Hunting license sales slow on Monday

RIDGWAY-Lines stretched outside the Elk County Courthouse Annex on Monday as hunters gathered to purchase their licenses for the 23-24 season. While this was a regular occurrence on the first day, it was complicated because of problems experienced throughout the day.

A change of procedure also complicated the issuance of licenses, as this is the first year hunters can acquire their doe licenses at the same time as their regular hunting licenses, which leads to the additional time needed by the Elk County Treasurer’s Office employees to complete the process.

"The website went down early in the day and was not available for several hours," said Elk County Treasurer Peggy Schneider, "It also crashed several times after that, so the Game Commission addressed the matter on their Facebook page."

However, the game commission chalked up the slowness to the additional license applications. “Due to the high sales volume this morning, Pennsylvania's hunting license system experienced widespread slowness and intermittent errors, both online and in stores. The Pennsylvania Game Commission apologizes for the issues this has caused our hunters. We are diligently working with our online vendor to identify and resolve issues to continue license sales."

The employees of the Treasurer's Office ended up taking down the hunter's information and collecting payment for later.

"We might be here to midnight inputting information into the website," said Schneider, "But we assure hunters that we will make sure they get their licenses."

The licenses are also available online once the system comes back up at huntfish.pa.gov.

The Elk County Treasurer's Office is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Elk County Courthouse Annex located at 300 Center Street in Ridgway. Those with questions regarding their licenses can also call the office at (814) 7765321. You can also contact the Game Commission directly at the Pennsylvania Game Commission's Licensing Division by calling 1-833-PGC-HUNT or by emailing pgclicdiv@ pa.gov.

Photo by Brian D. Stockman Lines stretched from the Elk County Commissioners' Office down the hall to the Treasurer's Office as hunters gathered on the first day they could purchase licenses for the 2023-24 season.

Photo by Brian D. Stockman Elk County Treasurer Peggy Schneider explained to those waiting that the PA Game Commission's website was experiencing trouble throughout the morning and afternoon.