New Idaho deer rules - how did it turn out?

[Touchdown88]

how was the overall pressure though? Any better than usual?

Where I hunted, pressure was half of what is was in years past.

 

[Quon24]

I saw a significant decrease in NR hunters this year for both elk and deer general seasons, but an increase in residents. All in all, it was a net zero change in hunting pressure.

 

[BAKPAKR]

all the people that i am seeing in the woods are retired folks who moved to idaho.

Maybe you will see me there one of these days.

 

[Olympics777]

Maybe you will see me there one of these days.

No offense, but it doesn’t look like we have any openings for new Idaho residents. Try again in 2050

 

[Vandal 44]

The past five years I purchased a non-resident bear, deer and elk tag all for the Panhandle. This year I did not buy the deer tag. The main reason, I had to pick a unit.

I did hunt for elk in the Panhandle but I didn’t get to hunt as much as I would have liked.

Last year I ran into out of state elk hunters from all over the country. This year I only spoke with a father and son from Minnesota


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[.204smokechaser]

Increase of residents in the units I work in and hunt, but didn’t see many non residents Sunday-Wednesday afternoon in the Lolo and Headquarters/Pierce area. Got on the elk in the lolo zone but couldn’t get er done and dealing with the later part of my Lab’s life and chose to be with my Lab the next few weeks than hunting as it’s tough saying bye to a damn good dog. I’ll report back when I go back the 10th through the 20th.

I personally hope they close all the northern units or limit the hunting the next few years to let the White Tail come back from blue tongue. The good news is the grouse are thick this year and they were worse to deal with than the timber tigers. Had a couple follow me around.

 

[def90]

Have no idea but last year at the end of October I went out to Boise and spent a day fishing the canyon below Anderson Ranch Res on the South Fork of the Boise River and I watched probably 30-40 trucks driving up and down the road along the river all day all glassing up the canyon sides. How anyone could have been succesful is beyond me.

 

[NorthIdahogunr]

Zone 1 was crowded with out of state hunters. Mostly Washington. I think it was worse than last year.

 

[Travis Hobbs]

In the SE, I thought pressure was significantly lower. It’s hard to say if it might have been the shitty weather tho but I think it was much lower during archery season.

 

[dieselchessy]

With the way Boise and the rest of Idaho is growing out of control I expect any reduction in NR to be quickly replaced by Resident hunters.

Census: Idaho ranks second nationally in population growth

Idaho’s population grew 17.3% in the 10 years since the 2010 Census, right behind Utah’s first-place growth of 18.5%. That means more than 270,000 new residents.

www.google.com

 

[Gobbler36]

still too many people
Especially 39 we still need to reduce overall numbers of NR tags, then we are going to have to look at ways to manage the ever growing population of residents

i will say rifle deer was better but still people everywhere and still lots of NR, but ******* archery elk season the out of staters were terrible, hopefully they can come up with new ways to manage this as well.

 

[b0nes]

As much as I hate to say it, pretty much every hunt in Idaho needs to turn into a draw. As a resident I would be more than happy to pay twice what I pay now for tags and licenses for better quality hunts. My dad has hunted unit 6 for elk for sometime now. There were 2900+ elk hunters in that unit alone last year. That is way too many elk hunters for any unit anywhere. Huge reductions in tag numbers needs to happen to let our herds recover.

 

[exppi]

I only made it out 1 day deer hunting so far. Pressure seemed to be less than last year. I did head out for pheasant opener and that was an absolute zoo.

 

[Customweld]

With the way Boise and the rest of Idaho is growing out of control I expect any reduction in NR to be quickly replaced by Resident hunters.

Census: Idaho ranks second nationally in population growth

Idaho’s population grew 17.3% in the 10 years since the 2010 Census, right behind Utah’s first-place growth of 18.5%. That means more than 270,000 new residents.

www.google.com

That's the elephant in the room that a good number of folks are ignoring. It's unfortunate, but undeniable that at some point changes are going to need to be made.

 

[TheTone]

Isn’t it great that recruiting new hunters from all the new residents will push out/hurt retention of those already hunting here. The growth sucks and there is only so much opportunity to go around. At some point something has to give.

 

[Okhotnik]

As much as I hate to say it, pretty much every hunt in Idaho needs to turn into a draw. As a resident I would be more than happy to pay twice what I pay now for tags and licenses for better quality hunts. My dad has hunted unit 6 for elk for sometime now. There were 2900+ elk hunters in that unit alone last year. That is way too many elk hunters for any unit anywhere. Huge reductions in tag numbers needs to happen to let our herds recover.

Raise res tag prices and they need to cut way down on NR tags. raw only. Herds can't take pressure anymore

 

[Gobbler36]

Yep raise resident fees cut NR tag supply to draw only. It’s all pretty unfortunate but I’m starting to see less and less deer
They can say all they want about winters I’m sure it’s a factor, but I believe the bigger one is all the tags we hand out

 

[sram9102]

Cutting NR tags isn't going to do much to the crowding or much for the deer herd. Are NR really killing enough deer to make any sort of dent compared to the resident hunters? Average success rates statewide in 2020 were 24% I'm guessing that the NR number is lower than that. I love the opportunity that ID allows me to come hunt and realize that something will need to change to support the deer herd but to put the blame on NR for the overcrowding or over hunting is a reach. I saw a minimum 10:1 residents to NRs this year.

 

[Gobbler36]

Cutting NR tags isn't going to do much to the crowding or much for the deer herd. Are NR really killing enough deer to make any sort of dent compared to the resident hunters? Average success rates statewide in 2020 were 24% I'm guessing that the NR number is lower than that. I love the opportunity that ID allows me to come hunt and realize that something will need to change to support the deer herd but to put the blame on NR for the overcrowding or over hunting is a reach. I saw a minimum 10:1 residents to NRs this year.

Good for you…. No one is blaming NR per se but it’s just fact we give out too many tags to residents and NR both and if we are gonna start cutting tags it’s fair we start with NR first because we LIVE here and the game is managed for residents. Just like your state should do for you.
It’s unfortunate really but a sad reality that needs to happen

 

[sram9102]

Good for you…. No one is blaming NR per se but it’s just fact we give out too many tags to residents and NR both and if we are gonna start cutting tags it’s fair we start with NR first because we LIVE here and the game is managed for residents. Just like your state should do for you.
It’s unfortunate really but a sad reality that needs to happen

No argument from me. I understand that the game is managed for residents. Just looking at it from a numbers side you could get rid of the 14k NR deer hunters and the state would still be crowded. I know that something is going to have to change in the future and I foresee ID going to a draw for everyone. I just hope if it goes that way its random and they don't jump into the points game.