I belong to several of the forums for North Idaho on Facebook, and there was a big push for this from residence, It was never made clear quite why I always questioned the fact that residents were able to buy a bunch of tags for all their buddies too.
I concur with this. My relatives (generations of Idaho residents) disliked the old system, they said "foreigners get too many advantages..." I never really understood why they felt this way, but they pushed IDF&G hard to make changes. You reap what you sow.
Did not draw, by the way. Oh well.
I think a lot of non resident hunters will reevaluate this state in 2027, now that they realize $200 is a sunk cost.
There's this general idea among residents that there need to be fewer non-residents hunting. I believe many of them thought going to a draw would reduce tag quantities. As we all know it did not.
On that note, tags for non-residents have been capped at the state level at 12,815 since 1990 as far as I can tell. Granted, since 2021, they've not distributed all of those tags due to their percentage-based calculation. Perhaps they haven't sold out every year since 1990, but they've been available. I do think you're getting more non-residents who come from the east coast and the south and make a big 2 week extravaganza out of it, rather than getting a few folks from neighboring states who lived near the border and who might still come for long weekends. I think the number of tags could've stayed the same, while the pressure really did increase. Plus you have wolves, who have pushed hunters (and elk) into smaller areas.
In any case, I don't see how a resident would prefer this system over the last one, except by being annoyed at seeing a line at 9AM one day a year at their local license dealer.
Tags are capped at 12,815 but just like Montana FWP, IDFG finds a way to sell about 15,000 every year
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