Idaho OTC 2025

[mxracer317]

2 people in front of me in line at Walmart flew in from Texas. Left happy with Lemhi in the pocket.
#dedicated #therestofyoudontwantitbadenough

See post #40

 

[mukbowhunt]

Not trying to rub it in, but we got all 9 of our tags. Hotels and 18 hours of driving but it's done.

I got a tag but given I was let in immediately i would have thought I had a chance at my number one A tag. Were you in the front of the line? Did you pay the vendor for preferred access?

 

[mukbowhunt]

2 people in front of me in line at Walmart flew in from Texas. Left happy with Lemhi in the pocket.
#dedicated #therestofyoudontwantitbadenough

Were they first in line? That tag was gone in less than 2 minutes.

 

[INMT]

IMO Y’all are crazy the amount of money you’re willing to spend to hunt out of state.

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

Were they first in line? That tag was gone in less than 2 minutes.

I was 4th in line. But I wasn't going for anything exciting. Middle of the pack zone.

 

[rogerthat]

What a chit show. Make it a draw already

 

[gwhunter]

44,000ish in line. Had to play the game of refreshing the available list over and over until the tag i wanted showed back up because someone else timed-out or dropped it from their cart. It showed back up 3 times before I was able to add it to my cart and complete my purchase. Going with some buddies from my gym who had a resident(brother) pickup their tags for the Weiser. I'm elk hunting in September and that's all that matters!

 

[Khunter]

I was #2 standing in line at a vendor. Diamond Creek Elk sold out in 8 minutes. Never got the tag and got a different unit. System crash. What a nightmare.

@mxracer317 Very unfortunate. I was 4th in line and 9 total tags were sold to the 3 guys in front of me before they got to me and I got tag #417 of 459 in Diamond close . 10 seconds later it was sold. out so the last 42 tags went “poof”. Almost wasted a LOOONG drive to idaho.

Where I was in line Vendor had everyone’s license with bar code and written first choice stacked and she scanned rather than typed data in.


At 10:04 vendor announced there were only 197 diamond creek tags left. My my tag was printing at 10:07 minutes and at 10:08 before my tag finished printing I texted a buddy Diamond was sold out just as vendor announced it. It was sold out that fast. Was sold out in 9 minutes last year.



1140 miles driven round trip, slept in car (comfortably actually) and gotta say the tag is hardly worth the effort. Good but not great, not even close. I must really hate OTC archery elk in Colorado to do this….. e glad when it goes to a draw and I don’t have to worry about ever hunting elk in ID again bc too hard to draw. LOL

 

[seeth07]

e glad when it goes to a draw and I don’t have to worry about ever hunting elk in ID again bc too hard to draw. LOL

You are probably exactly right for at least that tag. The people that are willing to do what you did are doing it because they have hunted that unit before and have a pretty good idea of where to find elk and have a pretty good hunt. Those same people will apply for this tag in the draw as opposed to any of the other current draw elk tags especially because there aren't exactly a lot of amazing draw elk hunts and the few that really stand out come with such low draw odds it wouldn't be worth it to those dedicated diamond creek guys.

 

[mxracer317]

@mxracer317 Very unfortunate. I was 4th in line and 9 total tags were sold to the 3 guys in front of me before they got to me and I got tag #417 of 459 in Diamond close . 10 seconds later it was sold. out so the last 42 tags went “poof”. Almost wasted a LOOONG drive to idaho.

Where I was in line Vendor had everyone’s license with bar code and written first choice stacked and she scanned rather than typed data in.


At 10:04 vendor announced there were only 197 diamond creek tags left. My my tag was printing at 10:07 minutes and at 10:08 before my tag finished printing I texted a buddy Diamond was sold out just as vendor announced it. It was sold out that fast. Was sold out in 9 minutes last year.

