Idaho hunters who applied for elk controlled hunts are eligible to buy capped elk zone tags starting at 10 a.m. MDT on July 16
Idaho resident hunters who applied for elk controlled hunts and were subject to the five-day waiting period to buy a capped elk zone tag are reminded they are eligible to buy capped zone tags starting at 10 a.m. MDT on Saturday, July 16. Many of those zones that still have availability are likely to sell out fast.
Hunters can buy tags online at gooutdoorsidaho.com, at license vendors or by calling (800) 554-8685 with a credit card. Hunters purchasing online will be placed in the virtual waiting room beginning at 9:40 a.m. MDT and will be given a random place in line to begin purchasing at 10 a.m. MDT. A reminder that July 16 is a Saturday; all Fish and Game offices are closed on weekends.
Here's what capped zone elk tags are available
Hunters are reminded there's an unlimited number of general season, resident elk tags available for zones that are not capped or limited to controlled hunts. There's also no limit on the number of resident, general season deer tags available.
In December of 2020, Fish and Game implemented an online waiting room that leads to a virtual line system to help facilitate large scale first-come, first-serve sale events.
This was done to:
- Give hunters an equitable option to access the online license site
- Ensure that the license system can maintain healthy site capacity, and
- Eliminates an unfair advantage for those with better/faster internet connections or those that are able to log into their account many hours in advance
The online process works as follows:
- The online waiting room starts in advance of the sale, typically 20 minutes prior to the sale start time such as 9:40 a.m.
- All customers logging into the site prior to the sale time will be placed in this waiting room until the sale begins (10 a.m.)
- At the time the sale starts, all customers in the waiting room will be given a random place in line, and allowed to enter the site based on their place in the virtual line
- Customers entering the site after the sale has started will be placed at the end of the line.
