Tags Available

2026 Idaho nonresident general season deer and elk tag draw waiting room.

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Start to enter in a nonresident general season deer or elk hunt code to switch the system to give you more choices.

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Five choices to enter for Idaho nonresident general season deer and elk licenses.

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The Draw Process

Using Insider To Research These Hunts

Idaho general season elk research on GOHUNT's Filtering research tool.

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Idaho elk hunt plan on GOHUNT's Hunt Planner.

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Nonresident Fees

Nonresident applications for Idaho’s 2026 Second Application Period for general deer and elk draw is February 5 to 15, 2026. You can apply online here. Note: this is not the Controlled hunt draw. There are a total of 1,150 elk and 1,909 regular and whitetail deer tags available (the statewide cap may be met before quota is met in a deer unit).

These tags are available during the Second Application Period because people did not purchase their tags by the January 20, 2026, deadline (so those tags were forfeited), or because they might not have met the quota during the first application period.

Note: There is no second application period for DAV tags. DAV tags can be claimed through March 20, 2026. There will not be a second drawing for DAV deer or Elk tags.

State information

View important information and an overview of Idaho’s rules/regulations, the draw system, tag and license fees, and an interactive boundary line map on our State Profile. You can also view the Idaho species profiles to access historical and statistical data to help you locate trophy areas.

Important dates and information

Below is the list of tags available for nonresidents in the second application period

If you need help deciding which unit or zone to pick up a tag for, be sure to check out our Filtering research tool.

What is the difference between A and B elk tags in Idaho?

You will use the "Hunt Code" that is listed in the left-hand column when you are applying for the 2026 nonresident general season draw in Idaho.

Extra information I added to the tag number tables

In the tables below, I included a section called "Percent Not Claimed After 1st Draw." This bit of information can be used in a bunch of different ways and could benefit you in this second application period.

Nonresident regular deer tags

Nonresident whitetail deer tags

Nonresident elk tags

How to apply for these nonresident general season licenses

Step 1

Note: You may see the above screen if there is a high volume of people applying at the same time. Yes, this is the same sort of screen we have all seen in years past.

Log in to your Go Outdoors Idaho account.

Step 2

Click on "Submit An Application"

You'll see it says "Controlled Hunt Application" at the top, but this is Idaho using the same system as before. Trust me, this is NOT A CONTROLLED HUNT APPLICATION.

What you need to do here is start to enter the "Hunt Code" of the nonresident general season number in the "Hunt Choice 1" box, and doing so will populate your other choices.

Enter all of your Hunt Codes in each of the choices. Again, remember you are allowed five choices. Then click "Next."

Step 3

Enter the number of applicants.

Single app:

If you're applying on your own, select 1.

Group apps:

If you're applying with a party/group, then select the number of people in your party. Then you'll need to enter in their license number or Sportsman ID. Add all the party members.

Click "Next."

Step 4

Review all your information, then click "Verify and Checkout."

This drawing process will work similarly to how controlled hunt draws are conducted in Idaho. After the application period is closed, all applications will be randomly assigned a number, and tags will be issued from the lowest random number to the highest random number.

Again, you will have five choices on your application, and the order in which you assign them is very important. All first choices will be evaluated first, and tags will be issued if there is still quota available for that hunt choice. So your first choice should be well thought out. After all first choices are evaluated, the draw returns to the lowest random number application and evaluates second choices – skipping those that have already won from the first choice or where no quota is available for their second hunt choice, and issuing tags to those that have quota available for that hunt choice. That process is then repeated for the third, fourth, and fifth choices. Allowing up to five choices gives hunters the ability to make secondary hunting choices and plans, should their top hunts not be available based on their drawing results. There are a number of low quota units and zones, so additional hunt choices could improve the odds of drawing a tag if the hunter has a low quota first choice, but a higher quota choice as their 2nd – 5th choice.

Just like in years past when these were first-come, first-served, it's essential to prepare ahead of this draw, especially with how you order your five hunt choices.

The best way to prepare for this Idaho nonresident general season deer and elk draw is by diving into GOHUNT's Filtering tool on Insider, either on the web or by researching these hunts on our mobile app.

On the web, once logged in, navigate to Tools > Filtering and click on Idaho, select your species, then select your general season for deer or elk. This will then map out all of the general season units for that species in Idaho.

From there, you can manipulate the filters to start to really narrow down your search results for what you're looking for in a hunt. Then, my next approach would be to head over the Unit Profile for that unit to read up on it, check out comments from other Insider members, and finally, I'll jump over to GOHUNT Maps and really dive into the habitat and terrain. This is also when I'll play around with different mapping layers.

Check out the links below to take you directly to the Idaho general season hunts for each species/weapon on Filtering:

Idaho Elk Zone Research

If you're curious about what areas of the state each Idaho elk zone is located in, you can also find that in Filtering. Once you're in Filtering, select Idaho > Species: Elk and then tap on "Zone Profiles" at the top. A tab will open up, allowing you to scroll through the list to see the elk zones mapped out. You can then click on a zone to pull up a short "Zone Profile" to really see what units are included in each zone.

Elk hunting in Idaho is managed in 28 elk zones with a two-tag system in most zones - A tag and B tag. Hunters may select one elk zone and choose either an A tag or a B tag.

What is the difference between A and B elk tags in Idaho?

The differences between the tag types can vary quite a bit for each elk zone in Idaho, so it's important to look at both options when researching to make sure you are applying for the hunt you want. We call out the different Tag types for all seasons on Insider for every Unit Profile, and this information can be found on the Filtering research tool and on our Unit Profiles.

Save and Compare Units

Again, I like to jump into Unit Profiles of several units to learn more information about them. AND... remember you can even save units. This is a feature on Insider we released a couple of years ago! Once you've saved some seasons, you can access your "Hunts" by hovering over Tools and then click on Hunt Planner.

Once you're in your saved hunts section, you now have the ability to compare units, add notes, and totally customize this to your research page.

Now, one more step I like to take is to dive into several of those units using GOHUNT Maps to check out the terrain and public land.

A hunting license is required

REMEMBER, to apply in this nonresident general season tag draw in Idaho, you need to purchase a $185 hunting license, and it will not be refunded if you don't draw.

2026 nonresident fees