Idaho Representatives Vote to pass Legislation that Limits Nonresident Hunters in Overcrowded Areas

As a follow up from Mountain Pursuit’s previous story, “Overcrowding for Elk Archery and Panhandle White Tails Leads Idaho To Consider Restricting Nonresident Over the Counter Deer & Elk Tags,” the consideration is done.

On February 4, 2020, the Idaho House voted 55-15 in favor of limiting and increasing the price of nonresident big game hunting tags.  This was proposed by Idaho Fish & Game in response resident hunter’s request to reduce the overcrowding in certain hunt areas.

This past summer when Mountain Pursuit spoke with Idaho Fish & Game director, Paul Kline, he said that "there are certain hot spots around the state," for whitetail deer and archery elk.  He continued that, "the concern is all about hunter congestion, overcrowding, and an overall decline in hunt quality.”

Over-the-counter nonresident tags are not being distributed to certain areas and Kline added that "some of these hunt units have 30-35% nonresidents.”   

If this gets passed into law, Idaho Fish & Game will have the ability to reduce the amount of tags sold to nonresidents to 10%.  This will be done in areas marked by resident hunters as overcrowded and help to distribute the nonresident hunters more evenly.

Click HERE for Mountain Pursuit's Previous Story "Overcrowding for Elk Archery and Panhandle White Tails Leads Idaho To Consider Restricting Nonresident Over the Counter Deer & Elk Tags."