Despite weeks of anticipation and preparations, there will be hunters who believe they are going dove hunting on opening day Saturday who won’t be going at all. And it happens every year.

All annual Alabama hunting and fishing licenses expired yesterday (Thursday, Aug. 31). No problem, say those who wait until today or Saturday morning to purchase their new licenses online. It does become a problem, however, when a handful realize their driver license has expired, too.

You must have a valid Alabama driver’s license to purchase an Alabama hunting or fishing license online. Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries personnel say they get calls from panicked hunters every morning of the first day of dove season who found out their driver’s license has expired when trying to purchase a hunting license online. What can WFF do for you at that point? Not a thing. If your driver’s license has expired, your driver’s license will not be recognized, and you will be unable to purchase any annual licenses.

Even finding out on Thursday or today that your driver’s license was expired may not be good enough, WFF warns. It can take up to 48 hours after a driver’s license renewal for it to show up as valid in the computerized database.

In what some consider the good old days when paper annual licenses could only be purchased at county courthouses and other outlets, those licenses were good for one year from the date of purchase. The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR ) chose to “simplify” the process and make it possible for hunters and fishermen to purchase all their annual licenses at once.

Some welcomed the change, some didn’t.