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Canada · Hunter education exam

Ontario hunters safety course: how to qualify to hunt

Hunter education in Canada is set by each province, and Ontario has its own. You can take Ontario’s hunters safety course, officially the Ontario Hunter Education Course, with a certified instructor or online at your own pace, and it ends with an exam. Pass it, register the result and get an Outdoors Card, and you can buy your first hunting licence.

  • 80%Pass mark on the online course’s final exam
  • 16 yearsAge for a licence without parental consent
  • 3 calendar yearsHow long an Outdoors Card lasts
Where to studyHow the test works

Updated November 2026 · Written from the Ontario Hunting Regulations Summary and the Ministry of Natural Resources’ hunter education pages

Key facts

At a glance

Official name
Ontario Hunter Education Course, part of the Ontario Hunter Education Program
Run by
The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, with the Ministry of Natural Resources
What it lets you do
Hunt with a bow, with the right licences. A gun also needs the Canadian Firearms Safety Course
Ontario resident
Your main home is here, and you’ve lived here 6 months in a row of the last 12

How it works

How the hunters safety course in Ontario works

  1. Choose a format. The instructor-led course is in a classroom, in one day or spread over more than one, and you write the exam with your instructor. The online course is self-paced, and the exam is online too.
  2. Online, you have to pass a quiz for each chapter as well as the final exam.
  3. When you pass, you get a Certificate of Completion. Online, you print it yourself. After a classroom course, the Ontario Hunter Education Program (OHEP) emails it if you gave an email address when you signed up, so allow at least 48 hours. If you didn’t, ask your instructor for a copy.
  4. Take the printed certificate to a participating ServiceOntario location that provides hunting licence services. Staff there put your hunter accreditation on file in Ontario’s licensing system.
  5. From December 10, 2026, you can also submit it online through FishHuntON, Ontario’s new licensing website and app from that date.
  6. With your accreditation on file and an Outdoors Card, you can buy licences and tags and enter big game draws, online, at a licence issuer or at ServiceOntario.
  7. The card comes by mail and can take up to 20 days. Until it arrives, the licence summary you get when you buy it is your temporary proof.

Topics

What the course covers

The ministry lists these subjects for the course. The points under each are rules from the ministry’s hunting licence pages and the Ontario Hunting Regulations Summary.

01

Hunting safety and equipment

Handling guns and bows safely, and the gear that keeps you safe outdoors.

Key points (3)
  • It’s illegal to have a loaded firearm in or on, or to fire one from, an aircraft, a motorboat or a vehicle, snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles included.
  • Air and pellet guns count as guns, so you carry firearms proof when you hunt with one.
  • The ministry may let a hunter with certain mobility impairments hunt from a stationary vehicle or motorboat.
02

Hunting laws and regulations

Licences, tags and the paperwork you carry in the field.

Key points (4)
  • Hunting licences expire on December 31 of the year they’re issued, unless the licence says otherwise.
  • A licence summary on your phone has to be the PDF from the licensing service. A photo or screenshot isn’t valid.
  • It’s illegal to transfer your Outdoors Card, licence or tag, or to use one issued to someone else.
  • If you get a moose licence, or a tag for deer, elk, black bear, wild turkey or wolf and coyote, you file a hunter report, even if you didn’t hunt.
03

Hunter responsibilities

What a hunter owes the animal, other people and the rules.

Key points (3)
  • Notch your tag with the date, month and time right after the kill, at the site, before you move the animal.
  • Keep the tag protected, intact and readable, and carry it the whole time.
  • Many Indigenous communities in Ontario hold Aboriginal or treaty rights to hunt. Once conservation goals are met, those rights come before other uses.
04

Wildlife management

How Ontario manages game populations, and how that shapes your licence.

Key points (2)
  • You enter a draw or allocation to hunt antlerless white-tailed deer, bull, cow and calf or calf moose, and bull or cow elk.
  • Each tag sets the type, age and sex of animal you may take, with the location, season and firearm type.
05

Wildlife identification and hunting techniques

Telling species apart, and how each is hunted.

Key points (3)
  • Ontario’s big game species are black bear, moose, white-tailed deer and elk, and each needs a tag.
  • Small game includes cottontails and hares, grouse, squirrels, pheasant, raccoon, fox, groundhog and wild turkey, which needs a tag as well as a small game licence.
  • Migratory game birds also need a federal migratory game bird hunting permit and a wildlife habitat conservation stamp.

