MN Lifetime License

Anybody have one for themselves or their children?
Pros and cons to it?
I am debating about getting one for each of our 3 children- 3 year old, 2 year old, newborn. Prices go up once they hit age 4, and I’m sure one of these years the prices will rise on them, so might as well get all 3 while I’m at it. Main reason I see for getting one is just in case they move out of state someday and ever come back to hunt or fish with old Dad, they don’t have to pay non-resident fees for a casual day or weekend of hunting or fishing. The downfall of getting one is just the upfront cost with the unknown of the future.
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/licenses/lifetime/residents/index.html

I too have thought about it, I almost did it for my daughter who’s now 6, but i’m really leaning towards getting it for my son who’s still 3…

Is it guaranteed for life? or is there fine print that has clauses? I think if purchased before they turn 4 years old it pays for itself by the time they are 30 and likely earlier as license prices will surely go up in the future.

I picked up my lifetime so long ago that it has paid for itself already and for my son first birthday I gave him one so he can always come and fish with me. I will always fish. My little brother now lives in CA and when he comes back for a weekend of fishing an out of state license sets him back some $$. My thought was (just like yours) if my son ever moves away when he get older he can always come back to visit and fish without an extra cost. The only problem I have is some places don’t know how to give you a new license for no cost. Fleet Farm is on their game with this and I have never had a problem getting the printout there.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Is it guaranteed for life?

Yes!
I picked up my son’s lifetime before the increase and his will be paid for by the time he is 25 with the increase.

I guess the disadvantage is that you just don’t know what’s going to happen. Your child could end up moving to another state or not even be interested in hunting/fishing too. Just because their parent(s) do it, doesn’t mean they will want to. My brother grew up in my family of passionate hunters and has never had any interest in it, plus he moved to Illinois. In that situation it would have been a total waste of a lifetime license.

As far as moving to another state (which I did) if you plan on returning once in awhile to fish throughout your lifetime, it could easily be justified. I moved for 1 year and pondered buying lifetime fishing and deer hunting license… I did not. Deer license are $186 each season for non-residents…. ask me how I know.

I got one for my boy before he turned one. My wife and I both have them and even when I got mine a few years back (when I was about 30) I did the math and at the current yearly license price it would’ve paid itself off by the time I was 54. The key being the “current price” because they’re already gone up $2 since then and as they keep going up the value of the lifetime license I purchased will be even greater. It’s honestly like an investment.

And yeah for the kids your age, just like my boy, it’s so cheap before they’re 4. The risk I weighed was that he just never got into fishing, which I guess I’d be really surprised about anyway. So in some specific examples you’d lose out on the money, but otherwise it’s extremely well worth it.

gimruis wrote:

Just because their parent(s) do it, doesn’t mean they will want to. My brother grew up in my family of passionate hunters and has never had any interest in it, plus he moved to Illinois

Similar with my brother. He always liked the opposite of everybody else in our family and is now too stubborn to change. He “hates” fishing because at such a young age he always wanted to like the opposite of all of us and won’t turn back on that now, no matter what. Luckily the one opposite thing he never did fall for was the Packers… die hard Viking!

Dan wrote:

The risk I weighed was that he just never got into fishing, which I guess I’d be really surprised about anyway.

That’s really the only negative I see. However, I think to my family and I have a few younger teenage girl cousins (who are not outdoorsy at all) who will still fish a few hours a year with my grandpa on summer vacation because that is just their bonding time. They don’t like fishing but they sure act like they love it a few hours a day one time a year. In a case like this, the lifetime license eliminates the struggle to decide if it’s worth buying a license and fishing that one time a year or not.

Rodwork wrote:

The only problem I have is some places don’t know how to give you a new license for no cost. Fleet Farm is on their game with this and I have never had a problem getting the printout there.

Give them the old license. It shows the 3 digit code for the specific license you are getting so they can use that to easily find it in the system.

I bought one (Lifetime Sports lic) for myself immediately before changing my residency when I moved out of state. Being a WI resident, the (then $650)sports license paid for itself in very short order.

