Starting March 1, Michigan hunters will no longer be required to display paper kill tags for certain animals if they choose to use an electronic option approved by the state Natural Resources Commission this week, according to the Associated Press. The electronic kill tags are optional, not mandatory, for deer, bobcat, bear, fisher, marten and otter.
Under the change, hunters will validate a kill using the Hunt Fish mobile app rather than relying on the physical tags that have been used for most species. The AP report said the commission approved the optional use of electronic kill tags on Wednesday, setting a March 1 start date for the new option.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has already been piloting digital kill tags for turkey hunters since fall 2024, the report said. For other hunts, hunters have generally needed a physical kill tag that could be picked up at a license agent or received through the mail.
The department expects the digital option to reduce printing and distribution costs, and it also framed the change as a convenience for hunters. The AP report said the department expects hunters to be able to buy a tag online in the days leading up to a hunt and to have an easier time keeping track of their tag after purchase.
The AP report also noted a problem with paper tags: the DNR said 27,475 hunters lost their paper licenses and had to purchase another in 2024. The electronic alternative is presented as a way to avoid that kind of loss going forward for the species covered by the commission’s approval.
The report included a series of practical questions about how the electronic system would work in day-to-day situations. It said hunters will download the Hunt Fish app to a smartphone and then purchase an electronic kill tag inside the app. After a kill, hunters validate the kill by opening the app and answering a few questions.
On connectivity, the AP report said hunters can still fill out the information on their phone if they do not have cell service or are unable to connect to WiFi, and the data will upload later when they can connect. It also described what conservation officers can do during enforcement checks: if a conservation officer requests to see the electronic tag and the hunter bought it electronically, the hunter can open the Hunt Fish app to show the tag. If the hunter has not had cell service or WiFi since the kill, the hunter can still show the validated kill tag entered on the phone.
The report further said that if a phone is dead, a conservation officer can run the hunter’s ID to find out whether a tag was purchased and what kind it was. If the tag was validated and uploaded via cell service or WiFi before the phone died, the officer can see that information. It also addressed situations where hunters are not immediately with the carcass, saying hunters may need to make a durable physical tag with the hunting license number written in permanent ink and attach it to the carcass.
The DNR’s guidance described exceptions for the physical-tag requirement, including cases where the head is no longer attached to the carcass (in which case the durable tag needs only to be with the head), where the animal’s remains are stored at the hunter’s primary residence, and where the carcass or head is accepted and recorded by a commercial processor or taxidermist (when a physical tag no longer needs to be attached).
The AP report also described how electronic tagging fits into disease testing for deer. It said deer may be tested for diseases such as bovine tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease, especially in counties where surveillance is actively underway. If a hunter takes a deer head or carcass to a disease sample submission site with an electronic tag, the phone will have the same information as a paper tag, and the station can use it to process the dropoff; the facility then tags the deer head or samples for tracking during the testing process.
For bobcat, fisher, marten and otter, the report said hunters must still go to a registration station so the DNR can attach an official seal to each pelt. It said electronic kill tags must be presented to obtain the seal, and it added that if one electronic kill tag is used to present two different animals to two different stations, the DNR can detect the mismatch at the end of the season if officials run a record.
The AP report said the DNR cited other states using apps and digital tags, including Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. The department also reiterated that hunters can still use paper kill tags because electronic tags are optional, with physical tags available through the license-agent and mail process.