New forum member here for Idaho hunting info

Greetings all.

I am new to this forum and here is my self-intro.

Recently left Calif and live in Utah now.

Learned that the Utah buck deer and elk tag draws are difficult and take several years to accumulate enough "points" to score a good one.

Figured out that Idaho has better hunting and easier tags.

Looking for good hunting grounds just north of the Utah-Idaho state line.

This looks like a great forum to help me find that out.

See you on the trail, maybe.

LAST EDITED ON Nov-16-16 AT 04:33PM (MST)[p]Welcome aboard!
Go to the Idaho Fish & Game, "Hunt Planner" website, you will find everything you need to know with a little searching.

NRA Life Member

Welcome, hope you have thick skin. Don't over look WY, NV, AZ, NM and Co. You are in a great location to hunt several states. Some have points and some don't. If you have the cash start buying points all the way around you as they will all come in handy in the future.

DZ

RE: READING THE HUNT PLANNER

Will do, thanks.

The units in Southeast Idaho are the closest to Utah where I live so this is where I will concentrate my efforts first.

I like BLM and USFS public lands.

RE: don't overlook other states too

Idaho is the closest place of all those, especially Southeast Idaho. I hate long car rides.

Thick skinned -- definitely. All my CCW LTC classes taught me about that. Can't let something trivial and verbal get you all shook up. Usually I just laugh.

Reciprocity is great. Vegas is the only place I can ever imagine that I would actually need it.

As Johnny Depp would say in "Pirates Of The Caribbean," sticks and stones ... .

Utah draws depend on quality of animal and season you want to hunt but more likely not several years but now looking at a decade unless doing a general hunt. Easier to get a tag in Idaho if you have the $ but as someone else said don't look past Wyoming either. Good luck.

you certainly won't be alone in SE Idaho!

Utah has a lot of opurtunity for hunts.

You can hunt bulls or spikes Otc and if you put in the work, it can be a successful hunt but odds of a big bull on general units is rather low and the success rate for any bull is about 10 to 15%. But with that said I have over 50% success in spikes and general bulls in Utah (100% in archery).

General Deer you draw every other or third year depending on unit. Some archery is every year.

Then if you want cow hunts about every other.

This gives you:

General bull or spike hunt (Otc)
Cow or gen deer tag (if you get them alternating)

Then you have chance at limited and prem hunt. Depending on what unit you hold out for will determine wait.

Other tags that could be thrown in there is doe antelope and doe deer but they are 3 to 5 year wait.

My main draw to Idaho general seasons. is hunting the rut otc. I am planning whitetail hunt otc next time I do not have a Utah Muley tag.

Looking at other states:

Arizona has some good bull hunts and deer that you will be waiting for and otc archery deer for southern end of state.

NM has no points so you have same odds every year for tags so put in every year and hope you get lucky. Some really good hunts (antelope, elk, mule deer)

NV hates nonresidence. It takes a while to draw general deer tags (I am mostly looking northern part of state)so I have not made the leap to apply there.

Wyoming as decent odds and can provide you with a successful antelope hunt every year tgat us close if in northern Utah. I am building elk points here as well future.

You should be hunting every year in Utah for something. supplement that with a otc Idaho or CO tag and a chance at a limited hunt and you will be overwhelmed with opurtunity;-)