Big Game by StateThe public record of western draws

Idaho · Elk · Hunt 2161

Idaho elk controlled hunt 2161

How many hunters put this controlled hunt first and how many of them drew it — season by season, for both of Idaho's application periods and both residency pools. Every figure comes from an Idaho Fish and Game response linked at the foot of this page.

What the 2026 drawing did

Idaho offered 200 permits on hunt 2161 in 2026 and issued 190, so it did not fill. In the first application period, 152 hunters put it first and 152 drew, 100.00%. A further 38 permits went to hunters who had named it as their second choice.

Idaho grants no preference for having applied before. The department is direct about it — "IDFG does not use any point system in our draw process" — and its own published data has never carried a point, preference or bonus field in the twenty-nine seasons it covers. Applying for eleven years earns exactly what applying for the first time earns. There is no points-to-draw figure on this page because there is none to publish, and any site showing you one for Idaho has invented it.

Published in 18 of the 29 seasons Idaho offers, 2007 to 2026.

Application period
Residency

First-choice draw rate, by season

The rate is the hunters awarded this hunt on their first choice, divided by the hunters who named it first. Both are exact integers Idaho Fish and Game returns in the same record. A dash means nobody named it first, so the drawing answered nothing — absent, not nought.
SeasonPeriodAreaPermits availablePut it firstDrew on first choiceFirst-choice draw ratePut it secondDrew on second choicePermits issued
2026Second60-116351645.71%19016
2026First60-1200152152100.00%6238190
2025Second60-1323030100.00%8232
2025First60-1200139139100.00%7537176
2024Second63X313332.26%3503
2024First63X504085012.25%105050
2023Second63X413842.90%3604
2023First63X504355011.49%84050
2022Second32-1X731272.24%3107
2022First32-1X15083115018.05%1250150
2021Second32-1X10329103.04%20010
2021First32-1X15082215018.25%1330150
2020First60-1501135044.25%19050
2019Second60-1212216.67%002
2019First60-150755066.67%28050
2018Second221202424100.00%221741
2018First2215055100.00%704045
2017Second22981616100.00%292541
2017First221501616100.00%824460
2016First46-110151106.62%45010
2015First46-110147106.80%62010
2014First5415275155.45%98015
2013Second39-5149139139100.00%2610149
2013First39-5500270270100.00%161115385
2012First52AX50525096.15%53050
2011First36A-1300—633
2008First50-1500—000
2007First50-1555100.00%005

Idaho draws each hunt twice. The first application period is where almost everybody applies; the second is a real second drawing for what is left. They are different competitions and nothing here averages them.

The area label changes across seasons for this hunt number — Idaho printed 60-1, 63X, 32-1X, 22, 46-1, 54, 39-5, 52AX, 36A-1, 50-1. A controlled hunt number is reissued, and the department publishes nothing that settles whether the same number covers the same ground from one season to the next: across all its hunts, 874 of 974 numbers see its own internal area key change and 888 see the printed label change, independently of each other. So each row shows the label Idaho printed for that season and this page asserts nothing about the place.

