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One of Oregon’s great hunting traditions may be fading away, and that thing in your hand has everything to do with it. Friday evening may be the last time hunters line up at stores like Black Bird Shopping Center in west Medford to make last-minute purchases of hunting licenses and tags on the eve of big events like the opening of Oregon’s rifle season for deer. The 11th-hour wait will likely disappear when the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife switches over to a nearly paperless, web-based system that will see most hunters and anglers use their smartphones to store their proof of licenses and even tag their buck, bear or steelhead. That would take away much of the pomp and circumstance — plus the high-volume store traffic — that came with tag sales on nights like Friday night. “We used to stay open until 11 p.m. and have three people writing licenses the whole time,” said Mike McMullen, a veteran Black Bird manager. “It was a big, big deal to us. It’ll be just like when they stopped opening day of fishing season and opened the lakes year-round — just another day.” ODFW officials say the new and less expensive system will be the user-friendly approach to all license and tag sales that hunters and anglers have asked for. Hunters and anglers will buy all their tags over the Internet directly from the new vendor, Maryland-based JMT Technologies. They will be able to download a free app to use their smartphones to tag animals they kill and show proof in the field that they are legit. Those who prefer can print their licenses and tags at home or go to any license agent to do it for them. The app isn’t ready yet but is expected to be available when the agency starts offering 2019 licenses and tags Dec. 1, ODFW spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy said. Hunters who buy and print their licenses can later switch to the app, but not vice versa, Dennehy said. Once downloaded, the app will stay on the phone, so it will work regardless of whether the phone has cell service, ODFW spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy said. “If you choose that option, you are going to be expected to have your phone charged,” Dennehy said. Being that much more tied to your cellphone in the woods worries some hunters, who can be away from their phone chargers for days. “Even the most technologically apt are concerned about keeping their phone batteries operational all the time,” said Duane Dungannon, spokesman for the Medford-based Oregon Hunters Association. “Who doesn’t have their phone battery die during the course of a hunting season?” The switch is expected to save ODFW $1.15 million a year for the next eight years, largely because of the point-of-sale computers supplied by the agency and the cost of the waterproof paper used to print he 2.2 million licenses and tags sold annually. License and tag fees will remain the same for the public. Those who still prefer the 20th-century-style transactions will always have a home at Black Bird, where there will be a computer, a printer and a helping hand for hunters who want their licenses more old-school. “We want to be the place to go to get their paper tags, as long as it’s legal,” McMullen said. And as long as Black Bird prints paper tags, they’ll see 77-year-old Noel Dunlap of Medford before each deer season. “Us old farts don’t know how to use computers like that,” Dunlap says. Reach Mail Tribune reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter at @MTwriterFreeman .