New ELS system

[Bonasababy]

Anyone use it to buy a license yet? Would not work for me on my phone. Gave up and bought one at a store. Also the app apparently does not yet allow offline storage of licenses on the phone app. So best to print one out and have it with you if you cant get internet access in places you hunt or fish.

 

[mntatonka]

Anyone use it to buy a license yet? Would not work for me on my phone. Gave up and bought one at a store. Also the app apparently does not yet allow offline storage of licenses on the phone app. So best to print one out and have it with you if you cant get internet access in places you hunt or fish.

I applied for my bear permit on it without any issues

 

[Peesh]

Anyone use it to buy a license yet? Would not work for me on my phone. Gave up and bought one at a store. Also the app apparently does not yet allow offline storage of licenses on the phone app. So best to print one out and have it with you if you cant get internet access in places you hunt or fish.

Save yourself the headache and stick to getting a physical copy. The mobile setup is still notoriously clunky with no reliable offline storage, meaning you won't have proof of your accreditation out of cell range. Your best bet is to purchase and print out your tag/license through the Hunt Fish Ontario service before heading out.

 

[mntatonka]

Save yourself the headache and stick to getting a physical copy. The mobile setup is still notoriously clunky with no reliable offline storage, meaning you won't have proof of your accreditation out of cell range. Your best bet is to purchase and print out your tag/license through the Hunt Fish Ontario service before heading out.

Just screenshot it, or download the PDF. It's not hard to make sure the file is downloaded on your phone.

But yes, printing a copy is certainly a good idea as well.

 

[Bonasababy]

Just screenshot it, or download the PDF. It's not hard to make sure the file is downloaded on your phone.

But yes, printing a copy is certainly a good idea as well.

I cant even log in for the first time through the phone app...was told I should set it up on a computer first...then go in through the phone app. Then yes take a screen shot and save it. Not sure if it will allow me to fo that for my wifes license on our combi ation...was told theres a way though.

 

[Bowmannate2000]

I set up my account without issue. Was a pretty simple, seamless process when I did it. Haven't bought a license through it yet though.

 

[Bow Bullet]

I drew a quotation bear tag this year. Went online and set up my account in the new system and went to by my tag. Almost bought a No Quota tag without knowing it. Got to where it asked what deer unit I would be hunting in and the unit wasn't a choice in the drop-down. Thought of just throwing the number of an adjacent unit in there but decided to email the help line. Glad I did because they told me I was trying to buy the wrong license.

My question now is, are we really supposed to tag a bear with a piece of printer paper?? The Bear page on the website say tagging and registration requirements will be announced in June but I can't find it. The regulations link is for 2025.

 

[Bonasababy]

Physical tags are going away for most things I believe.

 

[mntatonka]

Physical tags are going away for most things I believe.

they still have physical tags if you want. You can print them off yourself, or a license agent will print them. They just print them on paper now. I bought my bear license in person last week because the tagging requirements weren't out yet.

It looks like you can validate the harvest on the paper "tag", or in the app. The app apparently works without cell service to validate the harvest, but you have to be logged into the app to do so. It's probably worth printing the tag off as a backup.

 

[Bow Bullet]

ELS epic fail

Bear license rush crashes Minnesota DNR computers

The rush on the licenses caused issues with the electronic licensing system

www.fox21online.com

 

[mntatonka]

ELS epic fail

Bear license rush crashes Minnesota DNR computers

The rush on the licenses caused issues with the electronic licensing system

www.fox21online.com

Eh, that day has always been a fail unless you were standing at an ELS agent who was just waiting to complete the purchase for you.

Maybe they'll finally change the way they do it. Draw the winners June 1 or whatever, give them until July 1 to buy. Redraw the leftovers from the non-winner pool, and give them until August 1 to buy. If they don't all sell, so what

You shouldn't be able to get a permit without going through the lottery process. I knew guys that managed to get one 5 years in a row in areas that took 4 years to get drawn.

 

[Bow Bullet]

My brother who lives in MN said his understanding was that nobody was able to buy a tag even if at an agent.

 

[th88]

Having dealt with this license vendor (PayIt - they bought out S3) a lot over the past couple years, I'm not the least bit surprised. Every state they add on has major issues with them, yet they keep getting contracts.

 

[Bonasababy]

Eh, that day has always been a fail unless you were standing at an ELS agent who was just waiting to complete the purchase for you.

Maybe they'll finally change the way they do it. Draw the winners June 1 or whatever, give them until July 1 to buy. Redraw the leftovers from the non-winner pool, and give them until August 1 to buy. If they don't all sell, so what

You shouldn't be able to get a permit without going through the lottery process. I knew guys that managed to get one 5 years in a row in areas that took 4 years to get drawn.

Are you talking about drawing one and then getting a surplus one 4 times?

I am actually hoping this incident can highlight the problems with the system and lead to changes.

Last I knew changes were known to be needed, but they wanted to wait until after the ELS rollout. Whoops....

 

[mntatonka]

Are you talking about drawing one and then getting a surplus one 4 times?

I am actually hoping this incident can highlight the problems with the system and lead to changes.

Last I knew changes were known to be needed, but they wanted to wait until after the ELS rollout. Whoops....

I'm talking about either not even entering the lottery, or being unsuccessful, and buying a surplus license 4 years in a row.

 

[NoWiser]

I'm talking about either not even entering the lottery, or being unsuccessful, and buying a surplus license 4 years in a row.

If you know an ELS agent who can set aside time for you and knows what they’re doing, you’ve got a good chance of getting a leftover license.

I think there should be a second draw for leftover tags. Any tag, including no-quota and leftover, should zero points, and there should be a 10% NR cap.

 

[Bonasababy]

If you know an ELS agent who can set aside time for you and knows what they’re doing, you’ve got a good chance of getting a leftover license.

I think there should be a second draw for leftover tags. Any tag, including no-quota and leftover, should zero points, and there should be a 10% NR cap.

No this time, people at such an agent could not get into the system. It wasn't working for anyone.

They way they resolved it--sort of, but I question whether it was fair--was that some people who were able to log in but couldn't apply got a permit if they were first in line.

Which I think means people who tried to get in before them but couldn't and should have drew one as they were earlier, did not.

Royal mess.

This can be fixed but I can say DNR was not interested in trying, partly due to a statute making that difficult unless it is changed, partly due to having enough to deal with in the rollover to the new system and not wanting to ad something new to that in the first year.

I suggest everyone contact their legislator to suggest a 2nd drawing be put into statute. The crony agent friend issue you note is real, and it's not fair.

What many don't understand is how much goes into setting up a lottery drawing. It takes a lot of time. Doing that from scratch in August for a Sep. opener ain't gonna work. Has to be designed to rock and roll months ahead of that time.

The only way for that to work is to have people log in and indicate they want to be eligible for a 2nd drawing months earlier, probably at the same deadline for an original license in May. Then the 2nd drawing could be ready to go automatically after it becomes known where and when surplus licenses are available. But I believe that is problematic too in that a lot more people would indicate they want to be involved a 2nd drawing in may than are actually able to or want to use the surplus license they draw in august. I think that would settle out over time and DNR could allocate accordingly though.