Wisconsin’s Conservation Patron License Defies Trends, Gains Buyers

   Even as sales of most fishing and hunting licenses decline in Wisconsin, the all-inclusive conservation patron license has grown nearly 50% in popularity after bottoming out in 2012.

   Sales of the $165 CPL hit 65,803 in 2025, up from 44,049 at the same price 14 years ago. As with all other resident hunting, fishing and trapping fees, the patron license’s price hasn’t increased since 2005, when it cost $140. The record sales year for CPLs was 2002, when 81,896 sold for $110 each.

   Wisconsin also offers a CPL for nonresidents. Those sales rose to 1,184 in 2025, the highest since a record 1,213 sold in 2017 despite a price increase to $620 in July 2023.

   Patron licenses — resident and nonresident — accounted for roughly 5.4% of the 1.24 million fishing licenses Wisconsin sold in 2025 and 8% of the 793,031 deer licenses sold.

   The CPL’s biggest selling point is convenience, according to a 2022 survey of CPL buyers. Nearly half — 45% — said they like having one license for all their pursuits. In addition to a long list of individual stamps, licenses, passes and applications, CPL buyers receive automatic reminders when it's time to apply for tags for elk hunting, turkey hunting, sturgeon spearing, and bonus antlerless deer.

   Over 90% of Wisconsin’s patron-license buyers regularly fish and hunt deer, while most also hunt turkeys and buy the $165 license every year.     — Patrick Durkin photos

   Interestingly, buyers rated “convenience” 5 percentage points higher (50%) in a 2015 survey, and 10 percentage points higher (55%) in a 2012 survey.

   Meanwhile, 23% of CPL holders cited their “support for resource management” as their chief motivation for buying the license. That motivation was up 6 points from 17% in 2015.

   Somewhat surprisingly, only 19% of buyers in the 2022 survey said they bought the CPL because it’s a good deal. After all, had they bought everything bundled into the CPL as individual tags, licenses and applications, they would  have paid $295, or $130 more than its actual price.

   Among the items included in the patron license are …

   -- hunting licenses for gun-deer, small game, archery and crossbow deer, and spring and fall wild turkey;

   -- general trapping;

   -- stickers/annual pass for state parks and state parks trails;

   -- licenses for general fishing and sturgeon hook-and-line;

   -- stamps for turkeys, pheasants, waterfowl, inland trout, and Great Lakes trout and salmon;

   -- applications for fisher, spring turkey, fall turkey, early goose and statewide goose;

   -- and a subscription to Wisconsin Natural Resources magazine.

   Maybe that price-based motivation would increase out of appreciation if more Wisconsin hunters knew the many ways Western states make nonresidents buy licenses they’ll most likely never use. In Arizona, for example, nonresident applicants for elk tags must first buy a $160 general hunting license to enter the drawing. The cost isn’t refunded even if you don’t draw an elk tag. Likewise, Colorado requires nonresidents to buy a nonrefundable $100 small-game license before applying for elk or deer tags.

   Either way, the 2022 survey helps underscore the value of convenience to CPL buyers. Nearly two-thirds of them, 65%, didn’t hunt, fish or participate in enough outdoor activities to get the license’s full $165 value. And of that group, only one in 12 (8%) got outdoors enough to get within $5 of its price. Therefore, just over one-third of CPL buyers (35%) hunted and fished enough to exceed the CPL’s sale price. That’s down from the 2015 survey, when 48% of CPL holders got more bang from that $165 fee.

   No matter their participation rates, CPL holders remained loyal buyers in 2022, but at lower rates than in 2015. The 2022 survey found 60% of CPL holders bought that license in each of the previous five years, which was down from 76% in 2015. Further, the buyers’ mean age was 52, down slightly from 53 in 2015. Similarly, the percentage of CPL holders under age 40 increased, rising from 16% to 21%. And 97% were male.

   Whatever their age or gender, almost all CPL holders fished (90%) and hunted deer (92%), even though fishing participation dropped from 96% in 2015 while the percentage who hunted deer stayed the same.

   Most CPL anglers, 83%, fished on inland waters, while 31% fished those inland waters for trout, and 4% fished for lake sturgeon with hook and line. In addition, 27% fished the Great Lakes for trout and salmon, while 13% fished the Great Lakes for other species.

   What other noteworthy findings came from the 2022 survey?

Of the 15 types of hunting available to CPL holders, they participated in 5½, down from 6½ in 2015. Also, roughly 33% of CPL holders participated in six or more types of hunting, while 4% participated in at least 10. Furthermore …

   -- 92% hunted deer with a firearm in 2021;

   -- 72% hunted turkeys in spring, the next most popular hunting pursuit after deer;

   -- 47% hunted deer with a compound or recurve bow, down from 70% in 2015, one year after crossbows were legalized for the bowhunting season;

   -- 43% started hunting deer with a crossbow, up from 25% in 2015;

   -- 49% hunted turkeys during the fall season;

   -- 48% hunted small game;

   -- 35% hunted ducks and 30% hunted geese;

   -- 32% hunted predators, such as fox or coyote;

   -- 31% hunted ring-necked pheasants;

   -- 30% used a muzzleloading rifle to hunt deer;

  --- 25% hunted grouse or woodcock;

   -- 10% hunted mourning doves;

   --  5% hunted crows.

   CPL holders also trapped, but at lower rates and more sporadically. Participation fluctuated with changes in fur prices, and limitations on harvest tags for tightly regulated species like otters, fishers and bobcats. Specifically …

   -- 17% of CPL holders trapped in 2021-2022, a 10% decrease from the 2015 survey;

   -- 11% of CPL holders trapped raccoons, as did 64% of CPL trappers, making raccoons the most pursued furbearer;

   -- 43% of CPL trappers pursued coyotes;

   -- 30% of CPL trappers pursued beavers, up from 26% in 2015.

   At the end of the survey, when asked about the CPL’s price, many respondents suggested reducing its already discounted price further for senior citizens. Attendees at the 2024 statewide spring hearings supported cutting the price for seniors to $130 on a 79-21 vote, but the idea didn’t advance in 2025.