Hunters and trappers can now use a new, user-friendly online system to access license sales, License Exempt Numbers (LEN), harvest registration, hunting permit and hunter education. Made available from the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, the hunting and trapping license and Conservation Access Pass sales system is fully integrated with the hunter and trapper registration system and hunter education records.

Single-sourcing purchases of licenses, permits, and hunter and trapper education materials are the latest update to DNREC’s ePermitting system, which allows customers to establish a user profile to access a variety of licensing and permitting functions. Recreational fishing license sales were made available earlier this year on the ePermitting system.

The online system enhancements include a more modern look and feel using an improved customer interface and a familiar shopping cart approach, with full compatibility for a variety of desktop and mobile devices.

While the ePermitting system offers a new way to purchase, recreational hunting and trapping licenses and Conservation Access Passes can also be purchased and free License Exempt Numbers obtained at license agents statewide. These services also will be available in the future at the licensing office in DNREC’s Richardson and Robbins Building, 89 Kings Highway, Dover, where sales and transactions are currently suspended during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

For additional information and questions regarding Delaware hunting and trapping licenses, Conservation Access Passes, recreational fishing licenses, and other related services, call the Division of Fish and Wildlife recreational licensing program at 302-739-9918 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

About DNREC
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control protects and manages the state’s natural resources, protects public health, provides outdoor recreational opportunities and educates Delawareans about the environment. The Division of Fish and Wildlife conserves and manages Delaware’s fish and wildlife and their habitats, and provides fishing, hunting, wildlife viewing and boating access on nearly 65,000 acres of public land. For more information, visit the website and connect with DNREC on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Media Contacts: Michael Globetti, michael.globetti@delaware.gov; Joanna Wilson, Joanna.wilson@delaware.gov

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Green wing teal, which Delaware duck hunters can pursue during a special season that begins Sept. 12. USFWS photo

Numerous hunting opportunities offered starting Sept. 1 at many state wildlife areas

DOVER – Delaware hunters will start their 2019/20 hunting season Sunday, Sept. 1 with the opening of archery and crossbow deer seasons, DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife announced today. Hunters can start adding mourning dove and resident Canada goose to their daily game bags on Monday, Sept. 2, and teal on Thursday, Sept. 12, when the special September teal season opens. Gray squirrel season opens Saturday, Sept. 14.

The following hunting seasons open in September, with season dates and hunting hours as listed:

• Archery and Crossbow Deer: Sept. 1-Feb. 2, 2020, including Sundays (½ hour before sunrise to ½ hour after sunset)
• Dove: Sept. 2-Oct. 7 for first season split (½ hour before sunrise to sunset)*
• Resident Canada geese: Sept. 2-25 (½ hour before sunrise to sunset)
• Teal: Sept. 12-30 (½ hour before sunrise to sunset in the designated teal zone south of the C&D Canal to Lewes, and east of Routes 13, 113/113A, and 1)
• Gray squirrel: Sept. 14-Feb. 1, 2020 (½ hour before sunrise to ½ hour after sunset, except closed during November shotgun deer season)

*Reminder: Non-toxic shot (no lead) must be used for dove hunting on state wildlife areas during the month of September and hunting hours might differ at specific dove fields on certain state wildlife areas.

DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife offers many early-season hunting opportunities on state wildlife areas. Wildlife area maps and rules are available at Wildlife Area Hunting Maps. Additional information on September hunting opportunities at Division of Fish & Wildlife public wildlife areas is available at Delaware’s September hunting seasons.

A Delaware hunting license or License Exempt Number (LEN) is required to hunt, and most waterfowl hunters require a Delaware waterfowl (duck) stamp. More information on hunting license and Delaware waterfowl stamp requirements is available at Delaware Licenses. Teal, dove, and goose hunters also need a Federal Harvest Information Program (HIP) number. To register for a LEN number or HIP number, hunters can go to Delaware Hunter and Trapper Registration or call toll free 1-855-335-4868. For hunters age 16 and older, a federal migratory bird stamp is also required to hunt geese or teal.

