Idaho Non-res hunt draw

[Machias]

It doesn't seem like all that many years ago that I would wait and buy my OTC elk tag in Jun or Jul, because they were still available. Crazy how things change so much.  Good luck everyone!!

[HereDuckyDucky]

Applied this morning. Pretty smooth.

RW

[pd]

It doesn't seem like all that many years ago that I would wait and buy my OTC elk tag in Jun or Jul, because they were still available. Crazy how things change so much.  Good luck everyone!!

I, too, remember those days, not that long ago either!  You could buy a NR elk tag over-the-counter on your drive up to camp.  Your cousin would be there to buy a second elk tag from the leftover non-resident pool.

The number of hunters has vastly increased in Idaho, and the quality of hunting has also decreased.  There is some cause & effect here, but the quality issue is not just the result of hunting pressure.  Management of the herd is also a huge problem (....hundreds of unnecessary cow tags in Unit 4, for example....).

[Gentrys]

For anyone a little confused about the process of making applications for your specific deer and elk general tags, after buying your NR license, hit the Submit Application button at the top of the screen.  It'll say Controlled Hunt Application, but this is what you use for the general draw deer and elk applications.

[CarbonHunter]

I think we should start a poll and if you apply before the last day you are required to tell us the unit you applied for as first choice. Then I can apply on the last day after reviewing how many applications are submitted for other units 🤣

[HillHound]

For anyone a little confused about the process of making applications for your specific deer and elk general tags, after buying your NR license, hit the Submit Application button at the top of the screen.  It'll say Controlled Hunt Application, but this is what you use for the general draw deer and elk applications.

Thanks I wondered if that was gonna change from controlled to general at some point. I will let my brother know.

[luvmystang67]

Myself and about 30 other people where I work would shut down the offices for a few minutes and get 10 computers per person going 

Wow, what a joke for everyone else who wasn't gaming the system. Maybe the 'normal Joe' NRs will get a fair shot at a tag for once.  I know of locals who piled on the NR tags here every year for out-of-state friends as well, time to play fair.

This was basiscally the good and bad of the old system.  If you wanted it hard enough you could drive/fly to Idaho, find a license vendor (better if it was someone obscure like a fishing shop) and then buy your tag in person, or have a friend buy one for you and 10 other people at once in the same way.  The people who weren't doing that had 4 browsers open on 4 computers, and then took the highest number in the queue.  Anyone who was just logging in on one device and hoping for the best hardly had a prayer.  Our group always got tags... (I'm local, but my friends).  It was BS, now its more fair, but now it costs a lot more to try also.  I think we may be surprised this year to see some units not sell out in the first pass.  If everyone puts the most popular ones down, and nobody puts some "bad backup options" then we may see remaining tags on those.  For people far out of state, they might not even know what the less desiriable units are.  That'll change after this first pass when everyone gets to see draw data.

As someone mentioned on here, we think there's this mass of extra people who wanted tags but didn't get them.  Keep in mind there are 28,000 deer and elk tags combined (sure some are outfitter, etc), but there's a LOT of NR tags that everyone is going for at the same time.  That queue would get up in the 40-60k realm, but for a large contingency, our group included, we might have had 50 slots for 5 guys.  It could have been that there were only 10k unique people in the online queue and then maybe 1k in person?  All we really know is at the end most of the tags went to someone who was willing to pay for a chance in perhaps their last choice (or previously not-considered unit).  I just have to wonder how many people thought "{random idaho zone with no elk}, what the heck, why not?" when they finally got in, who now might not put it in their 5 choice list at all. 

Anyway, good luck to everyone.  Hope this is a more streamlined approach and most folks get a tag they want.

[kodiak06]

Not sure what the que number was unless maybe total number applied for but it was almost 25K for me before 1400. That's 2pm for some of you...

[addicted1]

Myself and about 30 other people where I work would shut down the offices for a few minutes and get 10 computers per person going 

Wow, what a joke for everyone else who wasn't gaming the system. Maybe the 'normal Joe' NRs will get a fair shot at a tag for once.  I know of locals who piled on the NR tags here every year for out-of-state friends as well, time to play fair.

If you weren’t doing that then you have no one to blame but yourself. That was system and it worked pretty well for me.

[pd]

Myself and about 30 other people where I work would shut down the offices for a few minutes and get 10 computers per person going 

Wow, what a joke for everyone else who wasn't gaming the system. Maybe the 'normal Joe' NRs will get a fair shot at a tag for once.  I know of locals who piled on the NR tags here every year for out-of-state friends as well, time to play fair.

This was basiscally the good and bad of the old system.  If you wanted it hard enough you could drive/fly to Idaho, find a license vendor (better if it was someone obscure like a fishing shop) and then buy your tag in person, or have a friend buy one for you and 10 other people at once in the same way.  The people who weren't doing that had 4 browsers open on 4 computers, and then took the highest number in the queue.  Anyone who was just logging in on one device and hoping for the best hardly had a prayer.  Our group always got tags... (I'm local, but my friends).  It was BS, now its more fair, but now it costs a lot more to try also.  I think we may be surprised this year to see some units not sell out in the first pass.  If everyone puts the most popular ones down, and nobody puts some "bad backup options" then we may see remaining tags on those.  For people far out of state, they might not even know what the less desiriable units are.  That'll change after this first pass when everyone gets to see draw data.

As someone mentioned on here, we think there's this mass of extra people who wanted tags but didn't get them.  Keep in mind there are 28,000 deer and elk tags combined (sure some are outfitter, etc), but there's a LOT of NR tags that everyone is going for at the same time.  That queue would get up in the 40-60k realm, but for a large contingency, our group included, we might have had 50 slots for 5 guys.  It could have been that there were only 10k unique people in the online queue and then maybe 1k in person?  All we really know is at the end most of the tags went to someone who was willing to pay for a chance in perhaps their last choice (or previously not-considered unit).  I just have to wonder how many people thought "{random idaho zone with no elk}, what the heck, why not?" when they finally got in, who now might not put it in their 5 choice list at all. 

Anyway, good luck to everyone.  Hope this is a more streamlined approach and most folks get a tag they want.

This is a really good summary of the system．Thanks for the insightful comments.

[addicted1]

So I just made my purchase and submitted. Was like 32,000 in the queue today, so I assume everyone at least was in the queue twice as it automatically made me go back after purchasing license. Then I was too slow and logged out, so back into the queue. Will be interesting to see how many people actually put in for this. The queue was definitely giving me instant panic and flashbacks to past years. Didn’t realize I had been so scared by that screen.

[kodiak06]

36,500 in there right now... I don't think it would count you twice, you're not logged in on both at the same time...

[highside74]

I logged on earlier this morning about 10am. It said there was 14k and some change in que but it also said there was 6 people in front of me. 2 minutes later I was in and buying my license. 

[fishngamereaper]

Montana's news isn't going to help.

[trophyhunt]

WTH, bought my 2026 license a couple days ago, just logged on and see no option to apply for the non rez deer tag???