Concerned about fires in your hunting area? Here's what you need to know

Idaho Fish and Game advises hunters heading into the backcountry this hunting season to check with Forest Service ranger district offices or county sheriffs’ offices for fire closures in their hunt areas. General fire information can be found online. 

Hunters can also find the location of fires in relation to hunting units on the Hunt Planner map page.

To display fire information on the Hunt Planner map:

1. Click "Turn Layers On/Off”
2. From the drop-down menu, select "Wildfires & Closure Related Layers"
3. Check the box for “USA Wildfire Incidents Acres.” 

Fish and Game generally doesn’t close hunts or change seasons in response to temporary fire closures. Most fires do not affect an entire hunt unit, elk zone, or controlled hunt unit for the duration of the hunt. Hunters have the option of hunting a different portion of the hunt area that is not affected by fires, or hunt later in the season when the fire is out and restrictions are lifted.

Idaho resident hunters may exchange tags to hunt in a different area if tags are available, such as uncapped elk zones or capped elk zones that are not yet sold out. Resident hunters with controlled hunt tags may exchange them for general season tags before the controlled hunt begins, but controlled hunt fees are not refunded. Resident hunters may also exchange controlled deer hunts for general deer hunt tags. 

Typically, a tag must be exchanged prior to that tag's season opener—although regional Fish and Game offices will occasionally extend deadlines for exchanging a tag when there are extenuating circumstances for a specific hunt.

Nonresident hunters may not exchange a controlled hunt tag because the nonresident limit of general hunt tags has sold out for 2024. Fish and Game may consider requests for rain checks or refunds on a case-by-case basis, but typically only in rare cases where all access to a controlled hunt area, or an elk zone, is blocked by fire or fire closures for the duration of a hunt.