Test day

What you need before you buy a licence

  • Your printed Certificate of Completion, for ServiceOntario
  • Your legal name, date of birth, address, height and eye colour, for the Outdoors Card
  • Parental consent, if you’re a resident aged 12 to 15
  • A payment card. The ministry’s Outdoors Card page lists Visa, Visa Debit, Mastercard and Debit Mastercard, not American Express

Before you go

  1. The ministry’s advice is to get your training and accreditation well before the hunting season.
  2. Many instructors run a one-stop course that combines hunter education with the Canadian Firearms Safety Course. You can also take the two separately.
Find a participating ServiceOntario locationPick a participating location that provides hunting licence services.

Study options

Where to study

Classroom courses, the online course and one-stop firearms courses sit side by side here. The study page adds the free official reading, HUNTERcourse.com’s free sample test and other provinces’ programs.

OptionPriceFree to useLinks
In person
Ontario Hunter Education Program (OHEP): classroom coursesOfficial · instructor-led course and examCertified instructors teach the course and give the exam. Its instructor search lists over 400 Ontario towns; pick yours or the nearest one.
Not statedNot stated
Search for an instructor ↗
Firearms Safety Education Service of Ontario: one-stop coursesCanadian Firearms Safety Course, alone or with hunter educationIts course search finds firearms courses by location and radius, including one-stop courses, which the ministry says combine the two courses.
Not statedNot stated
Find a firearms course ↗
Online courses
HUNTERcourse.com: Ontario Hunter Education CourseOfficial online course, self-paced, in English or FrenchA delegated provider for the ministry. Its page shows a Trustpilot rating of 4.4 from 5,939 reviews.
$60 plus taxAn Ontario study guide, and a general 10-question sample test
See the online course ↗

Prices and ratings checked November 2026.

Explore

Everything else, in one place

Study options

FAQ

Common questions

Can you take the hunters safety course in Ontario online?

Yes. HUNTERcourse.com, a delegated provider for the Ministry of Natural Resources, runs the province-approved online course. It works on phones, tablets and computers and saves your progress, so you can do it in one sitting or over a few days.

How much does the hunter safety course cost in Ontario?

HUNTERcourse.com charges $60 plus tax for the online course. For a classroom course, check the fee with the instructor. After you pass, an Outdoors Card costs $8.57 plus harmonized sales tax on the ministry’s Outdoors Card page, and each licence and tag has its own fee.

Do you need a Possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL) for the hunter safety course in Ontario?

The two are separate. To hunt with a gun, you carry a PAL, a minor’s licence, or the student report from your Canadian Firearms Safety Course. If all you have is the report, federal law says you must be under the direct and immediate supervision of a PAL holder. You can apply for a PAL up to six months before you turn 18.

How old do you have to be to hunt in Ontario?

Residents can hunt at 16, or at 15 with written parental consent. Residents aged 12 to 14 can join the Hunter Apprenticeship Safety Program once they pass the course. They hunt under the direct and immediate supervision of a licensed mentor aged 18 or older and share the mentor’s firearm. HUNTERcourse.com says there’s no minimum age to take the course itself.

What happens if you fail the hunter safety exam?

On the online course, you see your score and the questions you got wrong, review the material, and take the quiz or final exam again. For a classroom exam, ask your instructor how a retake works.

Does hunter education from another province count in Ontario?

It can. If you’ve moved to Ontario, you skip the Ontario course once you’ve lived here at least 6 months and you took hunter education, or hold Ontario-recognized hunting credentials, from where you lived before. Non-residents can use recognized credentials from home, or valid credentials already on file from an earlier hunt here. Non-residents hunting in Ontario for the first time must be at least 16.

What is an Outdoors Card?

It’s a plastic, wallet-sized card from the ministry that you carry whenever you hunt or fish in Ontario. From December 10, 2026, the FishHuntON app can also hold it digitally. To buy hunting licences with it, you also need your hunter accreditation on file. It’s illegal to hold more than one Outdoors Card with different numbers.

Sources: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources · Ontario Hunter Education Program · HUNTERcourse.com and 8 more. Checked November 2026.

Rules and fees can change, so check the official site before your test.

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