Story by Curtis Walsh – Beaver County Radio News Director. Published June 27, 2023 12:06 P.M.

(Beaver County, PA) Upon the launch of the 2023-24 hunting license sales by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, hunters found themselves waiting longer than usual. The new process, which included being able to buy licenses online and at retailers, ran into some issues and the system experienced problems which led to long delays and long lines. Beaver County Treasurer, Sandie Egley, joined Eddy Crow on Teleforum Tuesday morning to discuss the effects felt by hunters here in the county.

Egley stated that 517 doe tags were processed at her office on opening day last year, that number was 120 yesterday. She says the system was down for at least 3 hours, and when it came back it took around a half hour to process one.

“Everybody was very cordial”, she says about the 30 people who stood in line for over 3 hours. She noted that they were frustrated with the system, not her office. Some hunters tried to buy their tag online while in her office, and were the 67,000th waiting in cue. She goes on to say that by the afternoon things started to improve, taking around 20 minutes to process a license.

The State Game Commission said hunters wanted the change.  Egley went to sportsmans clubs to ask hunters themselves and most hunters agreed they did. They liked the idea of the process being more accessible online and being able to use credit cards rather than the usual processing and mailing method from the office.

The Beaver County Treasurers Office collects one dollar for every tag they process. She says the new process will lead to a loss of up to $17,000 coming into the local office. The office also had reduce the amount of printers they had. The Game Commission only allowed them to keep 2 out of 5, with the option of a third if the office purchased it, which they opted not to. The other 3 printers were sent out to retailers.

“It wasn’t a bad day, the hunters weren’t mad at us”, Egley says talking about the frustrations felt by hunters Monday.  Everybody who stayed in line at the office left with what they came for.

Egley says “I liked it the old way because we knew we could issue the tags from our office, now “I can’t assure these hunters they’ll be able to feed their family”

The treasurers office works with approximately 55 million in taxes per year, and through there efforts, generate around 1.7 million dollars a year in interest for the county.

The full interview can be viewed or heard below: