Why the huge increase in Idaho NR hunters?

[wind gypsy]

sure looks like it ........ as the tags are selling out at a record pace

Didn't mean it as a knock on ID, it's certainly still a great opportunity for OTC NR and is obviously in high demand.

Right or wrong, i traditionally looked at ID OTC as being about on par with MT General tag as far as quality of hunt goes. ID was guaranteed and cheaper but with less flexibility on seasons you can hunt. MT was nearly guaranteed with a steep price tag but lots of flexibility to hunt bulls with archery and later with rifle if you dont tag out during archery. I've used that tag to hunt sept, oct, and Nov in the same year a handful of times. The days of guaranteed MT bull tags are gone.

There isn't much of a price gap anymore. ID still has an edge on the guaranteed tag status but might be a little tougher for everyone in a group to get their desired tag and everyone has to commit on Dec 1st.

 

[idelkslayer]

That Gohunt video was definitely a poor display on his part. I find it hard to believe that a company that bases itself in knowing and understanding the western states, and marketing that knowledge to others, failed to understand what this change actually does. He whined that NR tags were already capped so why are residents blaming crowding on NR. Answer: Because some units got more than 30% NR while other only had 5%. This change spreads it out. Even now some Elk zones will continue to offer 40% of tags to NR.

And yes, new residents are the largest contributor to recent crowding overall, but the localized crowding by NR in specific areas needed to be addressed. And, maybe IDFG should have just put all of these NR tags into controlled hunts like so many are whining about but where does that leave you? If you don't draw your preferred unit then you wouldn't even get the chance of selecting a fall back unit.

When the IDFG announced that quotas were going to be implemented on all of the elk zones and also on deer I think even us residents thought that the deer tags would be distributed by zone and not individual units. I know I was surprised that they took it to the unit level. Maybe that is something that IDFG would be willing to adjust in the future.

 

[Rick M.]

In Brady's defense it looked like his buddies set him up for the flame. He was obviously brooding/venting about it and they put cameras on him and started prodding him.

Not saying it makes his complaints valid, though.

 

[Slim Jim]

Nevada doesn’t have any big game seasons? I thought I have seen a bunch of deer killed there? People will just have to prioritize or hunt their home state. I would say their is plenty of opportunities to hunt it’s just not what people are envisioned how or what they are hunting

? Of course they issue tags, just not too often. Maybe 2 or 3 bull elk tags in a lifetime and deer tags are getting harder and harder to draw.


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[87TT]

If they make all NR tags a draw like some here seem to want, then there will be even more whining. Idaho draws are random, no points. You may never get to hunt here again or every year. just luck.

 

[Idaho4x4Bronco]

In Brady's defense it looked like his buddies set him up for the flame. He was obviously brooding/venting about it and they put cameras on him and started prodding him.

Not saying it makes his complaints valid, though.

True colors? I'd say part of his income has a lot to do with why people flood areas?


And I still see people saying it's going to be a rich man's game to hunt soon, but ID is still how affordable compared to other states again?

Discussion forums are fun. Imagine if life was easy and we could all have what we want....

 

[Slim Jim]

True colors? I'd say part of his income has a lot to do with why people flood areas?


And I still see people saying it's going to be a rich man's game to hunt soon, but ID is still how affordable compared to other states again?

Discussion forums are fun. Imagine if life was easy and we could all have what we want....

It’s not that tags are getting too expensive, it’s the availability. Won’t be too long before you’ll have to buy landowner tags if you want to hunt every year. Maybe not in my lifetime but definitely my grandkids.


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[Scooter90254]

Elk hunting is going to continue to get harder and harder for NR. That's the bottom line. Even today Idaho has great opportunity for NR. Its a privilege to be able to buy an OTC tag and have a decent chance at an ELK.

The entire west is facing more hunters and less Elk overall. Maybe as success rates continue to struggle people will start to drop out. But... that's not happening in Colorado. Many area's there are getting downright impossible to hunt yet they issue more tags every year.

 

[KurtR]

? Of course they issue tags, just not too often. Maybe 2 or 3 bull elk tags in a lifetime and deer tags are getting harder and harder to draw.


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Doesn’t sound like a very good place to live. I like hunting to much to only hunt a few time of years. Start in august and hunt something till April.

 

[Rick M.]

True colors? I'd say part of his income has a lot to do with why people flood areas?


And I still see people saying it's going to be a rich man's game to hunt soon, but ID is still how affordable compared to other states again?

Discussion forums are fun. Imagine if life was easy and we could all have what we want....

Likely, to be honest. I completely agree with you though. goHunt's business model is built around sending non-residents into the best units of a given state.

 

[BCJR]

Idaho is being overrun. My friends there tell me that people are flocking there from places like CA and east coast shitholez.Its too bad Idaho was one of the last best places in the lower 48.They should go to all draw for non residents.RIP IDAHO

 

[sneaky]

There have been some very important topics covered here. The reality is, that things will probably never be like they were, or are. Isn't this how our entire culture is shifting? Dont get me started.

