No more over-the-counter deer and elk tags for nonresidents

Idaho is requiring nonresident deer and elk hunters to open their wallets for a chance to obtain tags.

Starting next year, nonresidents won’t be able to purchase over-the-counter tags for general season deer and elk hunts. Instead they will have to enter a lottery, similar to a controlled hunt drawing, to get the tags.

But they must first purchase a nonrefundable $185 hunting license to be eligible for the drawing that comes with no guarantee they will ultimately win a tag. During its first year of operation, an additional $18 application fee will be waived.

The move reflects the growing demand for the state’s deer and elk hunting opportunities. In the not-too-distant past, the tags set aside for nonresident hunters would fail to sell out, leaving them available to Idahoans to scoop up as extra tags at the higher nonresident prices.

Over the years, leftover nonresident tags became increasingly rare. In 2021, the state capped nonresident deer and elk tags in specific units at 10% to 15% of the overall tags available in the units. That increased demand by limiting supply.

In 2022, Idaho started selling its nonresident tags for the following fall on Dec. 1 — one of the earlier offerings in the nation. That gave out-of-staters more time to plan their hunts and further fueled demand.

Now, nonresidents queue up in-person and online to purchase their tags in a free-for-all, akin to trying to secure tickets to a popular concert. Many of the more popular hunts sell out in hours and leftover tags are virtually unheard of.

At its meeting in Idaho Falls last month, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission voted 7-0 to approve the change that will do away with that system. But the Idaho Department of Fish and Game is viewing the first year of the new scheme as a bit of an experiment. That’s why it asked the commission to waive the additional application fee.

“Not knowing how willing our nonresident public might be to throw down $185 for the opportunity to apply and not be guaranteed a tag, it felt like it wasn’t quite appropriate for us to just toss in another $18 application fee,” said Tara Reichert, licenses operations manager for the department at Boise.

Commissioner Jordan Cheirett, of Lava Hot Springs, advocated for including the application fee, saying people willing to pay $185 for the chance to win a tag would likely not be deterred by the addition of an application fee.

Jim Fredericks, director of the department, said as many as 90,000 individual devices log onto the department’s licensing website when nonresident tags go on sale. Agency officials don’t know how many people log on with multiple devices during the frenzy to secure tags so they don’t know precisely how strong the demand is.

“We have a good sense that demand is strong, we just don’t know what it is,” Fredericks said as commissioners debated waiving the application fee. “What would keep me up at night in this whole process is undermining that demand before we know what it really is.”

The application fee is built into the rule and unless it is waived again, it will be in effect in 2027.

Under the new system, nonresident hunters who purchase a license and enter the drawing in early December can select as many as five hunts per species that they are interested in and they can partner with up to three additional licensed hunters on the application. Those who are successful must purchase their tags by a deadline that has not yet been established. Those who miss the deadline will forfeit their tags, which will then be entered into a second nonresident drawing. Tags left unclaimed after the second drawing deadline will be sold.

Hunters who participate in the drawing may still enter controlled hunt permit drawings later in May.

Fish and Game spokesperson Roger Phillips noted that even if nonresidents fail to win a deer or elk tag, they can still get value out of their license purchase by hunting for birds, upland game or predators that are not subject to quotas for those from out of state.

“There is still a lot of things they can do,” he said.

More information is available at bit.ly/3T8ohVx.