Registered motor vehicles used to access designated wildlife areas owned or managed by the Division of Fish & Wildlife are required to display a Conservation Access Pass (CAP). Hunters can opt to receive one free annual CAP with the purchase of any Delaware hunting license. To obtain a CAP, hunters will need the registration card for the vehicle to which the pass will be assigned.

Delaware hunting licenses, Delaware waterfowl stamps, and Conservation Access Passes can be purchased online at Delaware Licenses, at the license desk in DNREC’s Dover office at 89 Kings Highway, Dover, DE 19901, or from hunting license agents statewide. Federal migratory bird stamps are available for purchase at U.S. Post Offices, Bombay Hook and Prime Hook national wildlife refuges, and online at Federal duck stamps.

For more information on hunting, click 2019-2020 Delaware Hunting & Trapping Guide. Hard copies of the hunting guide and newly-updated hunting maps are also available at the license desk in DNREC’s Dover office. More information on hunting licenses, season details, and the Conservation Access Pass is also available by calling the Wildlife Section office at 302-739-9912.

Follow the Division of Fish & Wildlife on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/DelawareFishWildlife.

Contact: Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 49, No. 228

DOVER – The results are in, and two artists – including a renowned name on both the national level and here in Delaware – have won top honors in the state’s Waterfowl and Trout Stamp art contests. A painting of a long-tailed duck and a black Labrador retriever by Richard Clifton of Milford, Delaware, a past Federal duck stamp competition winner, who also has captured best in show in numerous state duck stamp contests, will grace the 2019/20 Delaware Waterfowl Stamp. A painting of a brook trout by Broderick Crawford of Clayton, Georgia, will adorn the 2019 Delaware Trout Stamp.

Clifton and Crawford were chosen by contest judges in the DNREC Division of Fish & Wildlife’s annual stamp art competition, with the judging April 12 at the Dover Public Library. The stamp contests drew 30 entries for the 2019/20 Waterfowl Stamp and 16 entries for the 2019 Trout Stamp. The 39th annual Waterfowl Stamp contest specified that submitted artwork must include a long-tailed duck and a black Labrador retriever. The trout stamp artwork can feature one or more species of brown, brook or rainbow trout in a setting or environment found in Delaware.

As the 2019/20 Waterfowl Stamp winner, Richard Clifton receives a $2,500 prize and 150 artist’s proofs of the limited edition print series of his first-place entry. Clifton, who resides on a historic family farm near Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, is an avid hunter and self-taught wildlife artist who works in acrylics with waterfowl as one of his favorite subjects. He has painted 51 winning duck stamps, including eight Delaware Waterfowl Stamps, the 1996 Australian Duck Stamp and the 2007-2008 Federal Duck Stamp, and is the current Ducks Unlimited International Artist of the Year.

As the 2019 Trout Stamp winner, Broderick Crawford receives $250 and retains the rights to reproduce and sell prints of the stamp. Broderick grew up in the southern Appalachians exploring streams and mountain sides all his life. He is an avid fly fisherman and supporter of Trout Unlimited. His favorite fish has always been the Brook Trout. A few years back he won the competition in Georgia with a Brook Trout for the Trout Unlimited vehicle tag in that state. Crawford is a wildlife and sporting art artist working in mostly acrylic paints who has entered and placed in Delaware’s stamp several times.

Other winners included:

2019/20 Waterfowl Stamp

• Second place, Caleb Metrich, Lake Tomahawk, Wisconsin
• Third place, Dee Dee Murry, Centralia, Washington
• Honorable mentions: George Bradford, Georgetown, Delaware; Paul R. Fenwick, Hillsborough, New Jersey; and Broderick Crawford, Clayton, Georgia

2019 Trout Stamp

• Second place, George Bradford, Georgetown, Delaware, brown trout
• Third place, Micah Hanson, St. Charles, Minnisota, brown trout
• Honorable mentions: Ryan Peterson, Jackson, Wyoming, rainbow trout; Stephen Hamrick, Lakeville, Minnisota, rainbow trout; and Jeffrey Klinefelter, Etna Green, Indiana, rainbow trout.

