The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) provides protection, preservation, management, and restoration of Washington’s natural environments and the ecological communities that inhabit them. This includes management of human use for public benefit.
WDFW is dedicated to improving opportunities for people with disabilities through reasonable access accommodations or equipment modifications. People with permanent inoperable disabilities may have special needs due to their impairments. Special Use Permits (SUP) allow for a limited, specific exception to a recreational activity, service, equipment, or regulation. WAC 220-200-170
Special Use Permit enhancements are available to any person who has applied for, receives, and maintains in good standing WDFW "Disability Status;" and who has a permanent inoperable physical or cognitive disability; and a licensed physician through the official SUP application process certifies the impairment caused by the disability condition.
"Permanent inoperable" means:
- Not treatable or correctable;
- All surgeries, treatments, or mechanical device use have been exhausted; or
- Not curable because of undue risk to the patient.
Remember: The companion card allows a person who has WDFW “disability status” to designate a companion to assist them with the physical function they are unable to perform (WAC 220-413-140, WAC 220-305-120, WAC 220-413-210).
Eligibility criteria Special Use Permits
The following are examples of special use accommodations and qualifying disabilities.
Crossbow device
A person with a permanent inoperable upper extremity disability who has lost the use of one or both upper extremities, or who has a permanent inoperable upper-extremity physical limitation which severely impairs their ability to safely hold, grasp, or operate a traditional hunting device. Loss or limitation such as muscle weakness, impaired range of motion, unilateral hand weakness, disability of both hands or both arms, or both sides of the upper extremities may be the result of, but not limited to, amputation, paralysis, diagnosed disease or disorder, substantial injury, or birth defect.
Remember: Crossbows are allowed in modern firearm season without a special use permit.
Download the Special Use Permit - Crossbow application.
Scoping device
A person who meets one of the following:
- Blindness is a central visual acuity that does not exceed 20/200 in the better eye with corrective lenses, or the widest diameter of the visual field does not exceed 20 degrees.
- Low Vision is a severe loss of visual acuity ranging from 20/70 to 20/200 while retaining some visual function.
- Visual impairments may include, but are not limited to: Albinism, Aniridia, Aphakia, Cataracts, Glaucoma, Macular Degeneration, or other similar diagnosed permanent disease or disorder.
These do not include: Hyperopia, Myopia, Astigmatism, or Presbyopia type conditions.
Download the Special Use Permit - Scope Device
Hunting from within a Motorized Vehicle – Blue Placard
A person who has been issued a Department of Licensing (DOL) disability parking placard or disability vehicle license plate, and who meets one of the following:
- Requires physical assistance from another individual to help them board (enter) and disembark (exit) from a motorized vehicle each and every time.
- Requires the assistance of a wheelchair lift or other boarding assistance device to board and disembark from a motorized vehicle each and every time.
- Requires the assistance of a portable DC life-sustaining medical device (oxygen generator, heart pump machine, etc.) every time to board, ride, and disembark from a motorized vehicle.
Download the Special Use Permit - Hunting from within a Motorized Vehicle application.
Other power driven mobility devices
A person who has been issued a DOL disability parking placard or disability vehicle license plate, and who has a mobility disability rendering them not ambulatory over natural terrain without a lower extremity prosthesis; or who must permanently use a medically prescribed assistive device every time for ambulation, including, but not limited to, a wheelchair, walker, crutch, leg brace, or oxygen bottle; or who have lost the use of one or both lower extremities; or who have a severe physical limitation in the use of one or both lower extremities; or who have a diagnosed permanent disease or disorder which substantially impairs or severely interferes with ambulation.
The Special Use Permit program has been relocated to the WDFW Licensing department. For all Special Use Permit questions please contact the Licensing department at 360-902-2464.