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?
