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DNR launches new app amid new deer regulations, fall hunting seasons

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The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is launching a new app.

Among other things, it will allow hunters to buy licenses, download guidebooks and report their harvest.

“When I meet with these sportsman groups around the state, I’ll ask them, ‘Hey can you pull out your fishing license you bought?’ Eight out of 10 can’t,” said Tom Weston, chief technology officer for the Michigan DNR.

“It’s in the boat, it’s at home, it’s in the truck,” he said. “Then I ask them ‘Who’s got a smartphone?’ and they all raise their hands.”

The app comes just in time for a change in Michigan deer hunting regulations. This year, hunters will be required to report their take online within 72 hours.

Randy Smith has been hunting in Michigan his whole life. He used the app to report the small doe he got earlier this month.

“I don’t know computers, so that’s why I was kind of worried about it,” Smith said. “I was happy at the end. I thought it was very easy.”

The app, called Michigan Hunt Fish, is available for iOS or Android devices.

Max Copeland is the local weekday host of All Things Considered on Interlochen Public Radio and the producer of The Up North Lowdown, IPR’s weekly news podcast.