State wildlife officials are encouraging big game and turkey hunters to report their tags online or at a license sale agent to avoid long phone queues.
The deadline to report most tags and avoid any penalties is 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 31.
Hunters need to report on every deer, elk, bear, cougar, turkey and pronghorn tag purchased or issued as part of a Sports Pac license, even if they didn’t harvest an animal or go hunting.
If you have never used the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife’s online licensing system, it’s easy to set up an account. Go to online and use Verify/Look Up to find your profile which will include any tags you need to report. Enter your ODFW ID number (printed on all licenses and tags) and follow the directions to set up your account. An email address is required. Once you have set up your account, click under Mandatory Reporting to complete your reports.
Hunters can also visit any license sale agent (businesses that sell hunting and fishing licenses) to report. License agents will not charge hunters a fee for this service. See a list of agents on the ODFW website.
“We don’t want to see any customers kept on hold, especially when reporting can easily be completed online,” says Justin Dion, ODFW assistant wildlife biologist. “If you can’t set up an online account, visit any vendor that sells hunting and fishing licenses to report your hunt.”
Hunters who fail to report a deer or elk tag by the deadline will be charged a $25 penalty. They will have to pay this fine to purchase a 2022 or future hunting license. The deadline to report is Jan. 31, 2021 for any hunt that ends by Dec. 31, 2020 and April 15, 2021 for 2020 hunts that extend into the new year.
The information reported by all hunters helps ODFW determine harvest and hunting pressure for each hunt, and is used to help set tags. This information is also available to hunters on the ODFW’s Big Game Harvest Statistics webpage.
As an incentive to report on time, every hunter who does is entered to win one of three special tags ODFW offers each year. Winners can choose a deer, elk or pronghorn tag that is valid statewide during a four-month season, similar to auction and raffle tags which people can pay thousands for. This year, Richard McCurter from Saint Helens drew the tag and took a bull elk in Wenaha Unit.
As of Wednesday, Jan. 6, more than half of deer and elk tags still needed to be reported: 77,945 of 122,292 elk tags, 95,760 of 152,651 buck deer tags, and 6,275 of 9,623 antlerless deer tags have yet to be reported.
ODFW offices remain closed to walk-in visitors due to Covid-19. Staff are available by phone and email but again, hunters are encouraged to report online or at a license sale agent rather than wait on hold. While ODFW Licensing staff can take reports by phone at (503) 947-6101, call hold times can already exceed 90 minutes and are expected to increase as the Jan. 31 reporting deadline approaches.
To learn more about mandatory reporting, visit MyODFW.com.
