Delayed PAL renewal = botched gun season

So my PAL has languished in the bureaucracy of our system and now my card has expired (I began the renewal well ahead of expiration). OK, so there's a 6 month extension that has been granted because of the back log due to everyone's favorite friend COVID so I should be covered right? NO not so. You are covered for the storage of your existing firearms but you can't buy anything (including ammo) and you can't remove them from their place of storage until you have the new card in hand.
Unless you have a valid PAL or proof of current firearms accreditation you can't even share a gun so sayeth the powers that be, RCMP, CFO and MNRF, after I was on hold, dropped calls and conversations over a 4 hour period with those various entities.
On the CFO recorded message it tells you that they are delayed due to an unprecedented amount of handgun requests. Awesome, I'm hearing transfers are taking 7 months for those in Ontario.......
I submitted my renewal in March, and my forms have been stuck in Ontario for 4 months currently (RCMP firearms program says renewal typically takes 45days LOL, even though previous renewals have gone 4-5 months for me in years past)
Ontario's solution to my problem after I said I've already bought all the licenses and booked my vacations is to hunt with a bow. Good thing I have a bow I guess?

If you're in my situation, I sympathize, to all others, take this as a warning to renew your PAL's immediately because it might take them a year to do it.

I look forward to this time of year every year, it's more exciting than Christmas when you were a kid. Now you understand why I'm sickofitall.

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Originally Posted by sickofitall

So my PAL has languished in the bureaucracy of our system and now my card has expired (I began the renewal well ahead of expiration). OK, so there's a 6 month extension that has been granted because of the back log due to everyone's favorite friend COVID so I should be covered right? NO not so. You are covered for the storage of your existing firearms but you can't buy anything (including ammo) and you can't remove them from their place of storage until you have the new card in hand.
Unless you have a valid PAL or proof of current firearms accreditation you can't even share a gun so sayeth the powers that be, RCMP, CFO and MNRF, after I was on hold, dropped calls and conversations over a 4 hour period with those various entities.
On the CFO recorded message it tells you that they are delayed due to an unprecedented amount of handgun requests. Awesome, I'm hearing transfers are taking 7 months for those in Ontario.......
I submitted my renewal in March, and my forms have been stuck in Ontario for 4 months currently (RCMP firearms program says renewal typically takes 45days LOL, even though previous renewals have gone 4-5 months for me in years past)
Ontario's solution to my problem after I said I've already bought all the licenses and booked my vacations is to hunt with a bow. Good thing I have a bow I guess?

If you're in my situation, I sympathize, to all others, take this as a warning to renew your PAL's immediately because it might take them a year to do it.

I look forward to this time of year every year, it's more exciting than Christmas when you were a kid. Now you understand why I'm sickofitall.

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Do you bow hunt? A PAL isn't needed to use archery gear. My son is in the same boat. We bought new archery gear this year.

Wow, that sucks. I hope that you get your PAL soon.

That’s a complete and total disaster.
Brought to you by your rulers.

Yeah, not good for sure. Good Luck

This is why I recommend renewing at minimum 6 months in advance. But this year my son's renewal actually took 6 months so in the future we will renew 7 months in advance. My son has a minors permit but he turns 18 next July, we will submit his application Jan 1 2023 which is 7 months in advance and since hunting won't begin until Sept, that gives the RCMP a total of 9 months I hope that will be enough time for them to process it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sickofitall

So my PAL has languished in the bureaucracy of our system and now my card has expired (I began the renewal well ahead of expiration). OK, so there's a 6 month extension that has been granted because of the back log due to everyone's favorite friend COVID so I should be covered right? NO not so. You are covered for the storage of your existing firearms but you can't buy anything (including ammo) and you can't remove them from their place of storage until you have the new card in hand.
Unless you have a valid PAL or proof of current firearms accreditation you can't even share a gun so sayeth the powers that be, RCMP, CFO and MNRF, after I was on hold, dropped calls and conversations over a 4 hour period with those various entities.
On the CFO recorded message it tells you that they are delayed due to an unprecedented amount of handgun requests. Awesome, I'm hearing transfers are taking 7 months for those in Ontario.......
I submitted my renewal in March, and my forms have been stuck in Ontario for 4 months currently (RCMP firearms program says renewal typically takes 45days LOL, even though previous renewals have gone 4-5 months for me in years past)
Ontario's solution to my problem after I said I've already bought all the licenses and booked my vacations is to hunt with a bow. Good thing I have a bow I guess?

If you're in my situation, I sympathize, to all others, take this as a warning to renew your PAL's immediately because it might take them a year to do it.

I look forward to this time of year every year, it's more exciting than Christmas when you were a kid. Now you understand why I'm sickofitall.

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Sorry man that sucks.

Did you do it online or via snail mail? Something is not right. My youngest son applied this year for his first ever PAL so new application that had to go by snail mail - not a renewal and it was issued and arrived in mail 3 months later. For simple renewals done online everyone i know has gotten them back in under a month this year.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sickofitall

so my pal has languished in the bureaucracy of our system and now my card has expired (i began the renewal well ahead of expiration). Ok, so there's a 6 month extension that has been granted because of the back log due to everyone's favorite friend covid so i should be covered right? No not so. You are covered for the storage of your existing firearms but you can't buy anything (including ammo) and you can't remove them from their place of storage until you have the new card in hand.
Unless you have a valid pal or proof of current firearms accreditation you can't even share a gun so sayeth the powers that be, rcmp, cfo and mnrf, after i was on hold, dropped calls and conversations over a 4 hour period with those various entities.
On the cfo recorded message it tells you that they are delayed due to an unprecedented amount of handgun requests. Awesome, i'm hearing transfers are taking 7 months for those in ontario.......
I submitted my renewal in march, and my forms have been stuck in ontario for 4 months currently (rcmp firearms program says renewal typically takes 45days lol, even though previous renewals have gone 4-5 months for me in years past)
ontario's solution to my problem after i said i've already bought all the licenses and booked my vacations is to hunt with a bow. Good thing i have a bow i guess?

If you're in my situation, i sympathize, to all others, take this as a warning to renew your pal's immediately because it might take them a year to do it.

I look forward to this time of year every year, it's more exciting than christmas when you were a kid. Now you understand why i'm sickofitall.

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7 months waiting for me

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Originally Posted by Species8472

Sorry man that sucks.

Did you do it online or via snail mail? Something is not right. My youngest son applied this year for his first ever PAL so new application that had to go by snail mail - not a renewal and it was issued and arrived in mail 3 months later. For simple renewals done online everyone i know has gotten them back in under a month this year.

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I did it online just like the last time and started it in March knowing It would take 4-5 months as in the past. Don’t worry though, they took the payment. They said I owed taxes this year as well and paid me for 3 of the 15 days I was forced to take off for COVID protocols so everything is working out with government programs just fine🤪

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Originally Posted by trimmer21

Do you bow hunt? A PAL isn't needed to use archery gear. My son is in the same boat. We bought new archery gear this year.

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I’ll be dusting off the bow tomorrow and starting to practice to get back into form. My dog will be disappointed with no bird hunts that’s for sure.