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Since
the lifetime hunting and fishing licenses became available in Alabama several
decades ago, more than 80,000 people have taken advantage of this opportunity.
It
wasn’t until the Game Check harvest reporting system was implemented three
years ago that a problem with the lifetime licenses surfaced. It seems a large
number of duplicate numbers are among those 80,000 lifetime licenses. This
causes a major problem when the holders try to use Game Check, which will be
mandatory for the upcoming hunting seasons.
The
Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division has been hard at work
trying to find the duplicate numbers and notify the license holders when
possible.
“Of
the 80,000 some-odd lifetime licenses, about 48,000 had duplicate license
numbers,” said WFF Director Chuck Sykes. “The reason we discovered the
duplicates was we had people who called us and told us they had tried to use
the voluntary Game Check to report a harvest and it wouldn’t let them do it. It
turned out to be a two-fold problem. A lot of the lifetime licenses didn’t have
the number of characters needed to access the system. If it was bought 20 years
ago, it may have only six digits where it needs 10 to enter the system. The
second issue was the database couldn’t identify it to a specific hunter because
more than one person might have that license number.
“So
we had to figure out a way to solve that problem. The first step was to let
people know about the issue with the old licenses and give them an opportunity
to have a new license issued. We’ve always allowed people who have lost their
lifetime license to get a new license for $5, or, if it was damaged, they could
send it in and we would issue a new one at no charge.”
The
new system also affects those lifetime license holders whose licenses are in
perfectly good shape and in their possession, but they don’t have the number of
digits required to enter the Game Check system.
“We
have been going back through the license sales and cross-referencing,” Sykes
said. “I’ll use myself as an example. I bought my lifetime license in 1992. I
tried to utilize Game Check and it wouldn’t let me. So I got a new license with
a unique number. There were a lot of people like me. I still get a HIP (Harvest
Information Program) license for doves and waterfowl. I buy a Wildlife
Management Area license. I buy a trapping license and a state duck stamp. I
asked our IT department to cross-reference those licenses with my old lifetime
license number. This cross-referencing allowed us to identify those lifetime
license holders that we previously had no contact information to reach these
individuals.”
After
several months of work, Sykes said the IT staff has been able to reduce the
number of duplicate licenses in half, but almost 25,000 are still out there.
“Another
way we decided to attack this issue – other states already have this – is to
issue hunters an individual number that follows them throughout their lives,”
he said. “It’s called a Conservation ID number.”
With
Game Check mandatory this year, anyone who harvests a deer or turkey must
report it through Game Check, including those who are exempt from buying a
license – hunters under the age of 16 or over 64 and those who hunt on their
own property. To access the Game Check system, those exempt from buying a
license must acquire a H.E.L.P. (Hunter Exempt License Privilege) number each
year or get a new Conservation ID.
“For
example, if you have a 10-year-old child who hunts, they’ll need a way to
access the mandatory Game Check system if they harvest a deer or turkey,” Sykes
said. “They have to get a H.E.L.P. number each year until they can buy a
license. The Conservation ID is a six-digit number versus a 16-digit number. So
it’s a lot easier to enter and remember. So for that child’s lifetime, all they
will have to remember is their date of birth and that six-digit Conservation ID
number. It’s going to simplify the process greatly. Once they get the
Conservation ID number, they never have to do it again.”
For
those with the lifetime licenses without the required number of digits, WFF is
offering two ways to remedy that situation. First, they can get a new lifetime
license, or they can go online and create a Conservation ID and use that number
to access the Game Check system.
“There
is a lot less room for error with a six-digit number versus a 16-digit number,”
Sykes said. “Our most common error comes in entering that 16-digit number. And
it’s the most time consuming as well. You’ve got to pull your license out and
enter that long number. So, right now, you enter a six-digit number and you’re
in the system.”
Sykes
encourages people to take advantage of the Conservation ID because there is no
guarantee that the number will remain at six digits.
“I
hope so many people take advantage of the Conservation ID that we may have to
go to seven digits,” he said. “But, right now, we’re starting with a simple,
six-digit number. If you use the Outdoor Alabama app on your smartphone to use
Game Check, it will cut your reporting time down from about two minutes to 45
seconds.”
Purchasing
a hunting license online or through the Outdoor Alabama app has another benefit
as well.
“What
we learned going around the state doing the Game Check seminars is that between
75 and 80 percent of the people who attended have smartphones,” Sykes said. “If
you buy your license online or through the app, you do not have to carry a
paper license. When I go to the woods, I might forget my bow release or
binoculars or ammo, but I’m going to have my smartphone in my pocket. Now you
can have everything on your phone. That includes your license information and
your harvest record on your phone. I can prove I have a hunting license. I can
prove I have a harvest record. I can prove I have Game Check.”
Some
critics of the Game Check system insisted the reason for Game Check was to
increase the number of tickets issued by the WFF Enforcement Section. Sykes
said nothing could be farther from the truth.
“People
don’t realize that almost our entire budget comes from license sales,” he said.
“Only about 2.2 percent of our budget comes from fines. We hope we don’t have
to write tickets for Game Check violations. We’re just trying to make it as
simple as possible to be in compliance and for us to have access to data we
need to make sound wildlife management decisions.”
Go
to https://game.dcnr.alabama.gov/
and look at the top of the page in the far right corner for Conservation ID.
Click on that link and enter the information that will allow you to create a
Conservation ID. If you just purchased the license online, you will need to
wait about 30 minutes for that information to be updated in the system to be
able to create the Conservation ID.
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