Idaho Elk Mule Deer Black Bear

Unit 1 (Panhandle Zone)

Idaho Hunting Guide — Elk, Mule Deer, Black Bear

Unit 1 lies in Bonner and Boundary counties and covers about 2,449 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 1,748 to 7,636 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 8%. Federal land covers about 52% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

View Draw Odds Idaho Hunting Guide

🏔️

52%

Public Land

⛰️

1,760–7,004 ft

Sampled elevation

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 1

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Idaho Unit 1 guide around your hunt: three ranked spots with morning, afternoon and evening plays, a day-by-day plan, topo maps with every pin numbered, a camp and access plan, the legal and retrieval rules for this unit, shot discipline, a meat-care and pack-out plan, and a pre-trip checklist. Every coordinate sits on land recorded as public.

Elk guide Mule Deer guide Black Bear guide

Free accounts get one report a year with the top spot unlocked. ProHunt Pro includes unlimited reports, all three spots, the full camp plan, and GPX/KML downloads for onX and Google Earth. Prefer to see one first? Open the builder and pick any unit.

Elk Hunting in Unit 1

Where to Find Elk in Unit 1

Idaho Fish and Game draws an exact line around unit 1 and says nothing about where the elk stand inside it. Every place named below sits inside the unit line. Which of them holds animals in your season is for you to find out. The unit lies in Bonner and Boundary counties. It runs to about 2,449 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up elk hunting in unit 1

Idaho Fish and Game runs its general elk seasons by elk management zone rather than unit by unit, and puts unit 1 in the Panhandle Zone, so the zone's tag rules are the ones that apply here.

The lines of the unit: Pend Oreille River, Pend Oreille Lake and Clark Fork River

Idaho Fish and Game describes unit 1 as all of Boundary County and that portion of Bonner County north of the Pend Oreille River, Pend Oreille Lake and Clark Fork River. It tells you the shape of the unit and nothing about its inhabitants. What it does give you is the way in: the rivers and highways you cross, and the divides that decide which drainage you end up in.

High ground inside the line: Parker Peak, Smith Peak and Fisher Peak

Named high points inside the unit include Parker Peak at 7,636 feet, Smith Peak at 7,631 feet, Fisher Peak at 7,583 feet, Twin Peaks at 7,555 feet and Snowy Top at 7,510 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Elk want timber to bed in and open ground to feed on, within a short walk of each other.

Holding ground: Cooks Pass, Kelly Pass and Schweitzer Basin

Below them sit Cooks Pass at 5,276 feet, Kelly Pass at 5,252 feet, Schweitzer Basin at 5,027 feet, Boulder Meadows at 4,979 feet and Caribou Pass at 4,942 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Two you can watch from a single knob is worth more than five you have to drive between.

Water: Benton Spring, Leslie Springs and Torrelle Falls

The water inside the unit line comes to 1,683 mapped stream reaches, 177 lakes, 628 stock tanks and 8 springs. Named sources include Benton Spring, Leslie Springs, Torrelle Falls, Caribou Falls and Upper Priest Falls. On ground with that many tanks, knowing which two or three hold water in your season is the most useful thing a scouting trip can tell you.

Reading the land status

Our ownership read for this unit is approximate — it comes out as National Forest 60%, Private / Other 17%, BLM 15% and State Trust 8%, so treat it as a starting point and check a current land-status layer before you plan a route. Named ground inside unit 1 runs from 1,748 feet to 7,636 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.

Unit 1 terrain and land status

Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up

The lay of it

1,760–7,004 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 3,624 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
2,448.7 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.

Who owns the ground

National Forest — 60%
BLM — 15%
State Trust — 8%
Private / Other — 17%

Roughly 83% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

628 tanks
8 springs
1,683 stream segments
177 lakes

Counts from mapping data, so this is how many exist, not how many hold water in a dry year. Sitting water only pays where you find fresh tracks.

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Parker Peak (7,636 ft), Smith Peak (7,631 ft), Fisher Peak (7,583 ft), Twin Peaks (7,555 ft)

Holding ground: Pyramid Pass (6,708 ft), Long Canyon Pass (6,514 ft), Canuck Pass (5,820 ft), Benton Spring, Leslie Springs

Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.

How to Hunt Elk in Unit 1

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put elk success in unit 1 at 8% across all manners of take. A number that low means most hunters here go home empty, and the ones who don't put the days in first. The plan: find the feed, find the timber it backs onto, then watch the seam between them at the edges of the day.

