Many of Wisconsin’s most experienced wild turkey hunters worried the new GO WILD licensing would fail them. On Monday, March 21st it did fail to meet even the most basic of expectations. So often it seems
My Go Wild E-Q screen.
those who set up and operate government systems think all of those who have jobs in the private sector, their customer’s, have nothing better to do than sit around a wait. On the first day of turkey tags sale, someone at Go Wild thought the installation of a queue system was a good idea?! this stretched a 5-minute license buying process into more than and an hour of waiting.
Here’s what happen on the opening day of leftover permit sales, Go Wild style.
9 am – As usual I checked to make sure my computer was set up correctly, login credentials functioned properly and most of all the Go Wild site as still operating.
9:06 a – started my work day.
9:55 a – opened a browser to get ready for login on Go Wild.
9:59 Attempted navigating to Go Wild home page. Found the site closed off and my browser was placed in a queue by Queue.It. Really!? an e-Q!? No way, so I tried to access Go Wild via another tab, the same thing. The message read
“Spring Turkey Leftover Permits has not yet begun. When Spring Turkey Leftover Permits begins, you will be assigned a random place in line (alongside everyone else who also arrives before Spring Turkey Leftover Permits begins.)
When your turn comes you’ll have 20 minutes to enter.
You may go get a cup coffee
10:03 AM – I notice pain in my lower jaw due to its dropping onto the desk. The next words are not fit to print on a family-friendly site like this.
10:06 AM – Anger gives way to thinking, a little bit anyway. So I used other computers, browsers, phones and any additional miscellaneous devices I found lying about. All were immediately placed in the Go Wild e-Q with their own special place in line ranging from 1,268 to 5,701.
10:15 AM – The e-Q paused. I called the local license vendor to check on their status. Diane, the owner, was, let’s say, less than happy and swears she is going to discontinue the business relationship with WDNR.
10:25 AM – the e-Q goes from pause to slow mo off and on until 11 a.
11:06 AM – My first e- Q line place is up, and the screen says I can enter. Takes 2 minutes before the GoWild home page opens. Logging in and putting the turkey tag in my cart went OK. The pay portal continued to tell me my credit card was invalid. Tried the second card only to be told it too was invalid. Entered the information very carefully over and over with the same invalid message appearing. I know my credit cards are valid. So, I just ignored the message and hit the continue button. Payment was then promptly accepted.
11:13 AM – Finally after 1 hour and 13 minutes the purchase of a unit 1 turkey tag was completed. Previously using the old system, this simple task would have taken about 5 minutes.
At 11:30 the Go Wild system “paused” again. Of course would have been hunters taking their lunch breaks to purchase a tag. A hunting buddy called and said he was number 4,687 and could not wait that long. Sadly my grandson who forgot to apply and planned to buy a tag for us to hunt together has been unable to complete his transaction because of school schedule conflicting with e-Q. We will still hunt, but it will be some unknown later season.
As you can tell by my previous post, I really wanted the Go Wild system to work and work well. It sure looked good and sure did turn out to be a disappointment. Also, the spring turkey leftover permits availability page is very slow refreshing the number of remaining permits. It took 30 minutes or more to display the remaining permit numbers.
Turkey hunting plans are hard to make under Wisconsin’s turkey licensing scheme. Especially now with this Go Wild mess. One thing that became quite apparent today – Go Wild has many different meanings. Good luck hunters.
Update March 23 10:45 a: After being queued for 31 minutes I was able to purchase a zone 3 tag smoothly. Delays can be expected from 10 to 10:45 and again starting at 11:30 am or so. (during lunch breaks) The rest of the first-day tag sales go with minor wait times.
Wonder what is going to happen Saturday during all zone free for all sale?
Harry Holt says
What a disappointment. My son will not be able to hunt with me during unit 1 C season.
His school and my work schedule would not allow either of us to hang on that long.
Do you know of anyone at the DNR that could get him a tag? It’s their fault not ours.
charlie elk says
Sorry to hear that Harry. You can try giving them a call on some occasions in the past the WDNR has made good faith exceptions. Good luck.
Eric H says
Why does the WI DNR continue to fail us in regards to spring turkey hunting???? I’ve traveled this country chasing my grand slam and have not had nearly the problems getting non-resident permits for my desired times as I repeatedly do in my home state. We’re not splitting the atom WI DNR! I’m hoping to take my 3 and 5 year old boys with me on their first hunts this spring, but something tells me that I’m going to strike out getting a permit in the highly sought after “Zone 2”. They constantly ask when we’re going turkey hunting and if I have to tell them we can’t go because of the failed policies of the DNR, they will hear a word or 2 from me!
Eric H says
Update: So I logged in at 9:30am and was assigned number 3200 in line. As of 10:31am I’m down to 600. We’ll see what happens.
