"Now you can use a digital image of your license as proof-of-license for any hunting or fishing that doesn't require a tag. Accepted formats include: 1) a digital photo of your license, 2) your emailed receipt, 3) within the Outdoor Annual app or the My Texas Hunt Harvest app, or 4) your online purchase record."

Perhaps a little more valuable for the ladies who don't carry a wallet but still good to know.

Has been kind of a grey area. Lot's of people have bought Sandhill Crane permits sitting in the blind when they start flying.

Not such a bad thing when you consider it means the TPWD gets revenue that might otherwise go uncollected.

Nothing wrong with it unless you need a tag. Whatever keeps you on the right side of the law is all that matters.

Jim our, Ive wondered about the tag deal

In Missouri, you can now "punch your tag" for turkeys or whitetails using the app instead of the physical tag.

My how the times are changing.

Now that's really cool.

Alabama and Tennessee do this as well.

Seems like you could make reusing a tag impossible if you applied this technology with some modifications. At least you could with bucks. Fill the tag out online, take a picture that gets uploaded/attached to that tag.

Agreed 100% Come on Texas!

Doesn't Arkansas do that as well with the app on deer?

How does this work? Lets say that I take a legal buck. In the past, I've had to attach a paper tag that is properly filled out and attached. Now, I can take the deer home and, if stopped, just show the GW my tag on my phone. If not stopped, I can shoot another one or just keep shooting until I decide to stop. How is it cancelled? Or, is it?

No difference in taking the risk of not tagging the animal and driving home in hopes of not getting caught. I would imagine once you log the info into an app it wouldn't let you use that tag again.

"Now you can use a digital image of your license as proof-of-license for any hunting or fishing that doesn't require a tag.

^^This^^
As long as you don't need a tag, you can hunt and fish all day long without the paper license as long as you have the digital form. It just shows proof you have a hunting/fishing license. On a legal level, you could hunt deer as much as you want with the digital version, you just can't shoot one.

Follow the discussion gents. I believe Dave's question was directed at the earlier post that noted how hunters in Missouri can use digital tags and an app when harvesting deer. It would appear the system offers several benefits, including ease of use, the inability to reuse a physical tag or fudge data, and instant reporting of harvest data. Everything would be entered by the hunter while in the field and recorded in "the cloud".

I wouldn't be surprised to see the TPWD implement the same type of system in a year or two.

Digital tag makes sense. It also makes sense so I don't have to fill out the back of the license with the deer I shoot. The state gets a better survey of what is harvested by county. The digital tag could have you enter the points, spread and other information useful to biologists such as estimated age. There is a bunch of big data that could be captured here.

The only downside is if you are not within cell range you would have to have some type of paper tag to prove you tagged the animal until you are in cell range. I haven't thought through how best that would work.

To me you just answered your own question.

That could still be worked out. You could enter the tag in the app, the app would record the tag and send the info when you had data coverage. You could still show the app to the GW if necessary. Granted, you could put your phone on airplane mode, delete the app when you get home and then download it again. There's always some way to circumvent the rules if one is fired up about it, even the current paper tags.

Perhaps I would want to go hunting with a cell phone with me. When I retire in 13 months, my cell phone being glued to me ends, as it should. Paper tags won't go away in Texas in my lifetime.

OK. so I do have to log it instead of just showing it. That should stop the practice of shooting and tagging a deer; then losing your license and buying another one.

The last lease I was on another member talked about doing this in the past. Reason #36 I got off.

I wouldn't think we would get rid of paper tags, but the info the TPWD would get from online tags would be very beneficial in my view.. What if you could do your HIP report each week instead of at the end of the year? I guess at how many i shoot (well, except for last year's dove and duck seasons, those were easy).

Big data has its risks for abuse along with its rewards and I am, as many of you are, very wary of giving the Man too much info. I guess I'm willing to give the TPWD more in exchange for better management. Who knows, maybe this would allow TPWD to remove the antler restrictions in more counties, or maybe the reverse would happen, but it would be better than a statistical guess.

With the online app I suspect they are moving that direction anyway. The information gained is just too much to ignore.