ABOVE: Sommer Outdoors owner Justin Sommer has been using these table tents and pamphlets to give people information about the new fishing and hunting license system as well as overall regulations.

FAIRMONT – The State of Minnesota has replaced the previous hunting and fishing license system with a new electronic licensing system, changing the situation for store owners and citizens. It went live on June 9.

Licenses can now be purchased on the new online licensing system at licenses.dnr.state.mn.us, through a new MN DNR Licensing smartphone app, or in-person from a license agent. It’s a change Sommer Outdoors owner Justin Sommer has known to be in the works for a while.

“They started talking about it about eight or nine years ago,” he said. “Every year they kept saying that they’re going to come out with it, and they kept prolonging it, getting it ready.”

During that span, they continued to conduct business as usual.

“We used to have a machine that was provided by the state for us,” Sommer said. “They’d buy the license over the counter, and basically the DNR would take the money from our account directly for any licenses.”

Ultimately, Sommer said it was a convenience they could offer their customers, but it moreso brought in customers than money.

When the new system slotted into place a few weeks ago, Sommer said he didn’t believe it until everything was set in stone, but he’s not surprised that they’ve chosen to implement it.

“Every state around us had done it a few years ago,” he said. We knew that it was coming, kind of welcomed it. Just wish that it didn’t have as many hiccups as it was having.”

With this change, the old machine was removed from Sommer Outdoors and he said they have elected not to replace it.

“We prefer going forward; we are not offering that,” he said. “We may in the future, but it doesn’t make sense for us to offer licenses at this point. We were not going to go out and buy like $1,500 worth of equipment and all that stuff just to run licenses for free.”

In doing so, it opens up time for Sommer previously taken up by this extra service.

“It frees up employee time,” he said. “It gives me opportunities to do other things, or have the employees do other things besides running licenses that we weren’t getting paid for.”

Physical licenses can still be bought in Fairmont from the local Department of Vehicle Services.

Since the change, the most common question people have asked Sommer is asking for confirmation they would no longer be selling licenses.

“There’s a lot of people that ask about this and that,” he said. “We’re still willing to help people get their license, it’s just going to be on their electronics. The biggest concern is a lot of people like to pay by check and cash, and that’s not an option unless you go to the DVS now.”

Regarding adoption, Sommer said a majority of people are able to obtain their licenses under the new system without issues.

“It’s what I thought it would be,” he said. “Eighty percent of the people that are doing it are no problems, they’re tech savvy and stuff like that. There’s probably 10 to 15 percent of people that are just not willing to do it or don’t have access to a smartphone or a computer. The other 5 percent just refuse to do it.”

While a minority of people are struggling with the change, Sommer said he thinks they’ll just have to find a way to work with the new system.

“They’re just trying to hold out and see what they can accomplish by it,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s either you have a license, or you got to keep in mind if you don’t have a license, the smallest fine that you could get is $150 at the end of the day.”

Overall, Sommer said the program is a lot better than he thought it would be.

“Kudos to the DNR,” he said. “After you get the account set up, it’s a great app, and it’s pretty self-explanatory and easy. It could be better, but it’s at least a great start, and we’ll see where they go from there.”