November 4, 2026

BC Permit to Accompany: Who Qualifies, the Limits, Fees and How to Apply

A Permit to Accompany (PTA) lets a qualified British Columbia resident take up to two non-resident hunters after big game without a guide outfitter, as long as nobody is paid. It’s the only route besides a licensed guide outfitter or one of their assistant guides, because the Wildlife Act makes it an offence for anyone who isn’t a BC resident to hunt big game unaccompanied. The permit is narrow by design: one per season, one region, no more than 21 days, and if the hunters aren’t Canadian, only for close family. This guide walks through each limit, drawn from the Province’s own Permit to Accompany page and the Permit Regulation, last verified November 3, 2026. The Province’s pages are the authority, so check them before you apply.

Who can hold a PTA

The resident applying for the permit has to meet every one of these:

The same conviction rules apply to the hunters you’d be accompanying, so check their records before you pay the fee.

Who you can take, and how many

The permit covers two kinds of visitor, and the difference matters. A non-resident is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who lives outside BC, or someone whose only or primary home has been in Canada for the 12 months before applying. Anyone else, including most American hunters, is a non-resident alien, and you can only take a non-resident alien on a PTA if they’re one of these relatives:

The Province says plainly that a cousin doesn’t qualify. A non-resident Canadian, by contrast, doesn’t have to be related to you at all.

The limits on the permit itself

Each PTA covers no more than two non-residents or non-resident aliens, a single region, and a hunt of no more than 21 days, and you can hold only one permit per licence year. A hunter already named on another person’s PTA for a different time period that year can’t be put on yours.

The other limit is money. The Wildlife Act only allows the permit when no payment is asked for, offered or accepted, and the Province reserves PTAs for recreational hunting. Once anyone pays to hunt, it’s guiding, and guiding requires a guide outfitter licence.

Species are limited too. You name them on the application, your hunters can only buy species licences for the species approved on the permit, and the Province won’t approve a species where a regional restriction applies. Each region publishes its own restrictions, and as of the page’s October 2, 2026 update, the 2026–2027 decisions for Regions 2, 3, 7B and 8 were still pending, so read your region’s notice before you plan around a species.

Your own licenses, and staying with your hunters

The permit doesn’t exempt you from licensing. While you’re accompanying, you must hold a valid hunting license and an uncancelled species licence for the species being hunted, so filling your own tag mid-trip can leave you unable to keep accompanying for that species. You also have to stay with your hunters whenever they’re hunting big game, unless a guide outfitter, assistant guide or another PTA holder named for the same hunter is with them.

Your hunters each need a Fish and Wildlife ID and their own non-resident hunting license and species licences. Once the permit is issued, you can buy those on their behalf or they can buy their own, online through WILD or in person at FrontCounter BC or Service BC. Species licences bought online are mailed within Canada only, which matters for an American relative.

How to apply

You apply online through the WILD system or in person at a FrontCounter BC office. You’ll need your own FWID with valid residency and hunting credentials, plus the FWID, last name, first initial and (for a non-resident alien) relationship of each hunter, the hunt dates, the region and management units, and the species. The Province targets 30 days to issue a permit, so apply well before the hunt. The permit then appears in your FWID profile. You don’t have to carry a paper copy, but you do need government photo ID and your FWID number in the field.

What it costs

License prices exclude 5% GST, and each animal has its own species license fee, listed on the Province’s species licences page.

After the hunt: report and royalties

The PTA holder owes a report within 10 days after the hunt end date on the permit, whether or not the hunt happened, covering the species, management units, days hunted and details of each animal taken. Royalties are due within 30 days for each animal your hunters take, from $50 for deer or wolf up to $250 for mountain sheep. Miss either and you can’t buy any hunting products, including licenses and LEH entries, until it’s sorted out.

When a non-resident needs a guide outfitter instead

A PTA doesn’t fit if the hunter has no qualifying BC resident to go with, is a non-Canadian friend rather than a listed relative, wants to hunt across regions or for more than 21 days, wants a species the region restricts, or is paying for the experience. All of those hunters need a licensed guide outfitter or assistant guide, and a guide can’t have more than two hunters in the field at one time either. Our guide to BC non-resident hunting requirements covers the guided route from the hunter’s side, and if your clients are bringing rifles across the border, send them our walkthrough of the RCMP non-resident firearms declaration. For the trip back south, our guide to bringing game meat home from Canada covers who to check with before the meat crosses the border.

For outfitters

Prospects who “have a relative in BC” usually come back when the PTA’s limits bite, and that’s where Hunt Outfitter helps. Clients can upload license and tag documents to their own portal on every plan, including the free Starter plan, and on Solo and above your guides log harvest compliance details and end-of-hunt reports against the booking, so the paperwork a non-resident hunt generates sits with the client rather than in a folder.

Start free on the Starter plan — or try a paid plan free for 14 days.