The 2026 controlled hunts in unit 1

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 rules list one controlled hunt for elk on unit 1 under its own number.

Hunt 2146 — youth only, antlerless elk, 25 tags, Aug 30–Sep 30 and Oct 10–Dec 1

Dates and tag numbers are IDFG's as printed for that season, and IDFG changes hunt areas between years, so check the current booklet before you apply.

Applying for a unit 1 tag

Idaho Fish and Game's first application period for deer, elk and pronghorn runs May 1 to June 5, with results in early July, and a second period runs August 5 to 15 for what is left. A hunter drawn for a limited antlered-only elk hunt sits out the next year's first period for that kind of hunt; unlimited and extra hunts are exempt. Two to four hunters may apply together for the same hunt. Idaho's draw is random, with no preference or bonus points to build.

Glassing from Harrison Peak, Long Mountain and The Lions Head

Take a position on one of Harrison Peak (7,242 ft), Long Mountain (7,240 ft), The Lions Head (7,220 ft) and Roman Nose (7,216 ft) and be on it before light. Work the morning with the air falling away from you, then accept that by mid-morning the wind has reversed and the plan has to change with it. A tripod is worth more here than another hour of walking. On the rut hunts, September bugling works where you can get above a drainage and let the thermals carry sound downhill.

Water against feed

There are 1,683 mapped stream reaches and 628 tanks inside the unit, so water is rarely the limiting factor. Where water is everywhere, feed is what concentrates animals, so hunt the feed and treat water as a convenience. Sitting water works where you can see fresh tracks going in, and nowhere else.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Season normals here run Sep 73/43°F, Oct 56/35°F and Nov 41/29°F. Warm afternoons compress the hunting into the first and last hour, and make meat care the day's real problem rather than the shot. Precipitation runs about 1.2 in. in Sep, 2.2 in. in Oct and 3.3 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

Getting past the roads: ID 200 and Sunnyside Road

ID 200 and US 2 are the paved frame, which is also where everyone else starts. FR 2291, FR 1094 and FR 1098 need clearance, and that is usually where the boot tracks thin out. There are roughly 12.8 miles of genuine four-wheel-drive road in the unit, and the country past the end of them is the part worth your legs.

What we can't tell you

Some of the ground named above carries no land-status flag we trust, so check ownership on a current layer before you hunt it.

Getting in and staying out: unit 1

Named routes and what they need

ID 200 — 8.5 mi · Paved (all rigs)
Sunnyside Road — 8.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
US 2 — 6.3 mi · Paved (all rigs)
FR 2291 — 4 mi · High-clearance
FR 1094 — 3.6 mi · High-clearance
FR 1098 — 3.5 mi · High-clearance

Ratings come from road data, not from a drive this season. Check current conditions with the managing office before you commit a trailer.

Nearest services

Naples — 6.9 mi · no services listed
Bonners Ferry — 12.5 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Moyie Springs — 18.3 mi · no services listed
Kootenai — 19.8 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Ponderay — 20.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging

Developed camps

Trestle Creek
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site
Bonner County Fairgrounds
The Hemlocks RV and Lodge

Season weather and signal

Jan33° / 23° · 3.2" precip
Aug84° / 50° · 0.7" precip
Sep73° / 43° · 1.2" precip
Oct56° / 35° · 2.2" precip
Nov41° / 29° · 3.3" precip
Dec33° / 23° · 3.7" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 26% of the unit. Plan on being out of contact and tell someone your route.

Idaho rules that decide your day

Summarised from IDFG regulations. They change — read the current regulations and your permit-tag before you hunt.

Legal shooting hours

Big game may be taken from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

Motorized retrieval

Idaho has no general off-road retrieval allowance on federal ground; stay on designated routes.

Tagging

Validate the tag by cutting out the month and day, and attach it to the carcass before moving it.

Leaving meat

Wasting edible meat is illegal.

Where you may not shoot

Occupied structures — No shooting from or across a public highway, and no shooting toward an occupied dwelling.

Elk: where to put the shot

Broadside or quartering away, on the back edge of the front leg about a third of the way up the body. That is lungs, and on a quartering-away angle it picks up the far shoulder.