View attachment 352636

1140 miles driven round trip, slept in car (comfortably actually) and gotta say the tag is hardly worth the effort. Good but not great, not even close. I must really hate OTC archery elk in Colorado to do this….. e glad when it goes to a draw and I don’t have to worry about ever hunting elk in ID again bc too hard to draw. LOL

Dude that’s cool. I’m genuinely happy for you! What a debacle though, right?!

 

[hank4elk]

Seriously? This year or next?
Glad I hunted in the olden days. Never in Ida-ho tho.

 

[Khunter]

You are probably exactly right for at least that tag. The people that are willing to do what you did are doing it because they have hunted that unit before and have a pretty good idea of where to find elk and have a pretty good hunt. Those same people will apply for this tag in the draw as opposed to any of the other current draw elk tags especially because there aren't exactly a lot of amazing draw elk hunts and the few that really stand out come with such low draw odds it wouldn't be worth it to those dedicated diamond creek guys.

the funny thing is I never hunt the same place year after year in my home state of Colo or anywhere. I like exploring new country and developing and sitting stand locations on repeat is the last thing I am interested in, personally.

Diamond is not a “very good hunt”, it is just OK. Which makes the effort to get the tag absurd but there are reasons I wrap my mind around to go for it. For some reason I like it, mostly perhaps because it puts a decent tag in my pocket before the western draws. I will toss a diamond in the trash if needed whenever I draw a limited tag in another state. That is always the plan. Last two year I had no conflicting hunts.

I also use having this tag as reason/ability to apply for ID OIL tags at very minimal cost. I would NEVER? burn the almost $300 nonrefundable license/app fees to apply for ID elk, sheep, goat so this tag in hand gets me over the hump to apply for very low added cost.

When ID goes to draw next year may be the end of any effort or expense for me to try for ID OIL or otherwise. Moose odds were just good enough to take my lottery money even as a standalone in ID w/o an elk sweetener but sheep odds are not worth the fees absent an elk tag and hunt license already in hand tag. I bet I am not alone in this approach.

 

[tboltz34]

Does anyone know if it is going to a draw in the future? I believe the bill was HB696. Someone mentioned the bill was shot down in the senate and a website is showing it hasn't "passed senate" yet. Anyways, the bill says starting November 15, 2026 so it would impact the 2027 season (from my interpretation).

 

[Irrelevant]

Does anyone know if it is going to a draw in the future? I believe the bill was HB696. Someone mentioned the bill was shot down in the senate and a website is showing it hasn't "passed senate" yet. Anyways, the bill says starting November 15, 2026 so it would impact the 2027 season (from my interpretation).

View attachment 352697

View attachment 352696

 

[44hunter45]

Palouse B

 

[seeth07]

Palouse B

Hey now, there are elk there! Maybe only 1 or 2 left but I got proof now

 

[FI460]

Palouse B

I own property about 500 yards from that unit boundary, and have seen some big bulls in the area. I'm definitely not after that tag though.

 

[mxracer317]

the funny thing is I never hunt the same place year after year in my home state of Colo or anywhere. I like exploring new country and developing and sitting stand locations on repeat is the last thing I am interested in, personally.

Diamond is not a “very good hunt”, it is just OK. Which makes the effort to get the tag absurd but there are reasons I wrap my mind around to go for it. For some reason I like it, mostly perhaps because it puts a decent tag in my pocket before the western draws. I will toss a diamond in the trash if needed whenever I draw a limited tag in another state. That is always the plan. Last two year I had no conflicting hunts.

I also use having this tag as reason/ability to apply for ID OIL tags at very minimal cost. I would NEVER? burn the almost $300 nonrefundable license/app fees to apply for ID elk, sheep, goat so this tag in hand gets me over the hump to apply for very low added cost.

When ID goes to draw next year may be the end of any effort or expense for me to try for ID OIL or otherwise. Moose odds were just good enough to take my lottery money even as a standalone in ID w/o an elk sweetener but sheep odds are not worth the fees absent an elk tag and hunt license already in hand tag. I bet I am not alone in this approach.

I have access to 1600 acres of private in Diamond. That’s why I apply. Happy to swap tags with you