While 2020 has been a year of uncertainty their is a light at the end of the tunnel- HUNTING SEASON IS HERE! Among my groups of friends, some did great in the various tag drawings across the west while others, like myself, merely donated money to the game agencies. Idaho has historically been an excellent contingency state for hunters to consider because of their generous OTC tag options. As we covered earlier this year, however, tags sold out in record time and left many hunters scratching their heads and scrambling to put together yet another hunt plan.

On Friday, August 7 the Idaho Fish and Game announced that 465 nonresident elk tags and about 30 nonresident deer tags have been returned and will be available for purchase. The tags will be sold beginning at 10 a.m. MDT on August 13. These tags will be sold on a first-come-first-served basis. The sale will also include some returned resident elk tags in capped elk zones. Tags can be purchased here.

While the general nonresident OTC tags for 2020 have been sold out elk there are still some outfitter allocated tags left. Under Idaho law, nonresident capped elk zone tags allocated to outfitters must be purchased by August 1 or they revert back to OTC for nonresident hunters, or as second tags to both residents and nonresidents.

Nonresident deer tags returned by hunters after August 1st are also available as second tags.

Hunters interested in viewing the list of available tags will find them listed on the returned tag page on the IDFG website at 10 a.m MDT August 11. There could be more tags added before August 13.

This year the IDFG also revised its method for selling returned OTC tags. Tags are now sold on the second and fourth Thursday of each month through the end of the hunting season or as supplies last. If any tags remain after the purchase period they will be again posted to the returned tag page. They are always available to view two days before the sale date.

For more information on the process, Brady wrote a great article that explains the returned sold out tag process with a list of when tags will be available to view if they come available. You can check that article out at the link below.

Returned tag pick up process