Ditto for people with turkey, elk, bear, prairie chicken or sturgeon tags.
The Minnesota Legislature during the 2024 session passed legislation that allows the Department of Natural Resources to implement a new mobile and online licensing and permit system. As part of the system, hunters and anglers beginning in 2025 will be able to register their harvest without physically tagging the animal. As the Duluth News Tribune reported in May at the end of the legislative session, the DNR is implementing a free smartphone app that "will allow hunters, anglers, skiers, snowmobilers and other license holders" to store licenses on their phones or show a photo of their licenses as proof.
The new system is scheduled to take effect in March 2025 , which marks the start of the new license year in Minnesota.
I had a question about a different licensing matter earlier this week, so I called Jeremy Woinarowicz, a longtime DNR conservation officer who works out of the Thief River Falls West station in northwest Minnesota.
The conversation also offered an opportunity to learn more about the new licensing and tagging system, as it wasn't completely clear to me how it's going to work.
The ability to purchase licenses online is nothing new, of course, but the big change under the new system will be the smartphone app. As Woinarowicz explained, paper tags will go away unless people physically print one on their personal printers.
With the new system, hunters and anglers using the app will store the licenses on their phone or other electronic device. When they harvest a deer (or turkey, bear, elk, prairie chicken or sturgeon), rather than notching the paper tag and physically placing it on the animal, hunters or sturgeon anglers will open the app and "e-notch" the tag to show that it has been used.
"Even if you don't have cellular coverage, the app will store (the e-notch)," Woinarowicz said. "And if you run into someone dressed like me ( DNR conservation officer), I can look at the app, and I'll take a picture of a QR code, and it will tell me when you notched your tag to show that it has been notched at the site of the kill.
"Once you notch and use your tag, it's automatically registered so you don't have to do anything else different."
The QR code also will show all of the licenses, stamps or other permits that have been purchased.
That all sounds great, in theory, but no doubt there'll be bumps in the road. Especially among older hunters and others who might not be as electronically savvy or still use the old-style flip phones.
In that case, hunters will still be able to print out a paper tag with their own printer and then notch or sign the tag to show that it has been used, but it will never have to be attached, Woinarowicz said.
"Hopefully, that's going to make it a little bit easier," he said.
Another potential challenge with the new system is how to handle situations in which people forget their phone, or it dies while in the field, making it impossible to show their license or e-notch a harvest.
"Now you don't have your license in possession," Woinarowicz said. "There's no way for me to check all of the (licenses) that you have."
Hunters or anglers can still purchase paper licenses at motor vehicle registrar offices where they purchase ATV or snowmobile registrations because those offices will still have the printers with the special paper that Electronic Licensing System vendors currently have. License agents will also have options for printing licenses on plain paper.
Now doubt, there'll be a learning curve.
"For sure," Woinarowicz said. "That first year, we're going to try to do a whole bunch more education than enforcement, but in theory, it actually is better for us because we'll be able to make sure that the person has notched their tag, and it registers as soon as it's notched."
Again, it's business as usual until next March, but in the meantime, hunters and anglers in Minnesota would do well to bone up on the new system and how it's going to work.
For more information on the licensing system set to take effect in 2025, check out the DNR website at dnr.state.mn.us/rlp/els.html.
©2024 the Grand Forks Herald, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
