Applying for West Virginia's lottery-based big-game hunts is as easy as clicking a computer mouse.
Wildlife officials have scrapped the state's old paper-based snail-mail system and have adopted an Internet-based application process.
"We're trying to pull all of our licensing and permitting into a single, computer-based system that allows us to do our [lottery] draws in a more timely and cost-effective manner," said Paul Johansen, wildlife chief for the state Division of Natural Resources.
In the past, hunters who wished to apply for limited antlerless-deer permits, limited bear permits, or to hunt in controlled state-park deer hunts would have to mail in written applications by a certain date and then wait until sometime afterward to find out if their names had been drawn.
They don't have to do that anymore. By logging onto the DNR's online license website, www.wvhunt.com, applicants can register for lotteries simply by clicking on an icon.
"The lotteries are open to anyone who has a DNR ID number, which they can get by purchasing a hunting or fishing license online or - in the case of lifetime-license holders or landowners - by logging on to the site and keying in their personal information," says Randy Tucker, a member of the DNR's biometrics unit.
"Anyone with an ID can log onto his or her account, click 'Enter Lottery,' select the lottery he or she wants to enter, and then click 'Enter.' It's really that simple."
The choices will vary from year to year. This year's lotteries will include permits that allow firearm hunting for bears during the state's firearm season for buck deer, permits that allow hunters to take part in a limited-access bear hunt on Hampshire County's Nathaniel Mountain and Short Mountain Wildlife Management Areas, permits for counties with limited numbers of antlerless-deer hunting licenses, permits for duck blinds at Mason County's McClintic Wildlife Management Area and permits to participate in limited deer hunts on Berkeley County's Cacapon State Park and Mercer County's Pipestem State Park.
The deadline for all of the drawings is Aug. 15. Tucker says it doesn't matter when someone enters a lottery as long as the deadline is met.
"It's not first come, first served," he explains. "It's a completely random draw. The last person who enters has the same chance to be chosen as the first person who entered."
The new system will also allow hunters to apply for antlerless-deer "party permits" - permits issued to up to four people who wish to hunt together. "In the new system, the applicant would enter his or her own DNR ID number plus the ID numbers of the other people in the hunting party. The computer would take it from there," Tucker says.
Agency officials are testing the online lottery system to make sure all the bugs are out of it. The DNR is also offering to help hunters who might struggle with the new system.
"We don't leave people out just because they're not computer-savvy," wildlife chief Johansen says. "We recognize that not everybody has access to the Internet or is comfortable using computers. If people call our district offices, we can walk them through the process."
Reach John McCoy at johnmccoy@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1231.