The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said today that a $2 fee assessed when registering online for the Harvest Information Program (HIP) will be waived beginning Sept. 1, 2020.
LDWF said the fee waiver was the result of ongoing negotiations with the vendor that covers online services for HIP certification. LDWF did not receive revenue from that assessment. No refunds will be provided to those who have already paid the $2 online transaction fee.
Customers who obtained their HIP certification online beginning June 1, 2020, were required to pay a $2 online transaction fee to the vendor to cover online services. Transaction fees for online license purchases have been in effect since 2006.
Purchasing other licenses will still require payment of the $2 online transaction fee.
HIP had been available at sporting goods stores and other retail outlets, but the department found that hunters were not always asked the required registration questions. Answers to those questions are necessary to determine the species hunted and relative harvest success for each migratory bird hunter.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services uses that basic information to obtain scientifically valid samples of hunters through a separate mail out harvest survey.
LDWF, as part of a multi-state pilot study coordinated by the Wildlife Management Institute to address invalid registration data, limited HIP certification to online or in-person at LDWF headquarters in Baton Rouge.
Persons 16 years old or older, who hunt migratory birds, must have a HIP certification on their person while hunting. Migratory birds include mourning and white-winged doves, snipe, woodcock, rails, gallinules, ducks, geese, and coots.