Shots to refuse

No straight-on and no straight-away shots. An elk's chest is deep and the margin is small.
Nothing standing behind or overlapping the animal you picked. A pass-through kills the elk behind it too.
Your maximum range is the farthest you have put three shots in a paper plate off the sticks you are actually carrying. Not the farthest you have ever hit anything.
Scope on 3–4x. A herd fills a 12x field of view and you lose the animal you picked.

Identification:On an antlerless tag, legal means no antler of any kind through the skin. A spike looks exactly like a cow until it turns its head. If you can't see the head, don't shoot.

Plan the carry: roughly 150– 220 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — two to four large coolers, plus bagged ice from town. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

Pro Members Only

Unlock elk tactics for Unit 1

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Elk Success Rates

Rifle8%

Archery10%

Muzzleloader12%

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 1 at 8% — 237 animals taken by 2,860 hunters. That is a lot of hunters in one unit, and the percentage is what it looks like after all of them have been through it.

These are the agency's own printed figures for this unit, not a modelled estimate and not a state average. They describe one season, so check Idaho Fish and Game's current harvest estimates before you read a trend into them.

Elk Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (resident)	54	318	17.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	6	105	6.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident)	3	118	3.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident)	1	52	2.0%	—

Data from 2025 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number. This agency publishes no point thresholds, so the Pts column stays blank and these are pool odds, not what a point total draws.

Open in Draw Odds Engine

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 first drawing for elk in unit 1, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 2146 — residents 63 applicants for 24 tags, 38% drawn; nonresidents 3 applicants for 1 tag, 33% drawn

Idaho draws at random with no point system, so these are what that year happened to look like, not a requirement to build toward. Idaho Fish and Game reuses hunt numbers for different areas between years, so the figures are matched on the area each hunt had in 2025. Checked against Idaho Fish and Game's hunt planner draw results on 2026-06-09.

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 1

Unit 1 lies in Bonner and Boundary counties and covers about 2,449 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 1,748 to 7,636 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put deer success here as high as 37%. Federal land covers about 52% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 1

What Idaho Fish and Game publishes for unit 1 is a boundary, not a mule deer map. So the ground below is the unit's own and the read on where to start is ours, labelled as such. The unit lies in Bonner and Boundary counties. It runs to about 2,449 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up mule deer hunting in unit 1

Idaho Fish and Game keeps a general deer season page for unit 1, and that page is where this year's dates and weapon rules live.

The lines of the unit: Pend Oreille River, Pend Oreille Lake and Clark Fork River

Idaho Fish and Game describes unit 1 as all of Boundary County and that portion of Bonner County north of the Pend Oreille River, Pend Oreille Lake and Clark Fork River. That is a legal description, not a habitat map. Those features are what you will check against the map all week, and the divides among them are the ones that matter.

High ground inside the line: Pyramid Peak, Mount Roothaan and Farnham Ridge

Named high points inside the unit include Pyramid Peak at 7,332 feet, Mount Roothaan at 7,293 feet, Farnham Ridge at 7,271 feet, Harrison Peak at 7,242 feet and Long Mountain at 7,240 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Mule deer bed on broken ground with a view and feed on the brush below it.

Holding ground: Auxor Basin, Twentymile Pass and Beaver Pass

Below them sit Auxor Basin at 4,911 feet, Twentymile Pass at 4,583 feet, Beaver Pass at 4,526 feet, Happy Fork Gap at 3,772 feet and Canyon Gap at 3,706 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.

Water: Benton Spring, Leslie Springs and Torrelle Falls

Reading the land status

Unit 1 terrain and land status

Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up

The lay of it

1,760–7,004 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 3,624 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
2,448.7 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.

Who owns the ground

National Forest — 60%
BLM — 15%
State Trust — 8%
Private / Other — 17%

Roughly 83% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

628 tanks
8 springs
1,683 stream segments
177 lakes

Counts from mapping data, so this is how many exist, not how many hold water in a dry year. Sitting water only pays where you find fresh tracks.

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Parker Peak (7,636 ft), Smith Peak (7,631 ft), Fisher Peak (7,583 ft), Twin Peaks (7,555 ft)

Holding ground: Pyramid Pass (6,708 ft), Long Canyon Pass (6,514 ft), Canuck Pass (5,820 ft), Benton Spring, Leslie Springs

Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.

How to Hunt Mule Deer in Unit 1

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put deer success in unit 1 at 37% across all manners of take. That is an ordinary spread for this country, and it rewards whoever scouted. The plan: glass the broken edges at first light, then sit still and keep glassing the same ground.

