Yesterday, I posted a bit of a rant about the DFG getting the big game books and applications out so late that many hunters would miss the application deadline (today!). I was particularly angry because my license hadn’t yet arrived, along with my deer tag application (as a lifetime license holder, I get one deer tag along with my license every year). As such, even if I knew the zone I wanted to hunt, I couldn’t send my apps into Sacramento in time to meet the deadline.
Well, in the interest of fairness and all, I want to say right now that, once again, I’ve received stellar service from the good folks at the DFG office. That’s right, this is not the first time the folks working the front lines have stepped forward to take care of me… the paying (and complaining) customer. This time, the lady’s name was Katy, and apparently she’s in charge of handling lifetime license issues.
My call to the DFG office yesterday was transferred over to Katy, despite the fact that she was on vacation at the time. That sort of irked me, since my bet is that the guy who transferred me must have known she wasn’t there. But maybe he didn’t, I dunno. Point is, she wasn’t there, so I left a message with my number. Honestly, I figured with everything going on in that office this week, I wouldn’t be hearing back for a few days. The DFG office team has always been good about returning calls though, and Katy was right there this morning.
I explained to her that my license hadn’t arrived, and that I was really kind of upset at missing out on the drawings for this season. At the very least, I wanted to get my preference points, but ideally, I hoped to be able to get my name in the hat for the Tule Elk hunt at Grizzly Island. Katy looked up my information, which showed that the license had actually mailed out in April! Damn, I’m glad I called! The package wasn’t in her “Returned Mail” file, so it must have been lost somewhere between Sacramento and my home office.
With that first mystery solved, Katy asked which zones I wanted to apply for. I had initially planned to put in for X9-A, but since I hadn’t gone through the dates yet, I just asked her to put me in for a point for deer. Then we turned to elk. She wasn’t familiar with the elk zones or hunt codes, so she spent a good 10 or 15 minutes going through the booklet over the phone and helping me choose the Grizzly Island, 1st Period Antlerless hunt. We got that submitted, and she told me that she’d be sending me an affidavit of non-receipt, so they could mail me new license, stamps, and pig tags.
And that was it!
That doesn’t change the fact that I still can’t believe we don’t have an online licensing system in place in this state, nor does it change my feeling that whoever was supposed to be developing the program has screwed this state’s hunters. Likewise, it doesn’t alter the fact that a lot of CA hunters sort of got screwed because the application packets and license booklets hadn’t come out on time… although I have to say that taking the steps to advocate for yourself with a phone call or office visit might go a long ways toward helping you get some satisfaction. Sitting back and being mad won’t change a thing.
But most of all, I just want to say, “thanks, once again,” to the good people like Katy who get things done in the DFG office. Nice job!
MATT
Ralph Donaldson
Hmmmm. We got our big game draw packet last week, and the stickers about a month ago. I know that there was some sort of major snafu on the packets, so they really were late. But I’m wondering if you don’t have a problem with your local post office, too.
A few years ago, we went through about two months where things would literally take a month to get from Sacramento to our house 20 miles away. I bitched up a storm on a USPS survey, and somehow the problem cleared up. I had the sense that there was a psychotic postal worker perhaps sitting on mail instead of venting in the normal manner. Mail (including my job offer letter for my current job) eventually arrived; it just took forever.