By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Please do not attach your phone to a harvested deer. The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Park (KDWPT) is moving towards digital applications for its licensing, but a little common sense goes a long way. Most know not to attach their phones to a harvested deer, but there are changes with this year's tags that are now on paper, not the green material of the past.
"Obviously that paper copy is not waterproof," said Cheyenne Bottoms Area Wildlife Manager Jason Wagner. "Put it in a Ziplock bag to keep that tag waterproof. Then when you tag your deer, bring a zip tie like most people do, or a piece of rope, and tie that to your deer like you did before."
Wagner also provided clarification on tagging multiple deer. In an effort to reduce numbers in the past, KWDPT allowed the harvesting of multiple female whitetails on public hunting lands. The management worked to reduce numbers, and now hunters are limited to just one deer on public lands like the Bottoms. If multiple tags are purchased, only the first one may be used on public lands.
"You can't go out and shoot a doe on private land, put the first one on there, then go to Cheyenne Bottoms and a shoot a second doe and put your second tag on there," Wagner said. "It has to be your first whitetail tag."
KDWPT promotes the use of the Gooutdoorskansas application on phones for digital licensing and tagging. The application provides wildlife managers with real-time access to data.
"When we had the green tags before, we didn't see a lot of that data," Wagner said. "But a lot of states do require it. That just gives us a better idea on harvest rates, harvest compliance, how many bucks, does, fawns are getting harvested."
Muzzleloader and archery seasons in Kansas began on Sept. 12.