Glassing from Kent Peak, Silver Dollar Peak and Myrtle Peak

Take a position on one of Kent Peak (7,215 ft), Silver Dollar Peak (7,117 ft), Myrtle Peak (7,106 ft) and McCormick Ridge (7,076 ft) and be on it before light. Work the morning with the air falling away from you, then accept that by mid-morning the wind has reversed and the plan has to change with it. Glass the edges first, then the shaded timber, then the edges again as the light goes. On the rut hunts, late-season hunts put bucks with doe groups and moving in daylight.

Water against feed

There are 1,683 mapped stream reaches and 628 tanks inside the unit, so water is rarely the limiting factor. Where water is everywhere, feed is what concentrates animals, so hunt the feed and treat water as a convenience. Check the ground around it before you commit an evening to it.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads: ID 200 and Sunnyside Road

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Parker Peak, Smith Peak, Fisher Peak and Twin Peaks as places to see from, and Pyramid Pass, Long Canyon Pass, Canuck Pass and Benton Spring as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the unit line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Join two of them into a morning: be on the first before light, move to the second once the thermals turn.

What a day here costs you

2,449 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. The nearest services are at Naples, about 7 miles out, which is an hour of your morning each way if you sleep there. With 5,888 feet between the lowest and highest ground, the walk back up out of a kill site is the part to plan first. Leave the truck earlier than you want to and you will hunt the best half-hour of the day.

What we can't tell you

Some of the ground named above carries no land-status flag we trust, so check ownership on a current layer before you hunt it.

Getting in and staying out: unit 1

Named routes and what they need

ID 200 — 8.5 mi · Paved (all rigs)
Sunnyside Road — 8.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
US 2 — 6.3 mi · Paved (all rigs)
FR 2291 — 4 mi · High-clearance
FR 1094 — 3.6 mi · High-clearance
FR 1098 — 3.5 mi · High-clearance

Ratings come from road data, not from a drive this season. Check current conditions with the managing office before you commit a trailer.

Nearest services

Naples — 6.9 mi · no services listed
Bonners Ferry — 12.5 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Moyie Springs — 18.3 mi · no services listed
Kootenai — 19.8 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Ponderay — 20.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging

Developed camps

Trestle Creek
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site
Bonner County Fairgrounds
The Hemlocks RV and Lodge

Season weather and signal

Jan33° / 23° · 3.2" precip
Aug84° / 50° · 0.7" precip
Sep73° / 43° · 1.2" precip
Oct56° / 35° · 2.2" precip
Nov41° / 29° · 3.3" precip
Dec33° / 23° · 3.7" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 26% of the unit. Plan on being out of contact and tell someone your route.

Idaho rules that decide your day

Summarised from IDFG regulations. They change — read the current regulations and your permit-tag before you hunt.

Legal shooting hours

Big game may be taken from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

Motorized retrieval

Idaho has no general off-road retrieval allowance on federal ground; stay on designated routes.

Tagging

Validate the tag by cutting out the month and day, and attach it to the carcass before moving it.

Leaving meat

Wasting edible meat is illegal.

Where you may not shoot

Occupied structures — No shooting from or across a public highway, and no shooting toward an occupied dwelling.

Mule Deer: where to put the shot

Broadside or quartering away, on the back edge of the front leg about a third of the way up the body.

Shots to refuse

Nothing behind or overlapping the animal you picked.
Your maximum range is the farthest you have shot a three-shot group into a paper plate from the rest you are carrying.
Pass the shot you are talking yourself into.

Plan the carry: roughly 40– 120 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — two large coolers. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

Pro Members Only

Unlock mule deer tactics for Unit 1

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Mule Deer Success Rates

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put deer success in unit 1 at 37% — 2,765 animals taken by 7,507 hunters. That is a lot of hunters in one unit, and the percentage is what it looks like after all of them have been through it. The figure is IDFG's result for deer in the unit, not for mule deer alone.

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (resident)	15	22	68.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident)	2	8	25.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—

Open in Draw Odds Engine

Idaho Fish and Game's draw results for 2022 to 2026 carry no first-drawing mule deer hunt we can tie to unit 1. Rather than estimate, we leave it blank: Idaho Fish and Game's hunt planner lists drawing odds hunt by hunt.

