Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.

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Sportsmen buying their hunting and fishing licenses and agents selling them have been working under a new electronic system since July 1.

How is it going?

Good and bad, according to whom you are addressing.

Gone is the old system of an agent filling out a thick book of license forms. Most licenses now are being sold by agents of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries who use a computer to fill in the license form. Some are being purchased online or by phone.

Here are some observations on the new system:

>Some license buyers, as well as license agents, say it takes longer to issue a license under the new system. One outdoor writer has been saying, “Better get your license early or expect to stand in line.”

Virgil Kopf, assistant director of administration of the DGIF, said he had hear the “it takes longer” chant, but when he put a stopwatch to the new system he found little difference. During the early going, 90 percent of the sales have been completed in 5 minutes or less. No question, the process speeds up multi-sales.

Logging onto the Internet is not included in Kopf’s time check. Agents have been given the option of remaining logged on during inactive periods. Some choose to, others don’t.

The agents who have told me that it takes longer to issue a license also admit that after-sale paperwork goes much faster, which is in their favor.

>If you purchase a license online this year, look for the process to go much quicker next year because the data filled in the initial time will pop back up. As for this year, don’t wait until the day before deer season to buy your licenses, even though Kopf predicts that several enhancements to the process should be in place before the rush of deer hunting. He anticipated that this will include an express issuing process for license buyers who already are in the system.

>Some of the country stores and other shops where licenses have been sold in the past no longer sell them. On July 1, more than 130 agents had dropped out, saying they did not want to automate; however, another 61 who never had sold licenses signed onto the new system, Kopf said. The number of agents has continued to grow since July, with the figure passing 450, which is lower than this time last year.

The DGIF has a goal of establishing an agent within a 30-minute drive of consumers in 90 percent of the state. “That has been exceeded,” said Kopf.

>One license agent on Eastern Shore told me that there needs to be a protocol license that can be issued when the system is down. For example, it doesn’t make for a happy camper when someone is in her shop early morning planning to go fishing and the system won’t let her issue a license. She said that a hand-written form needs to be available to show that the sportsmen attempted to purchase a license.

A backup system is not justifiable because of the paperwork and cost involved, said Kopf. DGIF is addressing the downtime problem by attempting to eliminate system failure. There were some lost hours during the early going of the new system, and lessons were learned, he said. Stress testing has been taking place to verify the ability of the system to handle the huge volume of sales expected prior to the deer season.

>The majority of the licenses continue to be sold through agents, but licenses also may be purchased on line via the DGIF Web site: www.dgif.virginia.gov, and by phone. The toll-free phone is 866-693-9157.

>Unlike in the past, hunting and fishing licenses will be good for one year after the date of purchase. In the past, hunting licenses have expired June 30 and fishing license Dec. 31 no matter the date purchased. There are two exceptions to the new process. The big game license and the national forest stamp will be valid July 1-June 30.

>There is a distinct advantage to buying all of your licenses at one time. It saves time and the licenses will be printed out on one single piece of paper.

>License buyers may check off a $2 contribution to Hunters For the Hungry, but few are doing so. I have had license agents have told me they can’t find the prompt necessary to make the contribution. This is perplexing to Kopf because the check-off is highlighted by a blaze orange band at the top of the license sales form.

An end of August tally showed that there were sales of approximately 44,000 hunting license, 35,000 big game license, 21,000 muzzleloading license and 11,000 bow license, but only just over 1,150 $2 check-offs for Hunters For the Hungry.

License agents simply aren’t asking buyer if they want to contribute to this program. That was a problem with the old system. It was thought that the electronic license system would change that, but it hasn’t.

>Anglers who fish the state’s three public fee-fishing areas--Douthat State Park, Crooked Creek and Big Tumbling Creek--now can purchase their daily fee from any license agent, online or by phone. This eliminates the need to spend extra time standing in line at the site. Permits no longer will be available onsite at Big Tumbling Creek and license agents will not be available at Douthat Park and Crooked Creek after Sept. 30.

>You can purchase a state waterfowl stamp under the new system, but not a federal stamp. That could change in the future. Under a pilot program approved by Congress, 15 states are selling federal duck stamps over the phone or Internet this season. Virginia is not one of them, but likely will be part of the system in the future.