Hunters can also apply for the first Super Hunt drawing through May 31.
The application period for fall 2025 deer, elk, pronghorn, swan, fall black bear, and fall turkey controlled hunts begins May 1 and runs through June 5. Hunters can also apply for the first Super Hunt drawing through May 31.
Hunters with a valid 2025 Idaho hunting license may apply for controlled hunts online at gooutdoorsidaho.com, at any license vendor, Fish and Game office, or by calling 1-800-554-8685. There is an additional fee for online and phone orders.
Controlled hunts are a chance at some of Idaho’s best buck and bull hunts, antlerless hunts, extra hunting opportunity, or tags set aside for youth hunters. The new 2025 Big Game Seasons and Rules booklets are available online, at Fish and Game regional offices, and should be available at license vendors soon, if not already. Reviewing the seasons and rules booklet can help you determine which controlled hunt is right for you.
Controlled hunts typically have higher success rates than general hunts, fewer hunters in the field, and many hunters feel they have a better chance of harvesting a mature bull or buck during a controlled hunt. The tradeoff is controlled hunts typically limit where and when you can hunt, as opposed to a statewide general deer hunt or general season elk zone tag that typically includes several hunting units.
Want to increase your chances of landing a coveted deer, elk, pronghorn, or moose tag? Idaho’s Super Hunt drawing includes tags for deer, elk, pronghorn, and moose and allow you to hunt any open unit – general or controlled hunt – for that species. It costs only $6 to apply for a Super Hunt entry for one species, or $20 for the Super Hunt Combo. You can enter as many times as you like, and it won’t affect your other controlled hunt applications because a Super Hunt tag is considered an “extra” tag. See the Super Hunt webpage for details.
Last year’s Super Hunt drawing raised about $1.9 million to fund sportsmen’s access programs and other big game management.
For controlled hunts, which are limited to a specific area, more specific information is required—and that’s where Fish and Game’s Hunt Planner comes in. The harvest stats for individual units and zones from the 2024 big game seasons, including both controlled hunts and general season hunts, are available on the Hunt Planner.
Hunters can also find controlled hunt draw odds from recent years in the Hunt Planner. While the draw odds vary from year to year depending on the number of applicants, these statistics can give hunters a general idea of how much interest there is in a specific controlled hunt.
Obviously, it’s a little early to make predictions about the 2025 fall big game seasons, but hunters are likely to see noticeable changes both good and bad. Last year's harvest data and winter survival monitoring of elk and mule deer herds, especially fawns and calves, provide a glimpse of what might happen in 2025 if harvests and survival continue on their current trajectory—at least from a statewide perspective.
Big game hunters apparently got after it in the fall of 2024, accomplishing a statewide hat trick of harvest increases—the first time since 2020—of elk, mule deer, and white-tailed deer. Hunters are no strangers to swings in populations and harvests, and Idaho Fish and Game wildlife biologists highlight that each year; there are a lot of contributing factors. But last year’s hunter harvest is a hopeful indicator that herds are once again back on track.
There’s not too much to go over in the “lows” department since harvest of all three species increased, but let’s start with mule deer this time, since they were the tragic stars of the dramatic 2023 winter. After a 22% drop in harvest (remember, these numbers are statewide) from 2022 to 2023, it was enough to put a smile on any mule deer hunter’s face to see that number go from 18,568 to 23,898 in the fall of ’24.
And elk were no different. While the stalwarts of the mountains didn’t necessarily see the same impacts of that brutal winter as their smaller, long-eared cousins, elk harvest in 2024 still rose roughly 13% from the previous year. Nearly a quarter of all general season elk hunters last year successfully hiked out of the mountains with an elk on their back, a statistic also slightly up from the previous hunting season. This year’s harvest landed at 97.5% of the 10-year average, which makes it about as close to a “normal” harvest as you can get with fluctuating annual harvests.
What about whitetails? What were they up to last fall? Well, I’m glad you asked. White-tailed deer represented the only “X” in the win column back in 2023’s hunter harvest report, where the primary “W” word was winter, not whitetails. But for the last two years now, white-tailed deer harvests have kept pushing the needle clockwise, accounting for roughly a 9% bump since 2022. In 2024, roughly 48,766 white-tailed deer hunters took home an estimated 20,908 whitetails statewide.
You can check out the full 2024 Hunter Harvest Report here.
Winter survival is typically the biggest single factor affecting mule deer herds, and the long-term average is about 60% of fawns surviving their first winter, but during hard winters that can be significantly lower. Earlier this winter, Fish and Game biologists captured and collared 173 mule deer fawns and 178 elk calves in various parts of the state to monitor herd health and track their survival throughout winter.
Statewide winter survival for mule deer fawns and elk calves has shown to be right in line with years past. Through the middle of March 2025, 67% of fawns and 93% of calves (with tracking collars) have neared the finish line on their first winter.
But, the race isn’t over just yet.
Depending on weather, late-March and April are often when fawn and calf mortality is the highest because the young animals' fat reserves are largely depleted, and their digestive systems need time to convert to digesting fresh, green forage.
“Right now, in the middle of April, things are looking promising for both deer and elk,” said Toby Boudreau, Fish and Game’s Deer and Elk Coordinator. “We’ll know for sure what survival will look like in the coming month, after we’ve tallied up the final numbers.”
Learn more about this winter’s deer and elk survival here.
Due to one of the traditional dates for resident capped elk zone sales falling on a weekend, the resident capped elk tag sale will be July 9 (other than Sawtooth) and July 11 for Sawtooth tags.
