Apply for a special guide licence to guide a non-Yukon resident Canadian on a hunt

Know the rules

All hunters must follow the latest orders and recommendations from the Chief Medical Officer of Health when planning their hunt. Non-residents who are not already in the territory are advised of border restrictions and self-isolation requirements.

What is a special guide licence?

A hunter with a special guide licence can guide:

• a non-Yukon resident;
• who is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada.

Special guide licences are issued through a weighted lottery process.

You may guide 1 hunter each year you have a special guide licence. It's against the law to accept payment or reward of any kind for this service.

Hunters must meet all responsibilities as a guide found in the Yukon hunting regulations summary.

When to apply

Applications are now closed.

The deadline to apply for the special guide licence lottery was June 18 at 4 p.m.

Licence requirements

To apply for a special guide licence, or for weighting purposes only, you must:

• be a Yukon resident who's at least 19 years old; and
• have a valid Yukon big game hunting licence.

The non-resident Canadian hunter you want to guide must:

• be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident who's at least 12 years old;
• be eligible to hold a hunting licence in their home province or territory;
• purchase their own seals if they are 14 years old or older;
• use your seals if they are 12 or 13 years old; and
• not have been special guided in Yukon in the previous 2 hunting seasons.

You can only enter the special guide licence lottery once each year to guide 1 non-resident hunter. A non-resident hunter’s name can only appear on 1 application. 

Available special guiding opportunities

There are:

• 100 special guide licences available for moose or caribou, black bear, coyote and wolf; and
• 25 special guide licence available for bison, black bear, coyote and wolf.

If you don't plan on guiding this year, you can still apply to increase your weighting for the next draw. Choose the "weighting only" option when you apply.

Non-resident hunters must have an Environment Client ID

Before you apply, the non-resident hunter you want to guide will need to have their own Environment eServices account. You will need to include their Environment Client ID on your application. 

Get an Environment Client ID or log in

Non-resident hunters: if you hunted or fished in Yukon before, you may already have an Environment Client ID. Use this to log in. If this will be your first time hunting or fishing in Yukon, you will need to create an account.

We will reject any duplicate applications if they have the same non-resident hunter's name or Client ID after the first application has been received.

Where to apply for a special guide licence

Online

1. Log in to Environment eServices.
2. Select 'Special guide licence (SGL)' on the sidebar and follow the steps.
3. Pay the $10 non-refundable application fee by credit card.

At Department of Environment offices

1. Go to a Department of Environment office and request to apply for a special guide licence.
2. Pay the $10 non-refundable application fee by cash, cheque or credit card.

Your application will be entered into a weighted lottery process.

After you submit your application, you cannot change any of the information from your application, including the name of the hunter you want to guide. 

Lottery results notification

If you are successful in the lottery, you will get notification at the email address listed on your client profile. You will receive instructions on how to claim your licence.

A list of successful applicants will also be posted on this page.

Getting your licence

If you are succesful in the draw:

1. Contact Client Services at 1-800-661-0408, ext 5652 to schedule an appointment to obtain your licence.
2. Go to a Department of Environment office at the scheduled time. Both the guide and hunter must attend the Department of Environment office together.
3.  Licences, seals and the required Outfitter/Chief Guide/Hunter report will be issued at this time. 

Note that your Environment online profile will show you as unsuccessful in the lottery until you obtain your licence.

Once a special guiding licence has been issued, you can’t return it. The Wildlife Regulation applies once the licence is requested and issued.

Successful applicants should determine ahead of time if their non-resident hunter is eligible to enter Yukon.

If you do not request your licence

If you do not request and obtain your licence before the end of the hunting season  the Yukon resident’s application will be treated as if they applied for weighting only and the non-resident will be eligible to apply for the lottery next year.

The  hunting season ends:

• October 31, 2020 for moose and caribou; and 
• March 31, 2021 for wood bison.

 

Lottery system

To fairly distribute special guide licences, the Government of Yukon uses a weighted, computerized lottery system that randomly selects applicants.

Your chances of being drawn depends on:

• the number of applicants; and
• your lottery weighting.

 

For every year you apply for a special guide licence and aren’t successful, your weighting will increase the next time you apply.

Special guide species

Special guide licences can be used to hunt:

• moose or caribou, black bear, coyote and wolf; or
• bison, black bear, coyote, wolf.

 

If you get a special guide licence for moose or caribou, the non-resident hunter can only harvest a moose or a caribou. They cannot harvest both.

Non-resident hunters can't harvest these animals while being guided under a special guide licence:

• goat;
• sheep;
• elk;
• deer;
• grizzly bear; and
• wolverine.

Hunting areas

Special guide hunting is limited to open Game Management Subzones:

• where residents are not restricted by permit hunts; or
• where other limitations such as a threshold hunt do not apply.

 

See the Yukon hunting regulations summary for details.

Maps of special guide hunting areas are also available.

Responsibilities after the hunt

Whether or not any wildlife was harvested, the Yukon resident hunter must:

• Complete the Outfitter/Chief/Guide/Hunter Report/Harvest Fee Receipt and Wildlife Export Permit form provided (commonly called an OHE) at Department of Environment offices.
• Ensure the form is signed by both the special guide and special guided hunter. It is a legal affidavit.
• Submit the form to any Department of Environment office within 10 days after the month that your hunt concluded.
• Pay any required non-resident harvest fees.
• Submit any compulsory biological submissions no later than 15 days after the end of the month in which the animal was harvested.

 

2020

There were 405 applications for the special guide licence lottery in 2020. Of those, 228 were for weighting only.

See the list of successful client IDs.

We don't publish the names of special guide licence recipients. Look for your client ID number - the one you use to log in to the Environment online system.