Hunters and anglers who renew licenses in 2017 will now be able to do so online.
As of April 1, all licenses and permits sold by the Game and Fish Commission will be available as a downloadable file that can be carried on a mobile phone or printed on a single piece of printer paper.
The new system is part of an effort to make it as easy for hunters and anglers to purchase and carry their license with them. The change also means the Game and Fish website now will be much easier to navigate when using a mobile phone.
“The Commission passed a regulation allowing electronic copies of hunting and fishing licenses to be valid in December,” according to Tony Davis, chief information officer. “We’ve worked with our new license vendor to make it as easy as possible for license holders to do it.
“The system should remember all of your data once you enter your Social Security number or driver’s license the next time you renew or apply for a permit. We want people hunting game, not hunting for how to buy their license,” Davis explained.
Other improvements with the new license system include email reminders to renew expiring licenses and an auto-renewal feature.
Once purchased, the electronic copy will be sent to license holders via email as a PDF file that can be saved to a mobile phone, kept in the user’s email or printed out.
“We also are asking license vendors to supply a paper copy of the license to customers,” Davis said. “We know a lot of people still want that paper license, so we are making sure that option still exists.”
The new system also allows hunters and anglers to look up their current license privileges and print replacements at home if the original license copy is lost or deleted.
“Before, there was a charge to replace a lost license, but now it’s as easy as hitting print from your home computer,” Davis added.
Game tags for deer and turkey also will be included in the printout, and still need to be used during the 2017 turkey season.
Hunters may use tags from a license purchased before the transition, or they can use one printed with their license on the new system.
“We’ll have the same tagging system for this spring, but we are looking into the possibility of implementing new tagging requirements,” Davis said. “Proposed regulations for next hunting season, which are currently in the 30-day public comment period, may allow you to use the tags printed on the new license system or other methods, such as using tags found in the guidebook or even a blank sheet of paper. The goal is to allow hunters to hit the woods without the need to print out paper licenses and tags.”
Online license purchases also will be simplified under the new system. Small game and fishing privileges become effectively immediately as will big game hunting privileges the moment the license is purchased through the online system.