Black Bear Hunting in Unit 1

Unit 1 lies in Bonner and Boundary counties and covers about 2,449 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 1,748 to 7,636 feet. Idaho Fish and Game publishes no per-unit black bear success figure we can verify for this unit. Federal land covers about 52% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Black Bear in Unit 1

What Idaho Fish and Game publishes for unit 1 is a boundary, not a black bear map. So the ground below is the unit's own and the read on where to start is ours, labelled as such. The unit lies in Bonner and Boundary counties. It runs to about 2,449 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up black bear hunting in unit 1

Idaho Fish and Game lists its general black bear seasons unit by unit in the Big Game booklet, sometimes several units to a line, with fall and spring dates and its rules on bait and hounds beside them, so unit 1's line there is the one to read.

The lines of the unit: Pend Oreille River, Pend Oreille Lake and Clark Fork River

Idaho Fish and Game describes unit 1 as all of Boundary County and that portion of Bonner County north of the Pend Oreille River, Pend Oreille Lake and Clark Fork River. It tells you the shape of the unit and nothing about its inhabitants. Those features are what you will check against the map all week, and the divides among them are the ones that matter.

High ground inside the line: The Lions Head, Roman Nose and Kent Peak

Named high points inside the unit include The Lions Head at 7,220 feet, Roman Nose at 7,216 feet, Kent Peak at 7,215 feet, Silver Dollar Peak at 7,117 feet and Myrtle Peak at 7,106 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Bears follow food, which in early autumn means oakbrush, chokecherry and serviceberry on south slopes.

Holding ground: Packer Meadows, Cabinet Pass and McCormack Meadows

Below them sit Packer Meadows at 3,633 feet, Cabinet Pass at 3,537 feet, McCormack Meadows at 3,358 feet, Hughes Meadows at 2,927 feet and Bath Creek Gorge at 2,846 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.

Water: Benton Spring, Leslie Springs and Torrelle Falls

Reading the land status

Unit 1 terrain and land status

Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up

The lay of it

1,760–7,004 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 3,624 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
2,448.7 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.

Who owns the ground

National Forest — 60%
BLM — 15%
State Trust — 8%
Private / Other — 17%

Roughly 83% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

628 tanks
8 springs
1,683 stream segments
177 lakes

Counts from mapping data, so this is how many exist, not how many hold water in a dry year. Sitting water only pays where you find fresh tracks.

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Parker Peak (7,636 ft), Smith Peak (7,631 ft), Fisher Peak (7,583 ft), Twin Peaks (7,555 ft)

Holding ground: Pyramid Pass (6,708 ft), Long Canyon Pass (6,514 ft), Canuck Pass (5,820 ft), Benton Spring, Leslie Springs

Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.

How to Hunt Black Bear in Unit 1

Idaho Fish and Game publishes no black bear success figure for unit 1 that we can tie to this unit alone, so we won't quote one. The plan: find the berry crop first, then glass it morning and evening until something is in it.

Glassing from Hunt Peak, Cascade Ridge and Abandon Mountain

Take a position on one of Hunt Peak (7,032 ft), Cascade Ridge (7,021 ft), Abandon Mountain (7,004 ft) and The Wigwams (7,002 ft) and be on it before light. Work the morning with the air falling away from you, then accept that by mid-morning the wind has reversed and the plan has to change with it. Glass the edges first, then the shaded timber, then the edges again as the light goes. On the rut hunts, September hunts coincide with the feeding push before denning.

Water against feed

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads: ID 200 and Sunnyside Road

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Parker Peak, Smith Peak, Fisher Peak and Twin Peaks as places to see from, and Pyramid Pass, Long Canyon Pass, Canuck Pass and Benton Spring as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the unit line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Take the pair you can reach on one road and treat the rest as a second trip.

What a day here costs you

2,449 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. The nearest services are at Naples, about 7 miles out, which is an hour of your morning each way if you sleep there. With 5,888 feet between the lowest and highest ground, the walk back up out of a kill site is the part to plan first. Decide the night before where you will be at first light, and go there in the dark.

Getting in and staying out: unit 1

Named routes and what they need

ID 200 — 8.5 mi · Paved (all rigs)
Sunnyside Road — 8.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
US 2 — 6.3 mi · Paved (all rigs)
FR 2291 — 4 mi · High-clearance
FR 1094 — 3.6 mi · High-clearance
FR 1098 — 3.5 mi · High-clearance

Ratings come from road data, not from a drive this season. Check current conditions with the managing office before you commit a trailer.

