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

What is a special guide licence?

The special guide licence (SGL) is an annual program that allows a Yukon resident to guide a Canadian resident to hunt for select big game species.

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 one 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.

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 at the time of application;
• 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 the Yukon in the previous two hunting seasons.

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

Available special guiding opportunities

You can choose a special guiding opportunity for either:

• moose or caribou (100 licences are available); or
• wood bison (25 licences available).

Each licence also includes opportunities to harvest black bear, coyote or 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 cannot harvest these animals while being guided under a special guide licence:

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

Harvest fees

If a non-resident is successful on a specially guided hunt the following harvest fees will be due at the time of harvest reporting:

• Moose: $150
• Caribou: $150
• Wood bison (male): $500
• Wood bison (female): $150
• Black bear: $75
• Wolf: $75
• Coyote: $50

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.

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.

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.
• 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.

 

2024

A list of successful applicants is no longer posted online.