Harvest Reporting System Working Through Few Growing Pains

BOONE - Preliminary reports indicate that nearly 50,000 deer have been reported during Iowa's first shotgun deer season, and for most hunters the new harvest reporting system has been workable.

"We are working with the few hunters who are either having problems or have the system malfunction on them while they are reporting, but the majority are going through," said Steve Roberts, with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) who is collecting the data.

Hunters are encouraged to write down their harvest registration number in case they have a problem receiving their confirmation number. The harvest registration number can be entered online even after the number has been reported, to check on a confirmation number. Go to www.iowadnr.com then click on the harvest registration number on the right side of the page, or by going directly to www.wildlifeiowa.com to report the harvest or to check the confirmation number.

Hunters may also call the phone system at 1-800-771-4692, which is printed on the tag, to report their harvest. The phone system allows hunter to report immediately when they tag the deer, which has certain benefits.

Steve Dermand, with the Iowa DNR law enforcement bureau was working the Turn-In-Poachers hotline during the first shotgun season weekend, when an officer called looking to confirm a story. He had stopped a pickup with an untagged deer in the back. A father and son said their tag blew off, but they reported their harvest through the phone system while in the field. Dermand checked the system and they had called in the deer an hour earlier. It was the son's first deer. The officer then provided documentation to the hunters so they could take it to a locker to be processed.

One problem with working through the new reporting requirements is that hunters are tagging the deer correctly, but are reporting the harvest registration number from another tag. Each tag has its own, unique number and the tag on the deer is the number that must be reported.

The harvest information collected in 2006-07 should provide the DNR with much better data than the postcard survey from years past. Now, deer harvest information will be available immediately by season, license type and even county. But if the data is going to be credible, hunters must report their harvest.

"We are definitely not getting all the deer reported," Roberts said. "The landowner-tenant licenses are reporting at only 18 percent success, and I think that is particularly low."

The paid any deer licenses are reporting 42.7 percent success and the paid antlerless only deer licenses are reporting 49.4 percent success. Roberts expects both numbers to increase as the week progresses. Hunters have until midnight of the day following the harvest to report their success.

First shotgun deer season closes on Dec. 6. Second shotgun deer season is Dec. 9 through 17. The majority of deer harvested in Iowa occurs during the two shotgun seasons.