Illinois Free Hunting and Fishing Licenses for Disabled Veterans

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources does not require a hunting or fishing license from a disabled veteran who receives service-connected compensation at 10 percent or greater, or a total disability pension. Two features make this unusually broad. The first is the threshold. Ten percent is the lowest rating floor for a hunting and fishing benefit anywhere in this catalog. Most states set 40, 50, or 100 percent. A veteran with a single 10 percent rating for tinnitus qualifies in Illinois. The second is that residency does not matter. The exemption applies to disabled veterans regardless of their state of residency, so a veteran living in Missouri or Indiana who meets the 10 percent test hunts and fishes in Illinois without buying a non-resident license, which is normally the most expensive license a state sells. Disabled veterans are also exempt from the habitat stamp, which is separate from the license and is not waived for most other discounted categories. Documentation is a DD-214 together with a Disability Affidavit, both of which the Department of Veterans' Affairs can supply. Carry them afield, because the exemption replaces a license rather than producing one. Two further provisions have no rating test. A service member home on leave may hunt and fish in Illinois without a license, though habitat and waterfowl stamps are still required. And a veteran who was mobilized or served abroad may buy licenses at half price after the initial purchase, with one year free for each year of such service. Separately, disabled veterans and former prisoners of war camp free of charge at Illinois state parks and enter them without an admission charge, and that free camping extends to a spouse, minor children, and grandchildren under 18.