By residency

Idaho splits both applicants and permits by residency. The applicant counts are first-choice only in every season; the permit counts are not, which is why some rates here are blank.
SeasonPeriodResidencyPut it firstPermitsDraw rateWhat the permit count coversIDFG's own figure
2026SecondResident351645.71%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree46%
2026SecondNonresident00—no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree0%
2026FirstResident150150100.00%first choice only100%
2026FirstNonresident22100.00%first choice only100%
2025SecondResident3030100.00%first choice only100%
2025SecondNonresident00—first choice only0%
2025FirstResident138138100.00%first choice only100%
2025FirstNonresident11100.00%first choice only100%
2024SecondResident13232.27%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree2%
2024SecondNonresident100.00%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree0%
2024FirstResident4075012.29%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree12%
2024FirstNonresident100.00%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree0%
2023SecondResident13842.90%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree3%
2023SecondNonresident00—no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree0%
2023FirstResident4305011.63%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree12%
2023FirstNonresident500.00%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree0%
2022SecondResident31272.24%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree2%
2022SecondNonresident00—no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree0%
2022FirstResident82915018.09%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree18%
2022FirstNonresident200.00%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree0%
2021SecondResident328103.05%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree3%
2021SecondNonresident100.00%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree0%
2021FirstResident82115018.27%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree18%
2021FirstNonresident100.00%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree0%
2020FirstResident1064744.34%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree44%
2020FirstNonresident7342.86%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree43%
2019SecondResident12216.67%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree17%
2019SecondNonresident00—no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree0%
2019FirstResident734967.12%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree67%
2019FirstNonresident2150.00%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree50%
2018SecondResident2441—both draw choices100%
2018SecondNonresident00—both draw choices0%
2018FirstResident545—both draw choices100%
2018FirstNonresident00—both draw choices0%
2017SecondResident1639—both draw choices244%
2017SecondNonresident02—both draw choices0%
2017FirstResident1659—both draw choices100%
2017FirstNonresident01—both draw choices0%
2016FirstResident11897.63%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree8%
2016FirstNonresident3313.03%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree3%
2015FirstResident11897.63%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree8%
2015FirstNonresident2913.45%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree3%
2014FirstResident174148.05%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree8%
2014FirstNonresident10110.99%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree1%
2013SecondResident138148—both draw choices100%
2013SecondNonresident11—both draw choices100%
2013FirstResident267378—both draw choices100%
2013FirstNonresident37—both draw choices100%
2012FirstResident525096.15%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree96%
2012FirstNonresident00—no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree0%
2011FirstResident00—both draw choices0%
2011FirstNonresident03—both draw choices0%
2008FirstResident00—no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree0%
2008FirstNonresident00—no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree0%
2007FirstResident00—no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree0%
2007FirstNonresident55100.00%no permits went to second choice, so the two readings agree100%

Why some residency rates are blank. Idaho changed what its residency permit columns count around the 2019 season without renaming them. Before, they cover both application choices; from 2019, first choice only. The applicant columns are first-choice-only throughout. So on an older row where permits went to second-choice hunters, dividing one by the other counts winners the denominator never counted — on one 1998 deer hunt that arithmetic gives 250%. Rather than publish that, or pick an era and apply it to every row, this site reads which meaning each row's own totals support and leaves the rate empty where the two do not match.

IDFG's own figure is the percentage the department publishes alongside its counts. It is a rounded summary and it disagrees with its own rows: on the 1998 hunt above it reads 100. It is shown because the department publishes it and a reader will meet it elsewhere, not because it answers the question this page is about.

At least one row here has hunters who applied and no rate. That is the case above, and the "what the permit count covers" column says which.

Where Idaho's own figures disagree with each other

  • IDFG printed 10 different area labels for elk hunt 2161 across the seasons it published (22, 32-1X, 36A-1, 39-5, 46-1, 50-1, 52AX, 54, 60-1, 63X). Neither its label nor its internal area key is an identity, so this site shows what the department printed for each season and asserts nothing about whether the ground is the same.

Nothing above is corrected. Correcting it would mean publishing a figure the department never stated.

Sources for this hunt

  • elk/2026-draw2.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2026 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2026-draw1.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2026 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2025-draw2.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2025 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2025-draw1.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2025 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2024-draw2.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2024 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2024-draw1.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2024 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2023-draw2.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2023 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2023-draw1.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2023 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2022-draw2.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2022 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2022-draw1.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2022 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2021-draw2.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2021 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2021-draw1.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2021 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2020-draw1.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2020 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2019-draw2.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2019 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2019-draw1.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2019 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2018-draw2.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2018 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2018-draw1.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2018 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2017-draw2.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2017 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2017-draw1.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2017 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2016-draw1.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2016 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2015-draw1.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2015 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2014-draw1.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2014 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2013-draw2.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2013 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2013-draw1.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2013 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2012-draw1.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2012 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2011-draw1.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2011 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2008-draw1.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2008 season, fetched 2026-09-03
  • elk/2007-draw1.json — Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt drawing odds, 2007 season, fetched 2026-09-03

Nearby hunt numbers

Idaho grants no preference to previously unsuccessful applicants, so nothing on this page accumulates and nothing here predicts next season. See how these numbers are produced and checked, or the Idaho application deadlines.