Hunters’ passion for draw results overwhelms website; results now available

[Viper]

"PHOENIX - The Arizona Game and Fish Departments online hunt draw system website, hosted by an outside vendor, became unavailable from Monday afternoon through early Tuesday morning as thousands of hopeful hunters tried to log on and learn whether their applications had been drawn for the upcoming elk and pronghorn antelope season.

Officials have attributed the problem to extraordinary demand on the system to view draw results, and not a failure of the hunt draw or application processes.

Draw results were posted early Monday afternoon, and the draw results system initially worked as planned. But as large numbers of people tried to access the system simultaneously, it slowed dramatically and ultimately shut down, which impacted the ability of the public to access it. The vendor temporarily disabled the site to work on the problem."

 

Didn't see that comin'....REALLY?!!

 

- - Here's my "shock face"!

[DotShot]

TO be quite honest, i don't think anyone could have prepared for the type of onslaught that the vendor faced immediately following the release of the draw results. They say 133,000 people applied, so based on that one would have to assume that the vendors website got hit with 133,000 request all at once, i don't know of many sites, aside from ones designed for that kind of bandwidth, that could withstand that. If folks would exercise a little patience it would go a log way towards preventing this type of scenario, i mean really, is waiting a day or 2 longer to find out going to kill us? Just sayin...

[firstcoueswas80]

Theres no way in helll that all people that applied for hunts hit the sight at the same time.

 

Every year, its the same exact thing. The results come out, the site gets crashed immediately. You would think that after years and years of the same thing they would get it figured out and go with a quality vendor.

[Huntn coues]

Just sayin

 

Lmao...who's going to do the waiting? You and all your peeps...hahahahha

 

Patience when it come to the draw..lol.

[DotShot]

You guys would bitch if ya got hung with a new rope.

[Huntn coues]

You guys would bitch if ya got hung with a new rope.

 

Lmfao~

 

Darn skippy

[Viper]

I like the online process, but I agree, it's the same problem each year we have this process, and every year with the single phone line getting jammed up. It happened years ago when the online process was used. Hunters aren't going to excercise patience when it comes to the elk/antelope draw...are you kidding?....maybe with pig but not elk. If these contracted vendors would use current technology, it would solve a lot of issues. There's no reason that an email/text message can't be auto-generated when the application is processed. When I place an order with an online company, a confirmation email is auto-generated and in my inbox in a matter of minutes. If I knew that was coming, I would wait. I typically don't complain much, unless it is about incompetency....can't tolerate it.

It's possible G&F contracts a lower priced service due to budget...you get what you pay for sorta thing, I don't know.

[Non-Typical Solutions]

You guys would bitch if ya got hung with a new rope.

You are probably right about that one..............I know a couple of guys who are really superstitious about the draw, they wait until they get a pink slip or tag in mail.....now that is patience.....

[RoughCut]

This cracks me up too. I am with you guys it seems truly insane that they didn't anticipate this. I don't see why they insist upon reinventing the wheel. There are MANY phenomenally functioning online systems in other states. Adopting one of those couldn't take more than a month, yet here we are spending tens of thousands of dollars contracting a company that obviously does not have a clue about the demand that has been there for results season.

 

I am sure and hope there is a good reason that they are doing it this excruciating way.

[Hunterjohnny]

You guys would bitch if ya got hung with a new rope.

 

Lmfao~

 

Darn skippy

 

Nice! And yes!

[Joe Kauffman]

In my opinion they should have been prepared. I agree that not all 133,000 people hit it at once, but in all actuality even if they did it should have not caused this issue. I'm not sure why they keep referring to 'vendor' since the new draw system is actually hosted and managed by the AZ State Government servers. If anything, they should have been 100 times more prepared compared to when it was truly hosted and managed by an outside consulting company. They failed to run the process thru a true quality assurance process to make sure it was ready for the release, plain and simple.

[SirRoyal]

I think they used the same 2nd rated outfit from Tennesse and usaully to save a buck!

 

I'm willing to pay a little higher app fee for a top quality Draw Processing Company.

[kimberx2]

Last year 188,715 people applied for elk and antelope. Was there really 55,000 less people applying this year? That's crazy... because only one person I know got drawn this year! With 55,000 more people imagine how bad the website and phones would have crashed.

I agree a text or email when the tag is generated would be nice.