View area storm coverage and share your photos.

Eisele: DNR again crashes turkey hunters' party with failed permit-selling system

Tim Eisele
Special to The Capital Times  —  4/02/2008 7:25 am

The Department of Natural Resources restored wild turkeys into Wisconsin, established a season and actively promoted interest in turkey hunting.

Hunters took up the interest, and are required to buy licenses, stamps and permits to hunt what once was a native bird in the state. After at first giving away excess hunting permits, the DNR now sells the extra permits, partially to beef up its budget.

But last week the DNR fell flat on its face for the second time in three years when its left-over permit issuance system failed on the first day of sales.

The result was hostility among turkey hunters statewide, as they had to jump through hoops to buy permits.

The more than 56,000 left-over permits went on sale at 10 a.m. Friday and hunters across the state were primed at their telephones, computers and license vendors to purchase permits. But the DNR's automated license issuance system crashed and people were left gnashing their teeth. Some spent all day away from their jobs to try to get a permit.

Part of the problem is that the DNR contracted with a new computer vendor. The director of licensing for the DNR crowed about the new contract to the Natural Resources Board last December, reporting how this system would be even better and the state will save money.

Too bad it didn't work.

This should not have been a surprise to the DNR. It was a re-run of what happened two years ago, when the DNR first sold left-over permits and it encountered similar snafus. It first sold the permits on a Saturday, when DNR offices were closed, and then the "vendor" forgot to load a program and sales again did not take place for most of the day. Hunters statewide were angry and wasted time trying to get a permit.

This year, the DNR knew it was having problems.

I called the DNR director of Licensing, Diane Brookbank, on Monday with specific questions about the permit sales system and she did not return the call, instead pawning it off to a public relations employee who assured me they were confident that everything would run smoothly.

On Tuesday I went to the DNR office in GEF II in downtown Madison and attempted to buy my 2008 Conservation Patron license. But at 3:30 p.m., those at the license counter were not able to sell the license, confessing the system was "down" and that it had only operated off-and-on all day. They asked me to return later, which I did. This time, the stars and planets were aligned correctly and I bought my $165 license slightly after 4 p.m.

Then Friday came and hunters statewide experienced problems. I spent most of the day online and on the phone and never could get through. The DNR closed its telephone sales and shut down Internet sales. As a last resort I went to Dorn Hardware and was able to purchase a left-over permit. But those who don't live near a license vendor were out of luck.

Each of the hunters in line in front of me questioned how the DNR had the gall to charge money for permits and require people to stand in line for hours. If there was such a thing as "goodwill" toward the DNR, it was lost on Friday.

Mary Ellen Vollbrecht, executive assistant to the DNR secretary, apologized to hunters, saying that the DNR thought that it had fixed the system and it would seek damages from the vendor.

Telephone sales operated over the weekend and the DNR may sell all 56,000 permits, but on Friday it became the Department of No Response (DNR).

DNR crows about how its Automated Licensing Issuance System operates flawlessly during the deer season, with a crush of license sales the day prior to deer season -- but then it slams the door in the face of the state's turkey hunters.

The DNR is a cabinet agency and the governor is now responsible for it. This is the second time in three years that something similar has happened to turkey hunters, one of few growing outdoors populations.

Pardon me, governor, but the ball is in your court. It's time for some housecleaning.

Tim Eisele is a full-time freelance outdoor writer and photographer. He is a founding member and past president of the Wisconsin Outdoor Communicators Association and active member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America.

Tim Eisele
Special to The Capital Times  —  4/02/2008 7:25 am