I bought a Lifetime Fishing 9 years ago and love it when walking into FF and getting a new license without dishing out anymore money. We had planned to move to Wisconsin at one point, thought it would be nice to have the MN license because I would come back to fish with buddies and not pay out state license fees. Turns out we didn’t move to WI but still glad I bought it. That was back before the price increase so if memory serves the lifetime fishing was only $225 at that time.

May be odd but I prefer to pay yearly.

It’s one state fee that I actually hope goes up to help in resources.

muskie-tim wrote:

I bought a Lifetime Fishing 9 years ago and love it when walking into FF and getting a new license without dishing out anymore money. We had planned to move to Wisconsin at one point, thought it would be nice to have the MN license because I would come back to fish with buddies and not pay out state license fees. Turns out we didn’t move to WI but still glad I bought it. That was back before the price increase so if memory serves the lifetime fishing was only $225 at that time.

You’re right; it was cheap about a decade ago. I wish I’d have bought on at that time. Right now at 37, it hardly makes a difference.

My Dad bought our boys Lifetime Licenses last year for their 4th birthday present.

It almost made me cry thinking of how it’s a legacy gift that the boys will never forget.

Every year they get a license they will be reminded of Grandpa, even long after he’s gone……and even after I’m gone….

When my boys grow up and have their own kids, I plan on doing the same for my grand kids.

I bought the lifetime sports and archery licenses right before I moved to ND for a year in 2013. It will take quite a few years before they start “saving” me money, but the only way it’s not a good deal is if you quit hunting/fishing or you die. I don’t plan to quit and if I die early I don’t think I’ll care that much.

Deuces wrote:

May be odd but I prefer to pay yearly.

It’s one state fee that I actually hope goes up to help in resources.

Same. And it’s so easy, you can buy it on your phone on the way to the lake if you forget.

I bought my oldest son a nice American made guitar when he was born. The plan has always been to give it to him if/when he wants it to learn. He’s gonna be 13 soon and hasn’t shown any interest so far. The instrument has appreciated nearly 100% and will only keep going up, so I don’t worry about that money being wasted.

My point is, your kid is gonna be into whatever he/she is into. It might not be fishing, no matter how hard you try. Personally I would be annoyed every year that went by without that kid using the license. Not only is he ignoring the great outdoors, he’s wasting my money too?!?!

FGD has one as well as myself.

I’m not thrilled that I still need a print out each year but how else are they going to track how many people are fishing each year?

I would normally buy the husband/wife license. Once I bought my lifetime license I had to buy the fw’s separately. No problem right?

Well the first time CO Brittany checked in on us 4th of July weekend I handed her my license still thinking it had my fw’s name on it…it of course doesn’t. The FW never brings her license along (don’t ask me why, I just live there) and I was relying on my license to cover her as I’ve done for the last 30 some years.

Then I remembered I printed out extras one for each boat, one for her and one of hers to put in my wallet. Dug around in the cubby hole and handed it over to Brit.

My point is that if you get the life time, don’t rely on old habits.

I hear what some of you guys are saying. I love fishing and my son may not but twice a year (my birthday and father’s day) I will want to fish if I have a choice. Now he can’t say I don’t want to waste the money to just fish with you for one day.

One hunting buddy bought his son a MN lifetime license as a high school graduation gift, then bought him a ND lifetime license as a college graduation gift (went to NDSU, qualified as a resident). The boy now lives on the Minnesota side of the Red River, avid hunter and fisher who gets huge value out of each license.

I bought my boys a sportsman lifetime for their high school graduation. One has since moved to Montana and the other to WI. They both hunt and fish like mad men and when they come back home it’s free. The Montana boy has moved back now so he is set for life.

I have a lifetime Sportsman and got a lifetime angler for my wife years ago. I will be buying them for both of my children.

Not only is it smart financially, as the cost of licenses only go up, but as others have mentioned it is just an incredible gift. Even if your child is not overly into fishing, just removing that barrier and allowing your kids to fish with you without worrying about money is priceless.

Deuces wrote:

May be odd but I prefer to pay yearly.

It’s one state fee that I actually hope goes up to help in resources.

