Montana guys… Any issues with e-tags last year?

[Montucky]

Worked well for spring turkey, will use a paper tag for anything else.

Anyone else concerned with the use of your GPS location being used to validate a tag for a big game animal? Could be helpful info to the biologists, but also free up a lot of info to the interweb after a few years of data... I believe the Mt FWP app won't work if you don't allow GPS access.

Just a thought, paper tags don't remember/share the exact location

Daughter killed her deer this year probably 1/2 mile from my Jeep. I punched her E-Tag on my phone & Warden was sitting next to my Jeep as I was packing meat out probably half hour later. NOT a doubt in my mind they’re using GPS……..

 

[Montucky]

I’m fairly Religious at monitoring my iPhone GPS permissions so maybe this app slipped by me. I’m an ethical hunter with nothing to hide from the WARDEN but it’s paper for me from here out…..

 

[YelojktBob]

I used Etags this past year with zero issues. Download the tags prior to going on the hunt. Validate at the kill site. I will use them again this year. I don’t buy into the paranoia.

 

[S.Clancy]

I went all e-tags, they worked awesome

 

[Rifleman86]

Like I said I went with the e tags. I’ll probably print a screenshot of my tag, laminate it and put it in my Bino harness as a backup in the off chance the phone dies or gets broken.

 

[slowelk]

I got a new phone at some point and didn't have my tags downloaded on my new phone when I went to tag my first animal of the fall. I was a little, unnecessarily paranoid about it until I got back to cell service and downloaded my tags to the new phone.

Was a seamless process thereafter.

 

[Montucky]

I used Etags this past year with zero issues. Download the tags prior to going on the hunt. Validate at the kill site. I will use them again this year. I don’t buy into the paranoia.

Paranoia of what……?

 

[YelojktBob]

The paranoia that seems to be based around the thought that the FWP is somehow using the GPS to track people, or find out exactly where you harvested the animal so they can use that info for some nefarious reasons. Or that once you validate the tag that a game WARDEN is on the way to make sure you followed every law to the letter because they want to catch you so badly. I can believe that people may be worried about their phone being broken but if you showed the broken phone to the game WARDEN, he is going to be able to verify your license and tags. What makes the most sense to me is that people just don’t like change. They have always used paper tags and feel comfortable continuing to do so. I think they should be able to do that as long as they still have that option.

 

[MT257]

Like I said I went with the e tags. I’ll probably print a screenshot of my tag, laminate it and put it in my Bino harness as a backup in the off chance the phone dies or gets broken.

You cannot have both. I’d call and ask about the option of printing a backup like you’re describing.

 

[Rifleman86]

You cannot have both. I’d call and ask about the option of printing a backup like you’re describing.

I gotcha. I wouldn’t be printing an actual tag. Just a screenshot of the “e-tag.” As the poster mentioned above as soon as your back to relative civilization any warden will be able to verify your license status.

I’m not LE, but I’ve worked most of my career in extremely close proximity to LE… Intent matters a lot. I have zero doubt any warden would understand the intent behind a printed screenshot of an e-tag.

 

[bsnedeker]

The paranoia that seems to be based around the thought that the FWP is somehow using the GPS to track people, or find out exactly where you harvested the animal so they can use that info for some nefarious reasons.

I'm not worried about FWP being evil....I'm worried about them being incompetent. I have zero trust that whatever database they are securing the GPS data in (which they ARE storing because the app specifically asks for permission to your location data). All it would take is one dedicated hacker to get into that and all of the sudden every honey hole in the state is public record.

No thanks. I still use the app, but GPS gets turned off before I start it up.

 

[breaks_mud_man]

I think you guys might be giving the mt fwp a bit too much credit. They cant even conduct a proper drawing let alone track every etag in real time as it is validated.

 

[logflame]

I'm not worried about FWP being evil....I'm worried about them being incompetent. I have zero trust that whatever database they are securing the GPS data in (which they ARE storing because the app specifically asks for permission to your location data). All it would take is one dedicated hacker to get into that and all of the sudden every honey hole in the state is public record.

No thanks. I still use the app, but GPS gets turned off before I start it up.

Having access to the GPS system on your phone doesn't necessarily mean that they are storing the exact GPS coordinates where you validated your tag. They could be using it to geocode the nearest locale (town, county, etc..). If you notice on your validated tags it shows the nearest locale, so at the very least they are storing that in their database. Storing geospatial data (i.e. point coordinates) is more of a process than storing plain text data. I'm not saying they are or are not storing that location data, just saying it's not a given that your exact location is being stored. I apologize if that got a bit nerdy but my day job is a geospatial software developer .

 

[bsnedeker]

Having access to the GPS system on your phone doesn't necessarily mean that they are storing the exact GPS coordinates where you validated your tag. They could be using it to geocode the nearest locale (town, county, etc..). If you notice on your validated tags it shows the nearest locale, so at the very least they are storing that in their database. Storing geospatial data (i.e. point coordinates) is more of a process than storing plain text data. I'm not saying they are or are not storing that location data, just saying it's not a given that your exact location is being stored. I apologize if that got a bit nerdy but my day job is a geospatial software developer .

Fair point, and if FWP wasn't incompetent that is exactly what they would do...however, I've seen WAY too much evidence of their incompetence to believe that they would store the metadata in a way that protects sensitive information. I'd put money on them storing the actual GPS coordinates based on their history of bad decisions.

 

[Barner107]

My son used it and had no issues

 

[mtmiller]

Used it last year with no issues validating tags. I will continue to use it.

 

[Erict]

I punched her E-Tag on my phone & Warden was sitting next to my Jeep as I was packing meat out probably half hour later. NOT a doubt in my mind they’re using GPS……..

That would be illegal according to Montana Code "Electronic validation of licenses pursuant to this section may not include the collection of hunter location data through the use of a global positioning system. "


I am as tech saavy as most but will stick with paper. No chance of app or phone problems, hacking, battery consumption, etc. I never understood people forgetting their paper tags yet I've never met a hunter that forgot their ammo.

 

[Rifleman86]

That would be illegal according to Montana Code "Electronic validation of licenses pursuant to this section may not include the collection of hunter location data through the use of a global positioning system. "


I am as tech saavy as most but will stick with paper. No chance of app or phone problems, hacking, battery consumption, etc. I never understood people forgetting their paper tags yet I've never met a hunter that forgot their ammo.

It’s not so much forgetting it it’s having it get lost sometime after the kill/pack out. Even laminated paper can get water logged once it’s notched, tape can come off, zip ties slip off, etc.

Phone on airplane mode in my pocket seems like a safer bet. To each their own.