Idaho elk draw system

[Charlie Brown]

I don’t know a lot about the southern Idaho units but the panhandle is a zoo. All the potential to have healthy herds and mature bulls but if you check Idfg and the statistics, almost every panhandle unit has between 1 and 3 thousand elk hunters in them. Why not change to a draw and give out 500 tags for each unit and to offset the monetary loss from reducing tags by making residents pay $100 dollars for elk tags.

Time to stop ALL cow tags in the Panhandle and drop the crossover hunts allowing B taggers a week of bow hunting. Make your choice bow or gun. Stop trying to please everyone

 

[martin_shooter]

I should have been more specific on my question. I was wondering if they upgraded their system to handle the number of hunters so it doesn't crash like every year before.

Pretty sure they havent. The 2023 nonres tag sale was the least problematic in several years.

 

[sneaky]

I don’t know a lot about the southern Idaho units but the panhandle is a zoo. All the potential to have healthy herds and mature bulls but if you check Idfg and the statistics, almost every panhandle unit has between 1 and 3 thousand elk hunters in them. Why not change to a draw and give out 500 tags for each unit and to offset the monetary loss from reducing tags by making residents pay $100 dollars for elk tags.

Ummm.... Panhandle is loaded with wolves and they've killed a helluva lot more elk than hunters ever have, or will. There just aren't the same numbers of elk in that heavily timbered country. Hunter numbers are what they are, but success rates are low for a reason. Idaho better never go to a draw system, that would be going full Utard.

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[sneaky]

To see a healthier more mature herd of elk? Yes. And I’m not complaining along the lines of “ there’s no elk here!” I’m just saying I would rather hunt every few years and see a better age class of bulls. I fully understand some people get it done on mature bulls almost every year. After hunting Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona and seeing better age classes I wonder why we could not do the same thing with way more elk.

Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona don't have wolves either. You aren't going to magically grow older bulls by going to a draw system. That's insane that you actually believe that.

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[sneaky]

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think the overcrowding issue in certain units is the nonresidents fault. By statute, Idaho authorizes 16k(ish) elk tags to non residents. If someone is seeing 3k hunters in the Diamond Creek zone, 2500 of them were residents.

That said, I think Idaho should go to a draw for all non-resident elk and deer tags.

Resident tags are capped in Diamond Creek too. There's a TOTAL of around 1800 hunters in DC between residents and nonresidents.

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[Huntnnw]

To see a healthier more mature herd of elk? Yes. And I’m not complaining along the lines of “ there’s no elk here!” I’m just saying I would rather hunt every few years and see a better age class of bulls. I fully understand some people get it done on mature bulls almost every year. After hunting Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona and seeing better age classes I wonder why we could not do the same thing with way more elk.

you need to hunt other places then. There are alot of places in N ID that have some big bulls and some that rarely see humans. I have a camera in a remote spot that every year has 3 bulls over 320" on it

 

[TheTone]

Time to stop ALL cow tags in the Panhandle and drop the crossover hunts allowing B taggers a week of bow hunting. Make your choice bow or gun. Stop trying to please everyone

LOL. Getting people in the panhandle to not get and want everything is a pipe dream. That whole region has always wanted everything with giving up nothing. An entire region on one elk tag, the ability to hunt with all weapons regardless of a or b tags, , hunting mule deer on a general tag during the rut, and deer tags where you can still hunt whitetails late with a regular tag unlike almost everywhere else in the state

 

[LFC911]

Pretty sure they havent. The 2023 nonres tag sale was the least problematic in several years.

Do you not recall the multiple hour pause in sales online, while they were still selling tags in person? What a cluster!

 

[ID_Matt]

Original post should probably be re worded. I don't think we are talking about the draw system, which is not a waiting room I don't believe. I think we are talking about the OTC sale.

 

[Z Barebow]

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think the overcrowding issue in certain units is the nonresidents fault. By statute, Idaho authorizes 16k(ish) elk tags to non residents. If someone is seeing 3k hunters in the Diamond Creek zone, 2500 of them were residents.

That said, I think Idaho should go to a draw for all non-resident elk and deer tags.

Not ~ 16Kish.

 

[Chris_in_Idaho]

LOL. Getting people in the panhandle to not get and want everything is a pipe dream. That whole region has always wanted everything with giving up nothing. An entire region on one elk tag, the ability to hunt with all weapons regardless of a or b tags, , hunting mule deer on a general tag during the rut, and deer tags where you can still hunt whitetails late with a regular tag unlike almost everywhere else in the state

While we're at it, let me shoot a couple of the bucks that keep jumping in front of my car every day when I drive through Dalton Gardens.

 

[ndbuck09]

Do you not recall the multiple hour pause in sales online, while they were still selling tags in person? What a cluster!

For the record, I was at IDFG headquarters in Boise last year and they could not sell the tags in person either as their systems were frozen too.

 

[dreamingbig]

You’re correct but It’s hunter days in the field in 2023 that’s an issue. NR are spending 10x the amount of days in the field nowadays because of vacation time/work from home/work life balance is better than it’s ever been. Just my .02

That is a nice opinion but I would need to see the data. A few anecdotal scenarios don’t guarantee a large shift.

10x seems rich . I don’t know of companies that increased PTO much at all and I don’t think many jumped shipped to become self employed.


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[LFC911]

For the record, I was at IDFG headquarters in Boise last year and they could not sell the tags in person either as their systems were frozen too.

Good to know...i had a low-ish number (~2-4K) this year and thought i could get a better tag and when they came back online, they were all gone. I ended up getting the same tag that i got the previous year with a number in the 6-7k range lottery number and assumed they kept selling in person.

 

[sneaky]

Not ~ 16Kish.

View attachment 609848

That doesn't include the controlled hunt allotment for non-residents. It's over 15k when those are included

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[Marble]

Pretty sure they havent. The 2023 nonres tag sale was the least problematic in several years.

Idk about that. IDFG actually issued an apology for all of the issues. I think that is what caused the OP to start this thread to begin with. I had a number that had me in the running for the tag I wanted. I was about 20 minutes out from getting to my tag. I got reshuffled somehow and bumped to such a high number I wasn't going to get in until the next day.

I haven't been able to get a tag there since 2020. I'm not sure what the solution is for the NR draw system. But if it continues like it is, people will still be frustrated. I'm sure IDFG wants to make it a smoother process. Finding solutions with government processes can be quite challenging.

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[Colby3]

Exactly Marble

 

[Fullfan]

Don not see any changes coming. Idaho does not care who gets tags, just that the tags get sold. And they don’t have a problem selling them..