Thread: Fishing license stored on smart phone, legal or not.

Originally Posted by RCC

Wonder who we could contact to help push for the legality of electronic documentation. A person who buys online with a smart phone without access to a printer is in somewhat of a bind to get a paper document. No paper would help us to "be more green" and besides, the AGFC gets their money and maybe even more just because it would be convenient. Imagine a family on vacation staying near one of our beautiful lakes and not wanting to go through the line in some store for a license because IT IS somewhat intimidating, and not able to purchase online because of no printer. The flip side of this is a person walking down to the lake from their condo and decides that they MAY want to go fishing and they pull out their phone and purchase a license while standing on the lake shore and have everything they need to have a legal license in a matter of minutes. I am sure there are reasons to not do this, but I can't think of any. With GPS on the phone, electronic documentation could even assist in the apprehension of violators by having the telephone number of the device that the documentation is on. I would imagine that license files could even be formatted to be seen on a sonar unit and could even be blue toothed to an officer if the holder and officer are not in arms reach ie...officer on land and fisherman in boat. Lots of possibilities and Arkansas should be a leader in making this happen nation wide.

yea, just like we did with spinning wing decoys !!

RCC is exactly right about tourists. I was fishing in the Florida Keys two years ago and they have a website where you can buy fishing licenses. You are given a confirmation number and if checked present the number and your ID to the officer. Helps when you are unfamiliar with the area. Would be great to have incorporated into the AGFC App