Guides
How the tags work
Short, sourced explainers. Each one lists the state pages behind its numbers.
Montana
- Hunting Montana as a nonresident
The Big Game Combination drawing, what it costs, when to apply, and why nonresident success rates read the way they do.
- Montana mule deer vs. whitetail
One license for both species, the districts with no general mule deer buck, where each deer ranks best, and how to read shared hunter counts and 4+ pt shares.
- Montana's general elk license vs. permits
Where the General Elk License includes a bull, where it doesn't, the drawing-only districts, Elk B licenses, and how the bull filter reads them.
Idaho
- Hunting Idaho as a nonresident
The new general-tag draw, the per-unit and per-zone limits, controlled hunts, and what this tool can and cannot show for Idaho.
- Idaho elk zones and tags explained
The 28 elk zones, A and B tags, capped zones and sale dates, controlled hunts, nonresident limits, and how to pick a zone using unit success rates.
Both states
- How to pick an elk unit
A six-step way to choose a Montana or Idaho elk unit: license, success rate, crowding, bull size, public land and terrain, and the regulations.
- How to read hunting success rates
What a success rate measures, Montana's alternating survey years, the 100-hunter floor, trophy share, residency splits, and the limits of the number.