Some of you might remember that in February 2024, the Idaho State Legislature attempted to pass House Bill 587. That bill would have made a statutory requirement for the IDFG to issue nonresident elk, deer and pronghorn tags via a draw system. (Read more about it here Idaho Ends OTC Deer, Elk and Antelope Tags? | Eastmans TagHub). While most people would agree that a draw would be a better system, everyone agreed that having the Legislature mandate this was a bad idea.
To IDFG’s credit, they are now going to do just that, but on their own accord. The House Bill never was passed but starting in 2026, IDFG will issue deer and elk tags via a draw system. The draw for the nonresident “old OTC tags” will take place in December with a similar time frame as the old Idaho OTC System. IDFG has not set a date yet for when that “OTC” draw will open and close but expect it in December with results coming out in January.
To participate in this new draw, nonresidents will have to purchase a 2026 nonresident hunting license, just as they had to before. Those will become available to purchase on December 1st. There will be no application fee for this draw in December. The results of this draw will not affect your ability to participate in the actual controlled hunt draw in June the following year.
Hunters can apply as a party with up to four total hunters in the party. Each of those hunters in that party must have a 2026 hunting license to be able to apply, not just the party leader. Each species application (deer and elk) will be allowed to put five Unit choices on the application. The June controlled hunt draw only allows for two hunt choices.
If you are successful in drawing one of these “OTC” draw tags, you will have an allotted amount of time to purchase that tag, or it will be forfeited. This is the same way the controlled hunt draw is. For the controlled hunt draw, if you draw a tag, you have until August 1st to purchase that tag, or it will go into the second chance draw.
For the “OTC” tag draw, if a Unit does not have enough applicants to award tags to (there are some leftovers) then those tags and the forfeited tags will go into a second chance drawing. This second chance draw will take place in January.
This should give you a good idea of what to expect if you want to hunt “OTC” in Idaho next year. When more dates and procedures are ironed out, I will update you.
2 comments
This is a good thing. The OTC system the last few years was a joke.