A hunting license or hunting permit is a regulatory or legal mechanism to control hunting, both commercial and recreational. A license specifically made for recreational hunting is sometimes called a game license.
Hunting may be regulated informally by unwritten law, self-restraint, a moral code, or by governmental laws.[1] The purposes for requiring hunting licenses include the protection of natural treasures,[2] and raising tax revenue (often, but not always, to dedicated funds).[3][4][5]
^National Shooting Sports Foundation, The Ethical Hunter, brochure p. 6, March 2003, site at [1]