The winning 2019/20 Delaware Waterfowl Stamp will be available July 1, 2019, and the winning 2019 Delaware Trout Stamp will be available Jan. 1, 2019.

Waterfowl and Trout Stamp entries are on display Monday, April 16 through Friday, April 27 at the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center, 2591 Whitehall Neck Road, Smyrna, DE 19977. Hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. For more information, please call 302-653-9345.

The winning stamp art also can be viewed online. The winning waterfowl stamp entries and the winning trout stamp entries are posted on the DNREC web site.

The 2019/20 Waterfowl Stamp judges were: Pete MacGaffin, Delaware Ducks Unlimited representative; Lloyd Alexander, art collector; F. Thomas Unruh, member of the Advisory Council on Wildlife and Freshwater Fish; Anthony Gonzon, wildlife biologist; and Justyn Foth, wildlife biologist.

The 2019 Trout Stamp judges were: Desmond Kahn, White Clay Fly Fishers member; Cathy Martin, avid angler; Edna Stetzar, fisheries biologist; Scott Newlin, fisheries biologist; and F. Thomas Unruh member of the Advisory Council on Wildlife and Freshwater Fish.

DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife, in partnership with Ducks Unlimited, started the Delaware Waterfowl Stamp (formerly known as the Delaware Duck Stamp) and print program in 1980 to raise funds for waterfowl conservation, including acquiring and improving wetland habitats vital to the survival of migratory waterfowl. To date, more than $2.8 million has been raised.

The Division of Fish & Wildlife began requiring trout stamps in the 1950s, and a trout stamp and a general fishing license are required to fish in designated trout waters during certain seasons. Trout stamp art was first used in 1977. The fees paid for Trout Stamps are used to purchase rainbow and brown trout from commercial hatcheries, with the purchased trout stocked in two downstate ponds and selected streams in northern New Castle County for Delaware’s trout seasons.

Delaware hunting and fishing licenses, as well as Waterfowl Stamps and Trout Stamps, are sold online, at the licensing desk in DNREC’s Richardson & Robbins Building, 89 Kings Highway, Dover, DE 19901, and by license agents statewide. For additional information on Delaware hunting and fishing licenses, call 302-739-9918.

For more information on Delaware’s waterfowl and trout stamp art competitions, please call DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife at 302-739-9911.

DOVER – Delaware’s spring turkey hunting season opens Saturday, April 14, and runs through Saturday, May 12, DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife announced today, with hunters aiming to capitalize on the month-long season by bagging a gobbler afield from among the state’s thriving wild turkey population. Hunting hours are a half-hour before sunrise until 1 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

Also, a special statewide one-day hunt for youth ages 10-15 and for disabled hunters using a wheelchair for mobility will be held Saturday, April 7. Young hunters must be accompanied by an adult 21 years of age or older who has completed a Delaware-approved turkey hunter safety class, and who has a Delaware hunting license or is license-exempt. The accompanying adult may not hunt.

Hunters are reminded that only bearded birds may be taken, and that all harvested birds must be checked at an authorized turkey check station by 2:30 p.m. on the day of the hunt. Bag limit is one bearded turkey per hunter each year.

All hunters that are 13 years of age or older must have a junior or adult hunting license or License Exempt Number (LEN) and successfully completed a mandatory turkey education class before they can legally hunt wild turkeys in Delaware. Turkey hunters also are required to carry their Hunter Education/Turkey Education card certifying successful completion of the mandatory turkey course. Hunters under the age of 13 must have a LEN.

Except during the special hunt for youth and disabled hunters, hunting on State Wildlife Areas and State Forests is by preseason lottery permit only. Hunters must carry their public land permit while hunting and may only hunt the designated area and season segment/dates specified on their permit. Hunters participating during the special hunt for youth and disabled hunters on April 7 may hunt on private land with permission or state wildlife areas and state forests that are open to turkey hunting during the regular season.

