WIN Cards

A WIN Card is a Wildlife Identification Number.

Anglers and hunters must purchase a Wildlife Identification Number (WIN) card before purchasing any licence, wildlife certificate or hunting draw application.

The card is valid for five years and functions like a credit card at the point-of-sale, confirming your eligibility for a licence within seconds.

IBM manages the online system AlbertaRELM, allowing private businesses the opportunity to provide public services.

The management of fish and wildlife is a complex business requiring as much information as possible about the resources and the people who use them. The automated licensing system provides current and accurate information about anglers and hunters, while also providing better licensing services.

You must complete an application form including a small fee at a private licence issuer.

The vendor issues the new WIN on a paper receipt, and licences or draw applications can also be purchased at that time. A permanent WIN card will be mailed to you within six weeks.

Private licence issuers are stores, gas stations, and other retail locations throughout the province:

• Private License Issuers 

Yes. The same WIN is used for purchasing both recreational fishing and hunting licences.

Licences look like a cash register receipt that lists the holder's name, address and the appropriate licensing information.

Tags look similar to a ski-lift ticket that uses a wire to attach to the animal.

Yes. Anyone who requires an Alberta fishing licence needs a WIN card. The number is issued at the time of purchase so that there is no delay in receiving a licence.

No. Since regulations do not require youths under 16 years of age, seniors age 65 and older who are Alberta residents, and First Nations people to have a sport fishing licence for fishing, they do not need to purchase a WIN card.

No. Successfully completing a conservation and hunter education course (or passing a hunter-competency test) is required only for first-time hunters applying for a hunting licence (if such hunters have not passed such a course or test elsewhere and are not non-residents accompanied by a licensed guide). Anyone who applies and pays $8.00 is eligible for a WIN card.

You can update your information in any of the following ways:

Change your personal information online:

• AlbertaRELM

Fill out a WIN Application and Change of Information form:

• Private Licence Issuers

Telephone the IBM AlbertaRELM Help Desk:

• Toll-free in North America: 1-888-944-5494

If you lose a licence, you can go to any authorized licence issuer and purchase a reprint of the licence for a small fee.

If you lose a licence tag, you must go to a Fish and Wildlife Division office and fill out a statutory declaration form explaining the details of the lost tag.

• Fish and Wildlife Offices

After the licensing system authorizes a replacement, you can then go to any authorized licence issuer and purchase the replacement tag for a small fee.

The system allows Fish and Wildlife Officers to confirm licences in the field, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, against the database in Edmonton, even if the licence was purchased on the same day.

Your permanent WIN card is mailed to you within a few weeks.

If you haven’t received your card after four weeks of your purchase date, make sure to have your paper receipt, which includes the WIN number you received at the time of purchase, and contact the IBM AlbertaRELM Help Desk:

• Toll-free in North America: 1-888-944-5494

WIN cards are valid for five years. When it expires, you can renew it at any private licence issuer for a small fee. Your renewed card is valid for five years. You can renew your card as many times as you would like.

Maintenance Enforcement removes the suspension once the WIN card holder has made payment arrangements.