Guide
Hunting Idaho as a nonresident
Idaho changed the rules for 2026. Nonresident general-season deer and elk tags used to be sold first-come, first-served. IDFG replaced that system with a random draw. If your plan for Idaho is a year old, it is wrong.
The nonresident tag draw
IDFG now issues nonresident general-season deer and elk tags through an application and draw process. To draw means to be selected at random from the applicant pool; to put in means to file that application. There are two application periods per tag year. For the 2026 season the first ran December 5 to 15, 2025, results posted in early January 2026, and successful applicants had until January 20, 2026 to buy the tag they drew. Anything not drawn or not claimed went into a second period, February 5 to 15, 2026, with results in early March and a March 20, 2026 purchase deadline. IDFG's current page now lists the next cycle, December 5 to 15, 2026, so check the year on any date you read there.
The statewide quotas are 15,500 nonresident general-season deer tags and 12,815 nonresident general-season elk tags. You must hold a nonresident hunting license before you can apply, and that license is nonrefundable whether you draw or not. Each application carries up to five hunt choices, evaluated in rounds from first choice down. Up to four hunters can share one application, but a group counts as a single entry and is only awarded if enough tags remain for everyone on it. Most hunters can submit two applications total, one for deer and one for elk.
IDFG uses no point system of any kind. Nothing accumulates, and a year you sit out costs you nothing. There was no application fee for the 2026 draw; IDFG's FAQ now lists an $18 fee per species for the following cycle, so confirm it before you apply.
The per-unit and per-zone limits
The statewide quota is not the number that decides your hunt. Deer tags are drawn for one specific Game Management Unit and elk tags for one specific elk zone, each with its own limit. Nonresidents are held to 10 or 15 percent of total hunters in a given unit or zone, and twelve backcountry deer units — 7, 9, 10, 12, 16A, 17, 19, 19A, 20, 20A, 26 and 27 — are instead capped at the five-year average number of nonresidents, because overall hunter numbers there are low. A further 1,846 deer tags and 2,975 elk tags are set aside for outfitted hunters out of the statewide totals.
Unit 1 shows the scale: 671 nonresident Regular Deer tags, hunt code RD01. Elk zones split into an A tag and a B tag, two separate tags in the same zone, each with its own limit and its own season and weapon restrictions; a zone may have only one of them. The Bannock zone offers 186 nonresident A tags and no B tags at all. A capped zone is one where IDFG limits tags for residents as well and splits the cap proportionally, and the proclamation flags which zones those are. Every unit page on this site shows that unit's nonresident tag limit and hunt code in its nonresident license block.
Controlled hunts
A controlled hunt is Idaho's limited-entry drawing, separate from the general-season tags above, and IDFG says success rates in controlled hunts generally run higher than in general season hunts. Applications for deer, elk, pronghorn, fall bear, fall turkey and swan run May 1 through June 5, with a second drawing period August 5 to 15 for tags nobody applied for or claimed. Applying in the nonresident general draw does not affect your controlled-hunt eligibility. This site does not show controlled-hunt draw odds; IDFG publishes them itself.
What it costs
The nonresident adult hunting license is $185.00 and includes a three-day fishing license. The adult nonresident deer tag is $351.75 and the adult elk tag is $651.75. An access and depredation fee of $10.00 is applied to every annual nonresident hunting license. A nonresident deer hunt therefore starts at $546.75 and an elk hunt at $846.75, before travel, and the license portion is gone whether or not you draw.
What this tool can't show for Idaho
Switch this site to Nonresident and Idaho's rules change but its success rates do not. That is deliberate. IDFG publishes harvest statistics for all hunters and does not break them out by residency, so there is no nonresident rate to show. The column header stays Success rate, the note on the page says why, and the figure you see for a unit is every hunter in it. Montana publishes the split, Idaho does not, and inventing one would be worse than saying so.
The rules half of the toggle is real: pick Nonresident and each Idaho unit shows the nonresident tag, its availability and its per-unit limit instead of the resident tag.
Sources
- Idaho Fish and Game — General Season (OTC) Tag Information — the 2026 switch of nonresident general deer and elk tags to an application and draw process, and Returned Tag Sales. Accessed September 2026.
- Idaho Fish and Game — Everything a nonresident hunter needs to know about the 2026 tag drawing — the 2026 dates: December 5 to 15, 2025, January 20 claim deadline, February 5 to 15 second period, March 20 claim deadline, and the $185 nonresident license requirement. Accessed September 2026.
- Idaho Fish and Game — Regular Deer Tag, Nonresident Limits — the 15,500 statewide nonresident deer quota and the per-unit selection rule. Accessed September 2026.
- Idaho Fish and Game — Elk Tag, Nonresident Limits — the 12,815 statewide nonresident elk quota and the per-zone selection rule. Accessed September 2026.
- Idaho Fish and Game — Nonresident Deer and Elk Tags — the draw mechanics, five hunt choices, four-hunter groups, two applications per hunter, no point system, the $18 fee listed for the next cycle, and the next cycle's dates. Accessed September 2026.
- Idaho Fish and Game — 2026 Nonresident General Tags and Tags Allocated to Outfitters (PDF) — the 10 or 15 percent nonresident share, the twelve five-year-average backcountry deer units, the 1,846 deer and 2,975 elk outfitter set-asides, Unit 1's 671 Regular Deer tags under hunt code RD01, the Bannock zone's 186 A tags and absent B tag, capped zone definitions, and the statement that there was no application fee for the 2026 draw. Accessed September 2026.
- Idaho Fish and Game — License, Tag, and Permit Costs, Nonresidents — $185.00 adult hunting license, $351.75 adult deer tag, $651.75 adult elk tag, $10.00 access and depredation fee. Accessed September 2026.
- Idaho Fish and Game — Controlled Hunt Information — that controlled hunts are a limited random drawing with generally higher success rates, and the August 5 to 15 second drawing. Accessed September 2026.
- Idaho Fish and Game — Controlled Hunt Application Information — the May 1 to June 5 application period for deer, elk and pronghorn. Accessed September 2026.