Idaho Non-Res Tag Frenzy Tuesday- Who’s playing?

[zwickeyman]

I got in and after much hoopla landed a Big Desert A tag, I had done a bunch of online research looking at the past few years and it was very high on my list of if I had the chance, based on harvest % and big bull %. No idea if it’s actually as good as the numbers show- I normally hunt north of there.

Some great Bulls in Big Desert but can be a challenge. Good luck to you Sir

[Shawn Ryan]

got my elk tag and license.
who wants to take bets on when Idaho goes to lottery only for non res?
unfortunately it seems like the only way to reliably get non res tags is to have a buddy in the state buy them in person, and now even thats becoming a s show.
buddy who bought mine said someone in line bought 10 licenses, 10 elk tags, 8 deer tags, and a dozen wolf.

There should be a limit on tags purchased at once... that's insane.
I'm betting one more year of this zoo then draw only

The store I was at this morning, rules were you could buy for 2 guys then you get in back of line. I got it line 3 times but bought in order of how fast they sell out.

Were the lines in Victor long? I'm wondering what part of ID has the shortest lines. Can't imagine the WY crowd crossing over to hunt ID, but maybe I'm wrong?!

Shawn,

I got there at 7:30 and was 2nd in line, they opened the doors at 9:45. Got 3 Elk tags and 3 Deer tags for 4 guys in about 35 minutes. Probably about 10 or 11 people total so not bad considering some of the BS everyone went through this morning. Guys from Tennesee and Maryland today

Were the guys from TN and MA in person, in Victor? Were they at least skiing at Grand Targhee?

[ljsommer]

The Idaho out of state situation is one of those that makes me question that whole "Hunting population is declining, we need more hunters" thing. If there's so many hunters that we overwhelm out of state license opportunities then I don't see how there's anything other than "too many" hunters for the available tag opportunities.

My friends and family failed to get the tags they were looking for so I dropped out of queue and will just try to put together a fun plan in WA.

[Buck Rub Jr]

#1923 and when my turn came up it kicked me out and put me at #50,000 something. Pretty cool

[zwickeyman]

got my elk tag and license.
who wants to take bets on when Idaho goes to lottery only for non res?
unfortunately it seems like the only way to reliably get non res tags is to have a buddy in the state buy them in person, and now even thats becoming a s show.
buddy who bought mine said someone in line bought 10 licenses, 10 elk tags, 8 deer tags, and a dozen wolf.

There should be a limit on tags purchased at once... that's insane.
I'm betting one more year of this zoo then draw only

The store I was at this morning, rules were you could buy for 2 guys then you get in back of line. I got it line 3 times but bought in order of how fast they sell out.

Were the lines in Victor long? I'm wondering what part of ID has the shortest lines. Can't imagine the WY crowd crossing over to hunt ID, but maybe I'm wrong?!

Shawn,

I got there at 7:30 and was 2nd in line, they opened the doors at 9:45. Got 3 Elk tags and 3 Deer tags for 4 guys in about 35 minutes. Probably about 10 or 11 people total so not bad considering some of the BS everyone went through this morning. Guys from Tennesee and Maryland today

Were the guys from TN and MA in person, in Victor? Were they at least skiing at Grand Targhee?

They were only here to get tags

[Magnum_Willys]

After the 2023 Idaho computer snafu’s I swore off online realtime draws.  Odds are not worth the pain.   I feel for those still sitting in front of your keyboard / phone.  Brutal.

[ganghis]

The Idaho out of state situation is one of those that makes me question that whole "Hunting population is declining, we need more hunters" thing. If there's so many hunters that we overwhelm out of state license opportunities then I don't see how there's anything other than "too many" hunters for the available tag opportunities.

My friends and family failed to get the tags they were looking for so I dropped out of queue and will just try to put together a fun plan in WA.

Clearly there's more demand than ever for western big game hunting, so I think it's mainly declines in whitetail hunters in the midwest and east coast that are driving declines in overall hunter numbers nationwide.

[addicted1]

I love this system, never once have I not gotten a tag. Always from my computer and yes December 2022 was bad. But, it goes fast now and most of the line is people using 3-4 devices at home and people standing in a line with phones. I think Idaho has done a pretty good job correcting some of the issues too, I was over 29,000 in the que and had my tags by 11:30 (2.5 hours total). Last year the system had a flaw and allowed online purchase of general deer and whitetail deer, this year they had that fixed. Be careful what you ask for, I can still hunt Idaho every year. With a draw I don’t think that will be the case.

[Longfield1]

I think the only thing I would change for the system would be only the Hunter can buy tags for himself (and immediate family, wife and kids). The other thing I would change is for you to be in the que, you have to log in, that way you can only be logged into 1 device.

The downside to the current system is those high sought after tags are gone so fast so if there was a draw you would atleast have a chance every 2-5 years to hunt any unit you want.

I got my panhandle elk like last year and now after hunting there in September i know more than I did.

[NKAS]

Looks like it's all sold out? Or am I missing something?

[Longfield1]

Looks like it's all sold out? Or am I missing something?

All elk and deer tags are gone.

[bearhunter99]

I logged in on the laptop and phone 31,999 and 43,054 if I remember correctly.  My boss makes his yearly trip to Boise to meet with the accountant.  He was 4th in line and Lemhi was already sold out but there was a guy in front of him from Wisconsin that bought 12 different people tags and the other two in front of him (one from CA and one from Oregon) bought multiple people tags as well.  That is the only real issue I have with the system - there should be a limit to how many proxy tags each person can buy....  He ended up getting us Island Park A tags and got me a 10A WT tag.

[actionshooter]

 My buddy got inline at a regional office last night at 6:30pm and was #65 in line and there were guys who planned on buying a dozen tags for their buddies... insane.

Also talked to a friend who told me there were more than a couple guys who had flown into Boise just to buy tags.

 We got our A Elk tags, but this is crazy

[CarbonHunter]

Honestly this isn’t a problem with Idaho's system it is a problem with the demand and behavior of those who are buying the tags.

If you are unsure if you want to hunt a tag you should not have bought it. You likely took that tag from someone who may have a long term camp or friends in that unit. There is way too many tags getting returned after this frenzy each year.

The people lining up is crazy. We drove over last night with plans of staying at a hotel and getting up this morning and getting in line. While driving over we got word that there was already a line formed at the door of the store we go to. We ended up buying sleeping bags and chairs and joining the line at 10:30 last night and if we would have performed our initial plan we would not have gotten our tags.

They need to make this a draw just like they tried to last year. If anyone on here lives in Idaho please write your legislative rep and ask them to get a law passed.

[addicted1]

Why make another draw, you think that’s going to help? Only more people will be applying at that point. At least with route if you want to go you can, a draw will not help you out.