Electronic Fishing License?

[SamSteele]

Hi all,

I was on the road to go ice fishing with my kids when I realized I left my fishing license in my other jacket pocket. I had an electronic copy saved on my phone and wondered if that would be sufficient proof or did it have to be printed out?

I ended up getting a printed copy to be sure but thought I would ask if anyone had experience with this for the future. Thanks.

SS

[EZM]

Officially you are required to "produce your fishing license" when a peace officer asks for it. This is where the clarity ends in terms of does that mean "paper hard copy" or reasonable facsimile (like a photo or scan of it).

This has been debated on a number of threads.

I have a printed copy in my wallet, but also have the photo of it on my camera phone. If I did forget the wallet but had my phone I would present that to the officer and hope he would accept it.

With today's technology it should be pretty easy to verify if someone has a valid licence without the paper hard copy using photo id or some other means i'm sure.

I think it depends on the officer ....... I am certain he can choose to charge you if you don't have the paper copy ... but .....who knows what the judge will decide if you were to fight it.

Tough call. I think it depends on the officer.

[Okotokian]

Hi all,

I was on the road to go ice fishing with my kids when I realized I left my fishing license in my other jacket pocket. I had an electronic copy saved on my phone and wondered if that would be sufficient proof or did it have to be printed out?

I ended up getting a printed copy to be sure but thought I would ask if anyone had experience with this for the future. Thanks.

SS

I would say it depends completely on the attitude of the officer that stops you... if you want to depend on that. Not me.

[SamSteele]

Thanks guys. The only thing I could see was the "must be signed to be valid" on the license itself. The electronic copy I had wasn't a scan so it wasn't signed. I figured that might be an issue.

Would be nice to know for sure as it could have saved a couple extra hours of driving with two kids in the back...

SS

[huntsfurfish]

Officially you are required to "produce your fishing license" when a peace officer asks for it. This is where the clarity ends in terms of does that mean "paper hard copy" or reasonable facsimile (like a photo or scan of it).

This has been debated on a number of threads.

I have a printed copy in my wallet, but also have the photo of it on my camera phone. If I did forget the wallet but had my phone I would present that to the officer and hope he would accept it.

With today's technology it should be pretty easy to verify if someone has a valid licence without the paper hard copy using photo id or some other means i'm sure.

I think it depends on the officer ....... I am certain he can choose to charge you if you don't have the paper copy ... but .....who knows what the judge will decide if you were to fight it.

Tough call. I think it depends on the officer.

Agree

I would say it depends completely on the attitude of the officer that stops you... if you want to depend on that. Not me.

And your(OP) attitude too.