Free: Contests & Raffles.
Quote from: bear on January 20, 2026, 07:41:54 PMI didn’t purchase my 36b deer tag.saved yourself some money. Not that great of a tag
I didn’t purchase my 36b deer tag.
Where do you find out how many tags are available for the second draw?
I find it kind of irritating that my 1st choice tag is still available. They should reach out to 1st choice people that didn’t draw their 1st choice and offer to swap tags before they do the 2nd draw.
Quote from: highside74 on Yesterday at 07:10:26 PMI find it kind of irritating that my 1st choice tag is still available. They should reach out to 1st choice people that didn’t draw their 1st choice and offer to swap tags before they do the 2nd draw.Did you draw your 2nd or 3rd choice deer and bought that tag? And now see that your first wasn't bought by someone and is now available? If that's the case, I see where you're coming from, but what a logistical nightmare that would be for IDFG. Especially since the tag you bought and returned would now be available for the next guy down the line... it would take hundreds/thousands of man hours to go through that entire progression. A way to fix it would be to auto-bill for the tag upon drawing it, completely eliminating the need for a second tag. But I bet that would reduce applications by a lot (ie., lost revenue) and wouldn't provide people in your situation any extra benefits. I'm really surprised at the number of tags in the second draw. This may be a first-year anomaly, but if it's the norm this changes the calculus a bit.
Quote from: Skillet on Yesterday at 09:33:06 PMQuote from: highside74 on Yesterday at 07:10:26 PMI find it kind of irritating that my 1st choice tag is still available. They should reach out to 1st choice people that didn’t draw their 1st choice and offer to swap tags before they do the 2nd draw.Did you draw your 2nd or 3rd choice deer and bought that tag? And now see that your first wasn't bought by someone and is now available? If that's the case, I see where you're coming from, but what a logistical nightmare that would be for IDFG. Especially since the tag you bought and returned would now be available for the next guy down the line... it would take hundreds/thousands of man hours to go through that entire progression. A way to fix it would be to auto-bill for the tag upon drawing it, completely eliminating the need for a second tag. But I bet that would reduce applications by a lot (ie., lost revenue) and wouldn't provide people in your situation any extra benefits. I'm really surprised at the number of tags in the second draw. This may be a first-year anomaly, but if it's the norm this changes the calculus a bit.Yes drew 2nd payed for it and now 1st choice still has tags. They could make 2 day or so period after the deadline for purchasers on the 1st draw to have a chance to swap to an available tag from your 1st application if still available. Then when that is done then they put out the next draw list.
This note is on the PDF that IDFG published;• Successful applicants in the 1st Drawing period may not apply for the samespecies in the 2nd Drawing period.What do you guys make of this. My head goes to if you were successful of drawing a tag(1st, 2nd, 3rd Choice) and you didn't purchase, you don't get to apply the second go around. Is that how you all are reading it? I could see successful meaning you purchased a tag but it could be clearer....I did draw both Elk and Deer. I was debating not to buy the deer tag as it is a lower tier tag but decided to. If i didn't buy it and didn't know i couldn't reapply in the second draw, it would of been nice to know.
if you didn't get in the first drawing, can you buy a license and enter the second drawing or is it locked down to only those that were in 1st drawing. i will say, there is a catch in the system that I did not think about and some of you are experiencing it. People entered multiple choices and were selected for a lower choice and purchased the tag, and now there are available tags for their 1st choice draws that were not purchased. catch 22, do you only submit your first choice and hope for the best on the 2 draws, or submit multiple choices and be happy with whatever you get, knowing a chance at your 1 choice may open up. so now moving forward to next year, unless you hunt the border of 2 units and dont care what unit you draw, or you literally dont care what you draw, applying for multiple units may not be worth it. I kinda like how this has transpired, its different.
Quote from: outdooraddict on Today at 08:21:33 AMif you didn't get in the first drawing, can you buy a license and enter the second drawing or is it locked down to only those that were in 1st drawing. i will say, there is a catch in the system that I did not think about and some of you are experiencing it. People entered multiple choices and were selected for a lower choice and purchased the tag, and now there are available tags for their 1st choice draws that were not purchased. catch 22, do you only submit your first choice and hope for the best on the 2 draws, or submit multiple choices and be happy with whatever you get, knowing a chance at your 1 choice may open up. so now moving forward to next year, unless you hunt the border of 2 units and dont care what unit you draw, or you literally dont care what you draw, applying for multiple units may not be worth it. I kinda like how this has transpired, its different.I'm reasonably certain anyone can purchase a license and apply for a deer or elk tag if they do not already possess a tag for that specie. To answer all your other questions I would suggest only applying for units you will be happy hunting. If you will be unhappy with a unit then don't apply for it! IDFG has no way of knowing who will not claim what tags for which units, there's really no answer regarding that issue. One option a person may have is to return a purchased tag they don't want for a partial refund so you can apply again, but before doing that I would verify in writing with IDFG to make sure you can apply in the second draw, the controlled hunts, or for returned tags after Aug 1 if you return a tag for a refund?