Outdoors-411.com

[Todd]

Kentucky Afield Outdoors: Common Telecheck Questions Arise as
Modern Gun Deer Season Approaches

Oct 30, 2008

Frankfort, Ky. – Every year around modern gun deer season, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources’ Information Center is flooded with calls. These calls include questions about Telecheck, a system introduced in 1998 that allows hunters to report their game harvest by using a telephone.

“It’s a very user-friendly system. It’s up 24-7 and it’s a toll-free number,” said David Yancy, a biologist in the department’s big game program. “The main problems now are people not thinking things through before making the call, or not listening to the question all the way through.”

When hunters call the Telecheck number, they are calling an automated system that provides a series of prompts.

Yancy encourages hunters to take the time to listen to each automated question completely before choosing a response. It only takes about five minutes to Telecheck your deer. Accurate information is important to Kentucky Fish and Wildlife biologists, who use Telecheck data to make sound management decisions, and to the department’s conservation officers, who use the information to enforce hunting and licensing laws.

One common Telecheck mistake is entering the wrong hunting method into the system. Hunters may rush through the call, accidentally entering “modern firearm” instead of “muzzleloader” or “archery.” If hunters realize they have made a mistake, they should not call and Telecheck the deer again. Wait until the following business day and call Kentucky Fish and Wildlife at 1-800-858-1549 to correct the information.

Hunters sometimes wonder how they should Telecheck a button buck, which is a male deer with small knobs on their heads instead of antlers. These deer should be checked as “male.” The system will then prompt you to choose whether the deer has “visible antler” or “no visible antler.” Choose “no visible antler.” Harvesting and reporting a button buck does not count against a hunter’s antlered deer limit.

Public land hunters should listen carefully to the entire name of the area on which they took a deer before responding to this Telecheck prompt. For example, areas like Dale Hollow Lake Wildlife Management Area sound almost identical to Dale Hollow Lake State Park. It’s easy for a hunter to choose the wrong one.

“This is how we get deer checked before the park’s quota hunt has even taken place,” said Yancy. “The system asks for the county, then whether the hunter took the deer on public or private land. It starts the list of areas in that county and the hunter hears the first two words and chooses yes.”

In this case, hunters should wait until the following business day to call the department and correct the mistake.

License exempt hunters such as kids under the age of 12 and military personnel on furlough should select “statewide license” when checking their deer. The department has clarified the Telecheck prompt this year to help hunters avoid confusion. Youth ages 12-15 who possess a Youth license should also check “statewide license.”

Most Telecheck questions can be answered by simply listening to the entire prompt before responding. If you still have questions, call the department’s toll-free number for help. Information Center personnel will be available from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Eastern time Nov. 8-9 – opening weekend of modern gun season for deer – to assist hunters.
_________________
---------------------------
"Nothing is easier than spending public money. It does not appear to belong to anybody. The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on somebody." - Calvin Coolidge

"I'm the guy that originally wrote the assault weapons ban" Joe Biden