My question is, why the big change? I haven’t had any problems going online, logging at at 10am, and not getting a permit the last 3-5 yrs. Don’t know what drove this big change…..anyone here know?
charlie elk says
This is suppose to save money. The wildlife fund has been running a deficit for several years. The legislative finance committee ordered the DNR to come up with a plan to solve the deficit. This is part of the solution. Back tags for deer and bear hunters have been eliminated as part of the cost savings efforts. These changes will save about $200,000 annually which will then be used to help fund the wildlife account. Be aware we may have some license fee increases on the way at some point too. I will posting more behind the scenes info as it becomes available.
Gary Bright says
Been on the Gowild site all morning. Can’t even get to the leftover permits page to see what’s out there . Tried to chat for help , chat is out of service account volumnes ! Go figure .
charlie elk says
Is this the page you’ve been trying to get to? http://dnr.wi.gov/permits/springturkey.html
DNR has been very slow updating it. I sympathize, with all the frustration.
Eric H says
Yeah I’ve tried to get the chat function like 6 times and no luck. Great support!
charlie elk says
The chat function and phone was totally offline on Monday too.
joeturkey says
Hey guys; my experience today with GO Wild was much better. Logged on around 915, at 932 site put me in the Q. At 1000 on the dot it gave me # 360, friend was logged on at 940 and then got# 140? So it is random,it went very fast for me as I had tag purchased at 1006 and in hand (printed copy) by 1009! Whew!!! Will buy 1 more on Saturday. Good luck and Good hunting Joe
charlie elk says
A spot of good news there joeturkey. Yes that Q is random for anyone who logs in early. They are taking all the early attempted logins, pooling them until 10 then randomly assigning a place in the e-Q line. In any your report is much better than our experiences yesterday. Thanks.
Nate R says
I also had a smooth experience yesterday. I’ll take this over trying to get online, the system overloading, or kicking back my credit card payment when I get to that point, etc. I’ve had problems in the past with the old setup for antlerless deer tags, too. So, while it’s not perfect, I think it’s an improvement. Yes, you get stuck in “line” for a time, but I’d rather have that than what we had before.
charlie elk says
Thanks for sharing your experience. Most hunters who are upset are those who try to a get tag with only few hundred left. This is suppose to be a first come first serve but the e-Q randomizes the place in line, many think this is a DNR misrepresentation.
If there are thousands of available tags this is not too much of a problem. Others who were upset had limited time and could not sit in queue for an hour or more due work, school or whatever. Worse those who are stuck in a line at a license vendor. Especially with no notice this would happen. Prior to the rollout I interviewed some DNR staff involved and not a single one provided a heads up regarding the e-Q.
In the long run this will be a better system.
In any case perhaps it’s time to do away with this exclusionary licensing scheme and open it up, making it inclusive, like it is for other game licenses?
Kjcamper says
I believe the system will work better after a few seasons to get the bugs out. I did not go online Monday but Tuesday I waited 40 minutes and Webnesday I logged in right at 10:00 and went right in. No Que! My brother bought zone 2 and zone 3 tags at vendor and did not have to wait at all. So if one has time to go to a vendor I think it might be quicker.
joeturkey says
It might be quicker standing in line at a vendor only depending on when you get in line {early} and where you go! Example a friend dropped off his son and his buddy up in Manitowoc at 815 am for Tuesday’s zone 2 tag. There was already 6 in line when they got there. Diehards! It did go fast for them as they had tags by 1015 am.They bought new camo chairs and sat in them happily waiting for another chance to chase the grand birds of spring. It was actually easier for me doing it online, but I did miss out on talking with other turkey about their plans for this year, past hunts, ect,ect. Good luck and good hunting Joe
joeturkey says
OOPS insert hunters after turkey in last sentence of last post. joe
charlie elk says
This reaffirms what I’ve been hearing from around the state. Sounds like the vendors are NOT put into the Q, they’re getting direct access. Most vendors can only serve 1 at a time so sitting in the turkey chair in a real queue visiting with other hunters would have some appeal. Could always join the e-Q on cell phone while waiting too. See which is faster.
Logged my grandson and myself in on 2 computers this morning for the unit 4 sale. Both were swept out at 9:28 and placed in e-Q, 1 was number 25 and the other 1456, random it is. Happily I got my grandson one of the 559 C season tags. Q # 1456 took 13 minutes, according to the drop down menu there were still C season left however, an error message saying they were reserved popped up. I just found out that meant some hunters had placed them in their cart. At 10:17 there were 33 C season left which means 33 hunters did follow through on the transactions and the reservation was lifted. If I had known, I could have selected a C again a few minutes later. But I had already checked out with a season D at 10:16.
