I got lucky and in on the ground floor, my permit number is less than #1600
I was very pleased that it was a easy process and the application took little time to fill out.
Jo6pak, if you took Hunters Safety/Education, just get a duplicate of your Hunters Ed card and send that with the application. Any store that sells a Hunting license can also sell you a duplicate Hunters Ed card. That is what I used because I had the same concerns as you. I didn't know what they would changed. I knew though that Hunters Ed was the one thing they said was a lock solid for getting your training portion approved.