Guest hunting in the US?

Well, restrictions vary from state to state. Figure out which state you want to hunt and visit the appropriate state fish/game website. Your answers should lie there.

Coming in on a visa, you'd pay for a non-resident license. Shouldn't be any problem to bring your own rifle; no problem in borrowing. Check with the US embassy in Norway, and also with the airline you plan to use, insofar as bringing your own rifle and/or shotgun.

Transporting your gun on a commercial airline would be the biggest problem. Some won't transport them and certain countries will confiscate it if you transfer there.

The hardest part here would be to draw a tag (license) for the area you want to hunt.

There may be landowner tags available in those states. I'm not familiar with the rules in either Arizona or Colorado.
In the US all of the game animals are controlled by the individual states unless it's a migratory bird. The state issues a license making it legal for the hunter to harvest game during the specified seasons.

Depends on what you want to hunt. Elk, probably have to draw a tag. Some (I'm thinking most) states don't have draws for mule deer or whitetail. Things change, though, and I've not hunted elsewhere, but Texas in 20 years.

Deer will probably be your best bet. Non-resident elk tags are pricy.

You could tag along for free, but if you wanted to do the shooting you would have to have all the tags, license, etc in order. Laws and regulations vary by state but to actually do the shooting, you need to be legal.

Something to keep in mind. To my knowledge all states require hunter education before license. If I live in NJ and hunt PA I have to first submit proof of prior license (or Hunter ed) in another state. When you come be sure to bring a copy of your hunting license, im assuming that Norway has some type of license procedure. You can likely purchase your licenses via internet prior to your travels.
Colorado--- http://wildlife.state.co.us/RulesRegs/HuntFishRegulationsBrochures/Pages/RegulationsBrochures.aspx

Arizona-- http://www.azgfd.gov/

Okay.
Let's say that "you" are my third cousin, and you have invited me to visit in whatever state "you" live in.
On my trip over, "you" decide to take me hunting. How would that work?

No, I'm not fishing for free hunting or invites just curious.

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Well, if you were going to hunt with ME, you'd just be sitting in a box blind or on a tripod stand one one of my places. Texas is mostly all private land. Now, there's some decent affordable day leasing for hogs in the state, but deer is ridiculous.

What I'D probably do is get us a day hunt for geese. I'm about 20 miles from Eagle Lake, Texas, self proclaimed "goose hunting capital of the world" and there is some first rate guided goose hunting here. It runs about 200 a gun per morning and is usually worth it.

1. You would have to have a hunter education course for either Arizona or Colorado unless you are old enough to have an exemption. So, if you were born in 1951, in many states you would be "grandfathered in" and wouldn't need a hunter education course. You would need to check the regulations of the particular state you wished to hunt in.

I believe in Norway, you're required to take a shooting test to hunt. I would presume you also have to take a written test. It's possible that documentation of that would be sufficient but you would obviously have to have it translated into English.

Also, in many states including Colorado, just having had a hunting license will not be enough.

2. Transporting a rifle on airline travel is not difficult but getting one into the U.S.A. would be. I would highly suggest borrowing a rifle in the U.S.A.

3. As others have alluded to, the highly sought after species require a draw to get a tag to hunt them. That would include such things as elk, sheep and bear and, depending on where you're hunting, others. For big game hunting, deer would probably be your best bet.

Personally, varmint hunting, i.e., coyote, is just as fun as deer hunting and isn't nearly as regulated. In Ohio, you can shoot coyote any time you see them so I shoot them from my front porch.

Insofar as a hunter safety course goes you could complete an on line course & acquire a certificate that way. I know the State of Florida offers such a course (free at that).........all you'd have to do in addition is to show some proof of firearms competency....gun license/training course would do it.

To the best of my knowledge, the hunter safety courses are recognized nation wide so one should suffice where ever you go.

I can't speak to hunting Arizona, but if Colorado is your destination here are some things that should help.
Anyone born after 1949 must have a hunter safety certificate before purchasing a license. You'll need to contact the Colorado division of Wildlife to find out what you may have they would consider as equivalent.
There are several area's there for elk that you can purchase a license over the counter for certain seasons. All the deer licenses are issued by drawing, the application deadline is in April.
Here's the link to the Colorado DOW you can find the answers to most of your questions there http://wildlife.state.co.us/Pages/Home.aspx
Transporting your rifles and ammunition over here will require a fair amount of paper work thru the US Customs and State dept. Might be best in the end just to use one of your cousins rifles.

dogrunner said:

I know the State of Florida offers such a course (free at that).........all you'd have to do in addition is to show some proof of firearms competency....gun license/training course would do it.

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I don't think so.

Most of the course is done online but there is still 4 hours of classroom time and 3 hours of range time.

Maybe there are some but I know of no fully online hunter safety courses that can be done by out of state residents.

I had no idea that CO HL was so stringent. I will see a couple guys tonight that hunt NJ and CO and I will ask them what they needed to prove competency.

Colorado recognizes all the other states hunter safety cards, so it's not a big deal for US Citizens, the problem for the OP is going to be finding what he has that they will recognize, but that should be easy enough to figure out with a bit of email correspondence with the Colorado DOW.

Each state has its own rules and regulations for hunting, so you'll need to check for the state hunting regulations in Arizona or Colorado. You'll have to buy a hunting license (or "tag") in that state for the particular animal you want to hunt. Many states use a system that breaks up certain areas within the state into districts or areas, so you'll need a license for that particular area in the state where you plan on hunting. You'll have to pay the license fee and probably prove that you've attended a hunter safety class that is acceptable to the state. And there are limited numbers of licenses issued in each district of each state, so for some hunting licenses ( like elk in Colorado) you'll apply for the license and wait to see if you get picked lottery style to be allowed to buy the license. Each state has it's own license system.

The advantage of private property is that it won't be full of idiots who will shoot first and verify target and what's behind the target later. But you'll still have to get a hunting license for the particular animal in the district where the property is located. There are different periods of time (sometimes only a few weeks long, sometimes longer) during which you are allowed to hunt, and there are different license for different times of the year that depend on the weapon you use (bow, muzzle loader, center fire rifle, etc.).

Oleson , your best bet would be to contact the state where you are intending to go, find out about hunting seasons, licenses etc, then if you can make it all come together start jumping thru the hoops to get your rifle and ammo over here and back.

Depends on what you want to hunt. Elk, probably have to draw a tag. Some (I'm thinking most) states don't have draws for mule deer or whitetail. Things change, though, and I've not hunted elsewhere, but Texas in 20 years.

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Change they do....I know for a fact that in SD and many other states, deer permits are by drawing only. If after the drawing there are leftover licenses, those are made available for purchase. In SD, that typically almost always means an "antlerless" deer tag, as buck tags are popular and are usually gone after the first round of the "lottery" drawing

Oleson said:

For hunting big game (roe deer and up) you must pass a shooters test each year. And to be able to take the shooters test, you must have at least thirty training shots logged, this have to be from two different days. (so maximum fifteen shots logged pr. day).

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I'm curious. What does the shooters test consist of? Also, do you just attest to the fact that you have logged 30 training shots or does someone else also have to confirm you did the shooting?