Hunters will now have additional time to report their deer and turkey harvests under the new Game Check system.

The Alabama Conservation Advisory Board and the Alabama Legislature agreed to a legislative amendment, lengthening the amount of time hunters have to report their harvets from 24-hours to 72-hours.

“As a biologist, I certainly would have preferred 24 over 72 hours,” said Chuck Sykes, Director of the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division, in a press release. “However, I understand we have to take small steps to make progress in the right direction.”

Sykes still asks hunters to report their harvests as fast as possible, so that the data will be as up-to-date as possible at all times and help set bag limits.

“As we have always said, data gathering is the main purpose behind the Game Check system,” Sykes added in the press release. “Even though the regulation will be 72 hours, we are encouraging Alabama hunters to report their harvests as soon as possible so that we can get the most accurate data possible to make season and bag limit recommendations.”

One of the reasons the new system was put into action was to keep up with the number of deer in Alabama, which the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division admits it doesn’t know.

“Truthfully we don’t know how many deer are killed or harvested in Dallas County or any other county in the state,” said Gunter Guy, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Commissioner, at a meeting in August at the Central Alabama Farmers Co-Op. “We don’t know how many turkeys are killed or harvested in Dallas or any other county in the state. We don’t know.”

Under the new Game Check law, hunters are also required to enter their harvest into the DCNR harvest database within 72 hours.

“This is a great program and in order for us to ensure that compliance with Game Check is as high as possible, Commissioner Guy and the Advisory Board were willing to compromise on the time deadline.” Sykes said.

There are three methods available for hunters to register their harvests: online at www.outdooralabama.com, smart phone apps for iPhones and Android and by phone at 1-800-888-7690.