It’s possible the state’s rollout of an online system to purchase antlerless deer licenses couldn’t have gone any worse than it did last week.

In the past the licenses were available only from the county treasurer’s office. State legislators thought offering the licenses online would make both hunters’ and county treasurer’s office employees’ lives easier.

The early returns are the exact opposite.

The huntfishpa.gov website was unable to handle the volume of visits it received and local licensing agents were not able to access the system for hours the morning of June 26. Warren County Treasurer Denny Munksgard said he’d heard that upwards of 100,000 customers were online trying to get licenses throughout the morning.

When things finally came back online county officials moved through the line of disappointed hunters as quickly as possible.

We’re not sure how it’s possible state officials underestimated the allure of hunting in the commonwealth, but they did just that by not making sure the state’s websites could handle the influx of traffic last week.

It’s almost as if the Game Commission went hunting with a fishing pole.