The new system worked much better this morning.
joeturkey says
Congrats Charlie on the tag gathering! I plan on picking up 1 more tag on Saturday. Question, which would you rather have? A second tag for the same time period or another tag for a different time period? I have never had 2 tags for the same period where it would be legal to shoot and harvest 2 birds on the same hunt,day, or encounter. I have had the opportunity many times though and have been lucky enough to harvest a double with a partner a few times. What are your thoughts on this? Good luck and Good hunting Joe
charlie elk says
First – a tag for each season, I like to hunt as long as possible. Then double or triple up if tags are still available. Many times I have multiple tags for season D,E, & F. Normally the tags do not sell out for E & F in units 1 & 3. In some years that’s the case in unit 4 too. Just occurred to me, with this new system if you fill a tag and there are some left… you could pull out your phone and buy another to keep hunting. COOOL…! eh?
Wisconsin under utilizes their turkey hunting opportunities, the average wild turkey dies within 2 years whether you hunt them or not. WI has more turkeys than any other state. So hunt to your heart’s content.
WRC says
I tried Mon. morning to get a unit 1 tag from the vendor, I was 3rd inline. The system shut down right away at 10:01. We waited in line until 10:35 trying to get back on. At 10:45 the system posted a call no. to call and reserve a tag. I went back home and called the phone no. it took 20 min. to get through, but once I did it took 30 seconds to get a tag. I asked the question of, if I reserve a tag do I get a guarantee that I get the tag and time period that I reserved? They said yes you’ll get the tag you reserved, but you can’t pay for it until next week, because your ID no. has to go through our system to show you reserved a tag. It will show that on Thursday, so you can get your tag after that. I asked if I pay for my unit 1 tag on Fri morning, can I still by my unit 7 tag at 10:00? They said NO, you can only buy one tag a day. I asked even though it’s a tag I bought Monday for unit 1, you can’t pay for it. on Fri. ? So Friday I’ll try to get my unit 7 tag, then Saturday I’ll try to get my other unit 2 tag, and Sunday I’ll pay for my unit 1 tag if and that’s a big IF they will sell it to me being a unit 1, 4th season tag might sell out on Saturday, BUT they guaranteed me a unit 1, 4th season tag? We’ll see if they are true to their word?
charlie elk says
What the heck? That’s a new one! But it helps explain why those unit 1 tags vanished so fast on Monday. The season C tags were gone or “reserved?” by 11 a. In the past those have not sold out the first day. Many years I manage to get 2 of them. I wonder if others like you who reserved a tag and then, perhaps, decide not follow through with the purchase, will that tag be released for sale? If so then maybe we’ll see some time perios we thought were sold out suddenly show a stray tag of 2?
Something that has always bugged me is the 25% of hunters who draw a tag do not actually purchase a license. All of those go to waste.
WRC says
I checked my info today and my reserve tag was posted for unit 1 season D. I went and paid for it tonight, everything went as easy as pie. Like Monday when the system crashed, they allowed you to reserve a tag over the phone. I’m not sure if people can reserve a tag if the system is working? If you can, it might be a better way for people with a limited time to get a tag?
charlie elk says
Glad to hear you got you tag. That phone reservation thing was one of the best kept secrets. In big bold letters across the DNR turkey page it says Alert:Phone sales are no longer available to purchase licenses.
Glad they made exceptions. One of my Canadian buddies is coming down for his first ever turkey hunt during season D, GoWild did not work in Canada so he bought an extra tag via phone. It will be fun and interesting hunt, he has never even seen a wild turkey.
Tom says
Very good article by Patrick Durkin on the start of the new WDNR Go Wild system. Love his quote describing the Monday 10am start:
“That eager crush crashed the Automated License Issuance System like slush clogging a cheap snowblower.”
http://host.madison.com/wsj/sports/recreation/outdoors/patrick-durkin-go-wild-licensing-system-ruffles-turkey-hunters-feathers/article_8a9e5586-baa0-51e1-8934-9cf87c96f55e.html
I don’t like the new que system for a selfish reason. I had gotten pretty good with the old “first-come after 10am” system, and had no problem getting leftover tags. Friday I wanted a zone 5 per D permit. There were nearly 400 available. In prior years it would have been no problem logging in at 1 second after 10am and getting one. This time the random que put me at 1700+, and they were gone when I finally got in. Nutz.
Sean says
It was insanely disappointing. I had picked up my lottery tag using the Go Wild system the Saturday before the leftovers were released, and it was a breeze! That Queue was terrible and the freezing of it was down right unacceptable. I’ll mark it down to new system bugs, but they should have tested this more thoroughly before releasing it. I’m actually a huge fan of the way they have the system setup, it just seems like they didn’t load test the server properly.
Got into the queue at 10:05 on monday, didn’t get my tag finished until 11:36. That’s insane. Luckily I was able to get both my father and I in, but they need to do better.
Kjcamper says
I didn’t have any problems on March 26th getting an extra zone 2 tag. In fact I noticed many zones had available tags all last week. I did however hear the system went down on the 31st ad people tried to get fishing licenses. Moral of my comment is plan ahead and purchase licenses as soon as they become available for purchase. The system server cannot handle a large amount of activity.