What The Heck Is The Harvest ID #?

July 31, 2009

Photo Courtesy of NCWRC

North Carolina utilizes a report card system rather than a tag system for successful hunters to remove big game animals from the kill site. The report card has the different species listed and a punch out area next to each one to be removed upon killing the animal. To complete the process the hunter must obtain a possession number from NCWRC prior to doing anything more than gutting the animal.
A new feature this season is the harvest id # that is listed on each report line here is what NCWRC says about this;

This year’s big game harvest report card contains a Harvest ID number located beside the name of each big game species. The purpose of this number is to streamline the telephone and online reporting processes. Hunters will be required to enter the appropriate Harvest ID number for the animal harvested. This number will validate the customer’s information and go straight to the questions specific to the species harvested.

I guess that means that they will no longer ask you what kind of animal you killed but will know by the number you enter. How this will streamline the process is a mystery to me. I don’t know about anyone else but some of the places I hunt there is not the greatest cell coverage. Punching in a bunch of numbers sounds complicated in the sense that it will be easy for something to get messed up. If the process messes up the only option is then for you to enter it on the computer. I certainly don’t have a computer with me so I’ll have to head home without the option of breaking a deer down to put on ice. We’ll see how this goes but I have my doubts.