System glitches leave hunters wanting doe tags waiting for hours
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Hunters across the state waited in long lines Monday as they tried to pick up their licenses for antlerless deer.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission expected its new online hunting system to streamline the way hunters get their antlerless permits, or doe tags, but system glitches left hunters waiting for hours.
"There are probably 200 people in line right now," hunter Ray Mincin said Monday.
At midnight, the system opened for antlerless deer permits. It was quickly overwhelmed.
"Right now, I'm at 38,836 ahead of me and I went on at 8:15 a.m. this morning, and right now it's 10:40 a.m.," hunter Jim Rokicki said.
Rokicki found himself waiting online and in line. Hunters are normally patient folks. Not Monday.
"The vendors aren't prepared," Rokicki said. "The hunters are here willing to buy. We can't even on the system to buy our licenses."
So what happened? The state Game Commission released a statement saying, in part, that it apologized for the issues this caused and that it's working with online vendors to identify and resolve issues.
But believe it or not, some hunters did get what they wanted.
"I'm the only person that got one so far at this West Mifflin Dunham's," hunter Dan Houk said.
The system crash had another unfortunate impact on retailers. A lot of customers who wanted to buy something other than licenses saw the lines and turned around, resulting in some sales losses.