient’s preference points when a transferred tag came from a modified-preference drawing, while not restoring the transferor’s points.
• Applies a once-in-a-lifetime tag restriction to the original tag holder, not the young recipient.
• Repeals the program on January 1, 2033.

Who it affects ​

• Parents, legal guardians, and grandparents who hold eligible big-game hunting tags.
• Licensed hunters age 17 or younger who are otherwise eligible for the relevant tag.
• Young hunters who must be accompanied during the hunt by a parent, guardian, grandparent, or a combination of them.

Context ​

The general prohibition on transferring hunting licenses, tags, permits, and similar authorizations otherwise remains in place.