On the one hand, you cannot blame people for wanting to be here....on the other hand, present allotments and game management is going to have modify to accurately accommodate these changes. Honestly....I cannot see the management part of this equation remaining as it is. I am not here to slam Fish and Game but there have been some major governmental blunders. Most
pre eminently, the reintroduction of the wolf; a living nightmare. Now...a virtual human population explosion. Time for the higher ups to get it figured out. Idaho is better than most as Ive seen that they do listen to the hunters. Or at least act like they do

IDFG wanted nothing to do with wolf introductions into Idaho. Those were dumped in their laps with a "good luck" from the Feds. Idaho has the most predator hunting opportunity of any state in the lower 48. The only reason that Idaho didn't start hunting them as soon as they were released is because of nonstop litigation for the first 15 years and the constant moving of the goalposts from the wolf lovers. When the economy is strong you see tons of hunters afield, when the economy slows you see a drop in hunter participation. A lot of new hunters hang it up after a couple of years once they realize it isn't as easy as tv makes it out to be. There will be a point where equilibrium will be reached.

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[NateK]

Just my two cents as a guy who has to drive at least 17 hours to get into elk country it doesn't really matter if one state is $200 or even $500 dollars more expensive to get tags in if the hunting is even marginally better. We are already investing a substantial amount of time and money into our hunts and will go where it looks like we will have the most enjoyable hunt (that we can get a tag). I haven't been to ID but it was actually in the plans for 2021 if I could have gotten a tag. I 100% agree that social media and youtube series have directly impacted where people hunt and the content producers understand that the more information the give away the more views, etc. they will get. Feels like the hunting spot industry is like the buffalo hide industry. We all realize that they will run out soon and it will suck for everyone but we can't slow down trying to make buck at hunting's expense. And before people get all pissy I do think introducing people into hunting is a good thing. I also think there is a difference in taking the time to help someone learn how to hunt and helping them find a spot to go and just dumping specific info on the internet to "help the sport" while also helping your bank account.

As far as Californians go we have our share of leftist refugees taking over Nashville here in Tennessee and I would propose any relocated Californian has to continue in the non-resident pool/prices for five years or until registering as a republican...

 

[TheBootBowhunting]

Does anyone care to explain how the IDFG site remaining tag allocation works? I realize its not in real time, but currently it shows 4174 tags remaining, but if you scroll down and add up the remaining tags by zone, it only comes up to about 1423. Even if the tag allocations by zone are closer to real time than the total, 2700 tags seems like a big disparity.

Are there some group of tags not listed in the 'by zone' chart that are listed in the total available, like outfitter tags, etc?

 

[87TT]

Probably controlled hunt tags and outfitter tags. Call them and ask.

 

[TheBootBowhunting]

Probably controlled hunt tags and outfitter tags. Call them and ask.

Got my tag, was just trying to understand how it worked. Good enough, figured it was something like that. Thanks.

 

[Dereleek22]

Idaho is being overrun. My friends there tell me that people are flocking there from places like CA and east coast shitholez.Its too bad Idaho was one of the last best places in the lower 48.They should go to all draw for non residents.RIP IDAHO

Does any state's hunting opportunities ever improve year-over-year? Not from what I see.

 

[Praxeus]

The entire west is facing more hunters and less Elk overall. Maybe as success rates continue to struggle people will start to drop out. But... that's not happening in Colorado. Many area's there are getting downright impossible to hunt yet they issue more tags every year.

This has been my problem with all states where elk populations have obviously diminished; its just flat dishonest and disingenuous to sell tags knowing that animals simply don't exist. Also...I think that its foolish for a hunter to purchase a tag without doing his homework to discover this.

Just last year, my brother in law, a die hard elk hunter went to Colorado and for a week pounded the soil....nothing. While returning to camp, they intersected with a sheep herder and a NF officer. They got to talking with the NF officer and the officer made this statement: "Colorado is still riding year after year on the reputation of this states elk herds from 20 years ago.....and its not what it used to be." End of story.

Yet- places like Colorado put tags out there like the animals ARE there. The state of Washington does the exact same thing. In other words, its like the lottery.

 

[SelwaySteve]

This year a lot of options were removed because of COVID. The outfit I worked for had a huge increase in bear hunters when Canada closed the borders. There was little/no travel to places people had to fly to- Alaska, Africa, South America were all impacted. People had to go somewhere.

 

[sneaky]

This has been my problem with all states where elk populations have obviously diminished; its just flat dishonest and disingenuous to sell tags knowing that animals simply don't exist. Also...I think that its foolish for a hunter to purchase a tag without doing his homework to discover this.

Just last year, my brother in law, a die hard elk hunter went to Colorado and for a week pounded the soil....nothing. While returning to camp, they intersected with a sheep herder and a NF officer. They got to talking with the NF officer and the officer made this statement: "Colorado is still riding year after year on the reputation of this states elk herds from 20 years ago.....and its not what it used to be." End of story.

Yet- places like Colorado put tags out there like the animals ARE there. The state of Washington does the exact same thing. In other words, its like the lottery.

They aren't selling you a tag for an elk, they are selling you an opportunity. On the flipside, there were plenty of first time elk hunters that killed elk last year.

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