BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) – Hunters, anglers and trappers can now buy licenses from the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife online.

The department began offering online licenses this week.

“It’ll be very well received by hunters and anglers, both in and out of state,” said department spokesman John Hall. “We get requests all the time by e-mail and by phone asking if we sell our licenses online.”

Computer users need a valid credit card and the ability to print the completed license. That printout becomes an official license.

Only people who held a valid Vermont combination hunting, archery or trapping license last year can purchase the 2004 license online because the department needs confirmation of a previous hunting or trapping license.

Anyone 15 and older is able to purchase a fishing license online.

“We’re all so busy these days that some of us wait until we know we’ve got the weekend off before we plan on going outdoors. This will help those people who plan on a short-term basis if they’re going hunting or fishing,” Hall said.

The system allows would-be hunters or anglers to select from a wide range of licenses and tags, priced differently for residents and nonresidents. Out-of-staters pay more.

Vermont sold 122,209 fishing licenses and 87,909 hunting licenses to residents and nonresidents in 2003.

“We and Rhode Island were the only two New England states that didn’t have this capability,” said Sue Nadeau, who oversaw the project for the department.

New Hampshire, which sells fewer hunting licenses than Vermont, began online license sales late in 2001. New Hampshire Fish and Game sold about 4 percent of its resident licenses and 9 percent of its nonresident licenses via the Internet last year, a spokesman said.

The project cost the department just under $10,000, Nadeau said.

AP-ES-06-04-04 0837EDT