I personally, will continue to pay the yearly fee in large part because of what you stated. It will take me 23 years to get a return on my investment with current Sports license that I get. I’m 29, I hope to hunt and fish in MN for longer than age 52, but at that return investment I am going to pass on my own and view it as a yearly contribution to the outdoors.

And for the kids Lifetime License that I am contemplating, if they don’t use it, then I am going to just view it as a a nice contribution to the MN Fish and Wildlife Trust Fund (whatever that money goes to, I have no idea, hopefully something good).

From 2003 (looking for a more current version)

Where does the money go?

Game and Fish Operations
DeerlBear Management/Computerized Licensing
Deer Habitat Improvement
Wildlife Acquisition Surcharge
Total Transferred from the Lifetime License Trust Fund

Click Hear for PDF

For what it’s worth I ran the numbers a few years ago with some tables I had and it wasn’t a good deal. I don’t recall if I inflated the annual price or not annually, but if you use any assumption about being able to invest your money you won’t actually save anything. I think it comes down to the idea that money actually grows a quicker than they think over longer periods of time. With that said if you were going to spend the cash on the license or just something else, then you will break even.

tangler wrote:

I bought my oldest son a nice American made guitar when he was born. The plan has always been to give it to him if/when he wants it to learn. He’s gonna be 13 soon and hasn’t shown any interest so far. The instrument has appreciated nearly 100% and will only keep going up, so I don’t worry about that money being wasted.

If you’re looking for somewhere to unload that guitar…

I, too, choose to pay yearly because I need to buy a trout stamp anyway.

Thanks guys you just solved my “what to get my 18 month old grandson for Christmas” problem!!

Johnie Birkel wrote:

For what it’s worth I ran the numbers a few years ago with some tables I had and it wasn’t a good deal. I don’t recall if I inflated the annual price or not annually, but if you use any assumption about being able to invest your money you won’t actually save anything. I think it comes down to the idea that money actually grows a quicker than they think over longer periods of time. With that said if you were going to spend the cash on the license or just something else, then you will break even.

How can this not be a good deal and you not save anything? If you buy the kid a lifetime license when they are 3 years old and they live to be 70, that’s 54 years of use assuming they don’t need a license until age 16. Divide 54 into the cost of the license and I think you will find a savings over buying 54 licenses at the standard cost. It’s about $6 a year for fishing and under $10 a year for a sportsman…

sticker wrote:

How can this not be a good deal and you not save anything? If you buy the kid a lifetime license when they are 3 years old and they live to be 70, that’s 54 years of use assuming they don’t need a license until age 16. Divide 54 into the cost of the license and I think you will find a savings over buying 54 licenses at the standard cost. It’s about $6 a year for fishing and under $10 a year for a sportsman…

I’m not going to do the math, but I think what he is saying that if you were to invest the $xxx money yourself, then factor in compounding interest over all the years, that it is not a return on your investment. Without doing the math, I could maybe see that being true.

However, the convenience of knowing that my kids have their license, will be paid off by age 28/29, and they don’t have a financial burden to not head outdoors for a short weekend when they get older if they live out state, or a full season if they are passionate in-state outdoorsman, is reason enough for me to get one.

I was going to do them for my kids, but the price rise after 3 wasnt worth the gamble of finding out what they like as the next bump wasn’t until 15 (I think).

I would absolutely buy one if I was moving out of state – wish I had done this in NY.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

FGD has one as well as myself.

I’m not thrilled that I still need a print out each year but how else are they going to track how many people are fishing each year?

I would normally buy the husband/wife license. Once I bought my lifetime license I had to buy the fw’s separately. No problem right?

Well the first time CO Brittany checked in on us 4th of July weekend I handed her my license still thinking it had my fw’s name on it…it of course doesn’t. The FW never brings her license along (don’t ask me why, I just live there) and I was relying on my license to cover her as I’ve done for the last 30 some years.

Then I remembered I printed out extras one for each boat, one for her and one of hers to put in my wallet. Dug around in the cubby hole and handed it over to Brit.

My point is that if you get the life time, don’t rely on old habits.

Utah DNR has an App. It has my profile and all the licenses that I possess on my phone. No more having to buy a duplicate if I lose my wallet or license.