To hunt wild turkeys on public land in Delaware, hunters must have entered a lottery from which public land permits were drawn. Delaware’s wild turkey season is broken down into four week-long segments, this year spanning April 14 thru May 12. Turkey hunters were drawn via the lottery system and issued a permit in January. Applications for the 2019 Public Land Turkey Hunt can be found in the upcoming 2018/2019 Hunting and Trapping Guide. The public land hunt permit allows a hunter to hunt a designated public land area during a specified one-week segment.

For a list of check stations, click on 2018 Turkey Check Stations. Check station hours may vary, so hunters are advised to call the station where they are likely to check a bird to confirm the hours of operation. Hunters who want to have their bird scored and entered into the National Wild Turkey Federation records are reminded to have their bird’s live weight recorded on a certified scale. If the check station does not have a certified scale, hunters will be directed to another station to have the turkey re-weighed.

The Division of Fish & Wildlife reminds hunters that, new this year, registered motor vehicles used to access designated public lands owned or managed by the Division of Fish & Wildlife are required to display a Delaware Conservation Access Pass (CAP). Hunters can opt to receive one free annual vehicle pass with the purchase of any Delaware hunting license. To obtain a free CAP, or to purchase an additional pass, hunters will need to have the registration card for the vehicle to which the pass will be assigned.

Hunting licenses and conservation access passes are sold online, at the licensing desk in DNREC’s Richardson & Robbins Building, 89 Kings Highway, Dover, and by license agents statewide. To find a participating agent, or to purchase a license online, visit Delaware Licenses. For additional information on Delaware hunting licenses, call 302-739-9918.

For more information on hunting in Delaware, click on 2017/2018 Delaware Hunting and Trapping Guide. The guide also is available in printed form at DNREC’s Dover licensing desk, and from license agents throughout the state. For more information about public lands that allow turkey hunting, click Wildlife Area Hunting Maps or State Forest Maps.

Vol. 48, No. 70

Contact: Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

The Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) announces it is now offering online driver license and ID card renewals. DMV customers needing to renew their Delaware driver license or ID card may now do so in just a few minutes at their convenience, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In September, Governor John Carney signed House Bill 146 into law which removed the requirement for signatures to be in pen and ink when provided for a driver license, identification card, or registration application processes. With the removal of this provision, the DMV is now able to develop more efficient means of serving customers and expand online services.

Customers over the age of 18, with a valid Class D driver license or ID card within six months of expiration, may now easily renew online whenever and wherever they want. Access to this and many more online services is via a customer’s secure MyDMV account easily created on the www.dmv.de.gov website. This new and exciting process will create a temporary paper driver’s license or ID card to be printed at home with a new card that will be mailed to the customer within two weeks of the online process. The new online renewed documents will use the most recent photo taken at the DMV and will cost the same as a traditional DMV visit. Online renewal is not available for holders of commercial driver licenses, graduated driver licenses, or to persons who utilized the self-service kiosk at their last DMV visit. Anyone who has lost driving privileges cannot renew online until satisfying all requirements with DMV.

“Allowing residents with a current license or identification card to complete the renewal process online when it works for their schedule is another great example of how we are working to make our services more convenient and efficient across state government,” said Governor John Carney.

“Our DMV continues to expand its services to ensure that we are serving our customers in a manner that is modern and most convenient for them. I frequently hear from satisfied customers which is a great testament to our employees which is why Delaware has the best DMV in the country!” offered Secretary of Transportation Jennifer Cohan.

DMV Director Scott Vien added, “The Delaware DMV is providing our customers with even more flexibility and convenience to process their transactions, and this service adds to our many online offerings which include renewing vehicle registrations, creating/updating a next of kin registry, registering for motorcycle training courses, scheduling road tests, and ordering vanity or specialty license plates.”

The Delaware DMV serves a customer base of more than 812,000 license and identification holders.