Commission Sets Tag Quotas

The number of general hunt elk and deer tags allowed for nonresidents will be about the same for next year as in the last several years. Meeting in Salmon in early October, the Fish and Game Commission adopted the recommendations of the department in allowing 12,800 regular deer tags, 1,200 Southeast deer tags, 11,000 elk tags everywhere outside the Panhandle and 1,815 Panhandle elk tags. The number of outfitter setaside tags were reduced in the southeast deer zone from 130 to 85. Hunters who chose to take a "rain check" in the 2000 season because their areas were affected by wildfires will have the chance to buy tags over and above the quotas. Nonresident deer tags outside the southeast zone have not been sold out in recent years. Elk tags have not yet sold out this fall. For the first time, the Commission has allowed resident hunters to buy unsold nonresident tags at nonresident fees this fall.