PA New Mobile-Friendly, Outdoor Recreational Licensing Platform

DaveKile

DaveKile

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HARRISBURG, Pa. (January 27) — The Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) and Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) are excited to announce the launch of HuntFishPA, the new user-friendly licensing platform for hunters, anglers, and boaters.

Visitors to www.HuntFish.pa.gov will discover convenient features like personalized dashboards, autorenewal for fishing licenses, and the ability to report game and furbearer harvests as required. Users who visit the agencies' websites – www.pgc.pa.gov and www.fishandboat.com – for their licensing and other needs will be seamlessly directed to the new system. HuntFishPA replaces the previous Pennsylvania Automatic Licensing System (PALS) platform known as The Outdoor Shop.

HuntFishPA provides outdoor enthusiasts with a modern and streamlined platform to purchase hunting and fishing licenses, launch permits, boat registration renewals, lotteries, draws, and permits – on any device, at any time. The platform also offers Harvest Reporting, 24/7 call center support, and a seamless transition for license holders who previously used the PALS system. Prior users will simply need to log in as they've done in the past with existing credentials. All profile, license, and past purchase information has been transferred to HuntFishPA.

"During a time when so many Pennsylvanians are enjoying the great outdoors, the launch of this new and improved system ensures that getting your required licenses is as simple and convenient as possible," said Tim Schaeffer, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. "We think users will appreciate the modern look and features we have included to make the purchase of your licenses fast and easy, so you can spend more time out on the water or in the woods."

Game Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans echoed those comments.

"Today's hunters, trappers, and anglers look for convenience in securing the licenses they need, and they want that process to be as easy and hassle-free as possible," Burhans said. "HuntFishPA was developed to help meet those demands, helping ensure your next license purchase will be the best you ever experienced."

The PGC and PFBC partnered with digital government solutions firm NIC Inc., to develop and manage HuntFishPA's licensing platform and secure payment system. NIC has 20 years of experience in outdoor licensing solutions across 11 states, including Wisconsin, Mississippi, Alabama, Maine, and South Carolina, in addition to extensive expertise in managing digital government services and secure payment processing solutions.

For customers who prefer to purchase hunting and fishing licenses in person, the HuntFishPA platform is available at 750 issuing agent locations, including bait shops, convenience stores, sporting goods retailers, county treasurers and Walmart. Retail customers can buy their licenses the same way as they have in the past and have licenses printed at the time of purchase. Customers will notice that their new fishing and hunting licenses purchased in a store will be printed on durable green paper, replacing the yellow license color that was used previously.

HuntFishPA's New Features and Enhanced Functionality

Enhanced user experience with a clean, modern design
Streamlined content and screen flow to enable fast, easy-to-process transactions
Customer account and dashboard displays specific information for each customer, including past license purchases and items eligible for purchase
"Quick Order" option displays past license purchases for a quick and easy sale, so customers don't have to remember what they previously purchased or search for items
The system will automatically recommend related add-on items as a customer makes a purchase
Username and password setup for customers to quickly access their accounts
Guest checkout feature allows customers to purchase vouchers and magazine subscriptions without an account or being logged into the system
Merchandise sales are made through the system
Harvest reporting is completed through the system
24/7 phone customer service support is available for users
Agent locator is featured to identify nearby walk-in retail locations


Additional New Feature for Fishing and Boating Licensees and Permits

Auto-renewal option for customers to automatically purchase next year's licenses and permits
 
This is a very nice, easy to use site! So much better than the old one. I buy all my licenses online and this is right up there with the other states now. Now if we could get 365 licenses instead of calendar year cycles. :-D

This reminds me I need to renew a launch permit.
 
it sucks been fighting for a month to get my account right and get a boat registration, declare my dmap permits. everytime you call you get some dummy who doesn't know squat about pa regs or licensing. been on phone with PGC and PAFC for the last week and nothing fixed. they admit the company doing this is messed up.
 
I had a positive experience with the new site. It took my information and I was able to confirm all of my info the first try. I had no issues reporting my dmap tags and was able to purchase my fishing license . I thought the new site was a significant improvement over the old.
 
Although I had no issues using it I find it scary that they have that much control and that they continue to ultra-nuance all the laws and permissions to do this-or-that. This is also how the hunting laws are. Where are we going.......I'm cranky and grumpy I guess.
 
I'm not following your post Baron? What are you cranky about?
 
The complexity of laws regarding where and when and how long fish may be. And where you may fish for them and how. Same with boat rules and hunting. When seasons open which lakes and streams are open, closed or other. Like I said, I had an okay time getting the license but it was unclear enough that I had to call for the boat stickers and reg. I don't want a study in lawmaking in order to hunt or fish legally and it is becoming darn tough to to do either without sitting down and making sure you aren't violating some law that you didn't know about. I don't like it and am afraid it may chase off all the young folk whom are less inclined. It won't affect those whom are always fishing the same places but I am all over the place.
I guess my complaints don't so much have to do with the website, it works. But why can't we have things more standardized, less nuanced, less managed and more towards conservative values.

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lycoflyfisher wrote:
I'm not following your post Baron? What are you cranky about?
 
I agree, Baron. Especially about hunting regulations. It's like the regulations are written with entrapment in mind.

It used to be the average hunter knew when seasons ran, now even wardens don't know what's in season. Use groundhogs for example, latest proposal is something like July 1st-Nov 13, Nov 14, Nov 15-Nov 20th, Nov 21st, Nov 22- Nov 27th, Dec 14th-Dec 31st, Jan 1st-June 30th. While that's no change except for two Sundays in November (because there are sooo many groundhogs being hunted in PA in November) it's overly complicated in writing. "Year-round, except deer season, No Sunday hunting except 11/14 and 11/21, no limit" would be simpler.

Another example was this past year's hidden Sunday regulation. Hunting on one Sunday during firearms deer season was granted by the fuehrer's men, but on private land you needed written permission from the landowner to hunt on said Sunday, but not any other day of the season as written.
 
BrookieChaser wrote:
I agree, Baron. Especially about hunting regulations. It's like the regulations are written with entrapment in mind.

The above is what I was trying to say.
 
I attempted to go onto the new site today to purchase my fishing license. I have never purchased a PA hunting or fishing license online so I figured this was a great time to do it with the new and improved site. I couldn’t get past the part where I needed to enter my payment information. So I called the toll free support number and talked to a person about my problem. He said they have had nothing but problems with the website and that I should go to one of the issuing agents and buy my license in person. My first attempt at buying a PA license online was certainly not “user friendly”. Guess I’ll go back to the old local hardware store where I’ve been buying my licenses for years.
 
So frustrating.
 
Undergoing frustration here too. Just now tried to renew registration on my two kayaks and learned the system can't locate them. My fishing license purchases were there though.

I was happy to learn there is a a 24/7 call number. Unfortunately the very friendly gentleman I got through to wasn't able to help. Gave me a registration hotline to call, when they open later today. IMHO, this isn't an improvement over the past renewal process. Something that has taken a few minutes in the past will consume an hour of my morning today.
 
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