ID Big Game Draw

[Ross]

If I get a tag for year 47 I don’t really care. The funniest thing to me, is residents complaining about non residents, but they better have an opportunity for a second tag

 

[Jgill19]

All I know is the draw tags just got impossible to get for NR....

 

[HunterGatherer]

 

[Donny Land]

The system has been patently unfair for four years now, border state guys camping out in late Nov. and loading up for their non-res buds. Locals doing the same for their out-of-state pals.
Very thankful for this new system, the same guys around here pounding the same elk areas year after year now have some headwind, other non-res may get that chance that they never had due to the ridiculous 'vendor' loop hole. And those 'new guys' won't have the same area insight that the system 'users' (I won't say abusers) had year after year.

A byproduct may be that this could create more opportunity for locals! +1!

Absolutely!

At the end of the day it levels the playing field for all of us. May not be the best, but i think it's better.

Just throwing this out there. 2024 NR Tag Sale, i was #126 in line on the online sale, two units i wanted to hunt had a combined number of A Tags at about 675, i was in line for less than 10 minutes before i was allowed in, by the time i got in, all 675 tags were gone. Make that make sense!? When folks can stand in line and purchase 10 tags at a time, while all the rest of us jokers sit online waiting for a spot, the whole online sale is a joke!

And FWIW, I started buying A Tags in Idaho when you could wait until July to purchase them, so I've been at this a while now.

 

[Thejet]

All I know is the draw tags just got impossible to get for NR....

Based on?

 

[Jgill19]

I guess I don't "know" that, but it seems safe to infer that there will be more NR licenses sold (IDFG certainly wouldn't have gone to this method if they thought otherwise).

Currently people are signing on and only buying a license if a tag they are looking for is still available. With having to have a license just to apply there will be that many more people with a license. I assume all those with a license will be putting in the draw for the controlled hunts.

Just my thoughts on it

 

[Broomd]

If I get a tag for year 47 I don’t really care. The funniest thing to me, is residents complaining about non residents, but they better have an opportunity for a second tag

Ad hominem at it's best...
Chuckle, who bought your tags for you, Ross?

 

[Ross]

@Broomd Me, Myself and I each time, including the close to 20 yrs of 2 tags Where there is a will, there is a way!

 

[MuleyFever]

Lots at play here so who knows how it will play out. Everyone that got a general tag had the license so we're they applying for a controlled hunt anyway? All those people trying to get a tag didn't have to buy a license unless they got the tag. There are a lot of people that won't pay the price for a license to not be guaranteed a tag. There are also a lot of people that will buy the license for a chance that couldn't play the online game. Lots of variables. After the first year it will all change again once people see draw odds. If they are favorable more will jump in. If it proves to be a huge long shot some will drop out. It's going to be interesting to see how it plays out over the next few years

 

[khunter]

Every year except this year I’ve hunted ID. I’ll put in for this but I need to do some more research on units to prioritize given how the draw will look

Realistically only 1st choice matters except maybe a 2nd choice in a terrible or undesired unit.

 

[ianpadron]

I am interested to see how this all plays out. Hopefully it is better for everyone than the mad scramble that it has been the last few years.

I am also saddened that it has come to this. I bought my first Idaho Elk tag, a Diamond Creek A tag, as a non-resident, on the internet in July or August 2007 no problem. My how times have changed! When we left Texas 5 years ago I saw the writing on the wall and knew non-resident elk tags were going extinct. That's terrible. I still like to go on travel hunts.

First time hunting ID i bought a statewide deer tag online on September 19th, 3 weeks before the opener. There were 3k NR tags left. This was only 2018.

That next year GoHunt took off and the rest is history.

I agree, it's sad.

 

[Brock A]

First time hunting ID i bought a statewide deer tag online on September 19th, 3 weeks before the opener. There were 3k NR tags left. This was only 2018.

That next year GoHunt took off and the rest is history.

I agree, it's sad.

The first time I hunted Idaho was 2008. Just about every year after that we would hunt Mule Deer with tags we bought in the summer, then around Thanksgiving time, we would buy our second general tag on the way to N. Idaho to hunt Whitetails. I even remember 1 or 2 years the second being ON SALE for like $100 less in an attempt to sell more. Now here I am planning my 2026 hunts and my 2025 ID hunt hasn't even happened yet.

"I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them."

― Andy Bernard (probably)

 

[IdahoBeav]

@Broomd Me, Myself and I each time, including the close to 20 yrs of 2 tags Where there is a will, there is a way!

Yep, and it really wasn't that difficult.