Idaho Fish and Game is switching things up for non-residents looking to hunt elk and deer next year. For the first time, out-of-state hunters will have to enter a drawing to get a tag for the 2026 season.
Non-resident tags used to be available over-the-counter or online on a first-come first-served basis. Idaho Fish and Game’s Roger Phillips said people would fly in just to buy them in person and wait in lines, with some even camping in front of their offices.
“We saw that it was unsustainable,” Phillips said. “There was also a fairness issue for people who couldn't take the time off to come to Idaho and physically buy a tag or sit in front of their computer for sometimes four to six hours.”
“The scarcity of other options in other states is what made the demand so high in Idaho,” he added.
Last year, Fish and Game sold 13,000 non-resident elk and 17,000 deer tags in 2025. Those do not affect local hunting tags.
“Resident general tags are unlimited,” he said. “There's this misnomer out there that we're giving [to] nonresidents things that residents can't get. And that's just incorrect.”
Last year, the Department sold almost 230,000 tags to local hunters. The drawing applies to elk, regular deer, and white-tailed deer tags.
Any non-resident applying for a license this year also has to pay a non-refundable $200 general hunting license. Those will remain valid for the season and allow hunters who didn’t get an elk or deer tag to still buy other over-the-counter tags, like bear tags, mountain lion tags, turkey tags, wolf tags. It also allows non-residents to go waterfowl or upland hunting, or apply for a controlled hunt in the spring.
The random drawing will be automated by a computer program, run through a contractor.
”They do it for multiple states and they are audited and all that stuff,” Phillips added. “It's pretty serious business.”
The application period for the drawing opens Dec. 5 until Dec. 15. Results will be announced in early January. Find more information here and here.
