Plenty of Pennsylvania hunters had feared that the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s (PGC) revised online system of license sales would prove to be problematic. Others predicted the new untested system would likely crash and burn.

Turns out those fears were justified. When licenses first went on sale the morning of June 26, the overtaxed online system didn’t exactly crash and burn, but pretty much cratered into gridlock when over 150,000 hunters logged in simultaneously in their attempts to purchase their 2023-24 hunting licenses.

I saw many complaints on Facebook that day with hunters posting that HuntFish PA — the website charged with conducting online license sales — had messaged them that they were number 80,000 or so in line and could expect to wait for many long, frustrating hours to make their purchases.

The early rush to buy licenses was fueled by the new, first-time PGC policy of making antlerless deer licenses available for purchase along with the general hunting licenses from day one. Since antlerless licenses are in limited supply, demand was high — apparently too high for HuntFish PA to handle.

Ironically, the new system was designed to streamline license sales but initially had the opposite effect. The ‘Pennsylvania Outdoor News’ publication featured a damning front page headline: “New doe tag sales system bombs.”

My own past experiences with the HuntFish PA website have not been encouraging. Two years ago, when I attempted to purchase a fishing license for my little grandson, the site refused to allow me to do so but let me buy a ‘voucher’ (that ultimately proved useless) instead.

Last year I purchased my hunting licenses through the site, expecting them to be delivered in a timely fashion through the mail. A few days later I received my duck stamp in the mail and that was it. No other licenses showed up in my mailbox.

Three weeks passed before I decided to call the ‘help line’ listed at HuntFish PA to see what the holdup was. That phone call connected me to a HuntFish PA representative based in Texas, of all places, who cordially promised to straighten out the mess. It took another two weeks, but my licenses finally arrived.

So needless to say, I was determined to avoid the HuntFish PA website when June 26 rolled around. Licenses can also be purchased through other agents at sporting goods stores and county treasurers’ offices.

To that end I reported to the Chester County Treasurer’s Office where I joined a handful of other hunters diligently filling out their licensing forms. In less than half an hour I walked away with a full array of licenses including a coveted antlerless permit. The in-person purchase was quick and painless and sure beat being number 80,000 waiting online at HuntFish PA.

But the angst this new system triggered among the state’s hunting fraternity did not go unnoticed by the folks at the PGC. My friend Bryan Burhans who serves as Executive Director of the PGC felt compelled to offer an apology for the headaches the online purchasing attempts inflicted.

“I’m glad you got your 2023-24 hunting license, and your antlerless deer license, for the upcoming seasons last week,” said Burhans, “but I’m not at all happy with the frustrating process you went through to get that license. I apologize to you. I hope you will forgive us. Here’s what you should know:

“We have a new system. Antlerless licenses have never been available for purchase online or in-store. We’ve also never made them available on the first day of hunting license sales. For decades, hunters used to mail in a pink envelope to get their antlerless licenses and that took several days. This year, we moved that process to the Internet. Because it was the first time for this system, we simply didn’t know how many Pennsylvania hunters would purchase their licenses on the first day.

“As it turned out we experienced large volumes. Much like a popular concert, where many people all try to buy tickets online at the exact same time, our system was overwhelmed with more than 166,000 hunters all seeking licenses at the same time. This caused unacceptable delays. Your time is important and I’m sorry this process wasted time for you.

“Everyone got a license. Even with the frustrating delays, during the first day of sales, everyone who went to purchase their general or antlerless license was able to get one. Later this month, on Monday, July 24, you’ll have an opportunity to get a second antlerless deer license for the upcoming season.

“To help you experience fewer delays, check out our real-time chart to see the current number of antlerless licenses still available at that time. If there are still a good number of antlerless licenses left in the WMU you hunt, pick a time when lines at retailers are short, or traffic online at huntfish.pa.gov is convenient for you.”

The PGC has been under fire by hunters for a number of its policies. The licensing fiasco if just the latest one. Their recent banning of rifles during the fall turkey season, the reintroduction of fishers and martens into the wild, and the number of antlerless permits issued by the agency are others.

Of course, the most controversial issue remains the change of opening day from Monday to Saturday for the state’s firearms season on whitetail deer. Almost half of the state’s hunters want a return to the Monday opener just as some of the frustrated folks vying for licenses back on June 26 have already expressed a desire to return to the old pink envelope system of buying antlerless licenses.

As Executive Director Burhans knows only too well, you can’t please everybody all the time no matter how hard you might try. Here’s hoping the PGC and HuntFish PA website will get those online glitches ironed out sooner than later.