Nearest services

Naples — 6.9 mi · no services listed
Bonners Ferry — 12.5 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Moyie Springs — 18.3 mi · no services listed
Kootenai — 19.8 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Ponderay — 20.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging

Developed camps

Trestle Creek
Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site
Bonner County Fairgrounds
The Hemlocks RV and Lodge

Season weather and signal

Jan33° / 23° · 3.2" precip
Aug84° / 50° · 0.7" precip
Sep73° / 43° · 1.2" precip
Oct56° / 35° · 2.2" precip
Nov41° / 29° · 3.3" precip
Dec33° / 23° · 3.7" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 26% of the unit. Plan on being out of contact and tell someone your route.

Idaho rules that decide your day

Summarised from IDFG regulations. They change — read the current regulations and your permit-tag before you hunt.

Legal shooting hours

Big game may be taken from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

Motorized retrieval

Idaho has no general off-road retrieval allowance on federal ground; stay on designated routes.

Tagging

Validate the tag by cutting out the month and day, and attach it to the carcass before moving it.

Leaving meat

Wasting edible meat is illegal.

Where you may not shoot

Occupied structures — No shooting from or across a public highway, and no shooting toward an occupied dwelling.

Black Bear: where to put the shot

Broadside or quartering away, on the back edge of the front leg about a third of the way up the body.

Shots to refuse

Nothing behind or overlapping the animal you picked.
Your maximum range is the farthest you have shot a three-shot group into a paper plate from the rest you are carrying.
Pass the shot you are talking yourself into.

Plan the carry: roughly 40– 120 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — two large coolers. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

Pro Members Only

Unlock bear tactics for Unit 1

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Black Bear Success Rates

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 general-hunt harvest statistics carry no black bear success figure for unit 1 with a hunter count behind it, so we leave the number out rather than print one we cannot read back to this unit. Idaho Fish and Game's hunt planner is the place to check before you apply.

Black Bear Draw Odds

Draw odds data not available for this specific unit/species combination in our database.

Search Idaho Draw Odds

Idaho Fish and Game's draw results for 2022 to 2026 carry no first-drawing black bear hunt we can tie to unit 1 — black bear draws are not in the results we hold. Rather than estimate, we leave it blank: Idaho Fish and Game's hunt planner lists drawing odds hunt by hunt.

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

⛺

Camp Sites

57 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit, including Trestle Creek, Bonner County Fairgrounds and The Hemlocks RV and Lodge.

🛣️

Road Conditions

ID 200, Sunnyside Road and US 2 are the named routes in the unit. Roughly 16 mi paved, 35 mi gravel and 13 mi four-wheel-drive.

🥾

Terrain Difficulty

Named features from 1,748 to 7,636 ft. More than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so plan the pack-out before the shot.

👥

Hunting Pressure

Our land-status read for this unit is approximate, so treat any pressure estimate from it with suspicion and check a current ownership layer.

🌦️

Weather

Season normals: Sep 73/43°F, 1.2 in.; Oct 56/35°F, 2.2 in.; Nov 41/29°F, 3.3 in..

📱

Cell Service

Verizon 26%, AT&T 17%, T-Mobile 9% of the unit area — modelled coverage, not measured. Assume no signal off the paved road.

🏘️

Nearest Town

Naples (7 mi), Bonners Ferry (13 mi), Moyie Springs (18 mi)

Pro Members Only

Unlock Unit 1 logistics

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Idaho unit 1?

Unit 1 lies in Bonner and Boundary counties. Idaho Fish and Game describes unit 1 as all of Boundary County and that portion of Bonner County north of the Pend Oreille River, Pend Oreille Lake and Clark Fork River. It covers about 2,449 square miles.

What is the elk success rate in unit 1?

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 1 at 8% across all manners of take. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

Where do you stay and resupply for a unit 1 hunt?

The nearest services our logistics pipeline finds for unit 1 are at Naples, about 7 miles from the unit's centre, with Bonners Ferry at about 13 miles. There are also 57 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit.

What is the mule deer success rate in unit 1?

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put deer success in unit 1 at 37% across all manners of take. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

What is the black bear success rate in unit 1?

Idaho Fish and Game publishes no black bear success figure we can tie to unit 1 on its own — the 2025 harvest tables either omit the unit or report it in a grouping we could not read back to it reliably. Rather than quote a statewide average as though it were measured here, we say so. Check Idaho Fish and Game's current harvest estimates before you apply.

Free Hunt Planning Tools

🎰 Idaho Draw Odds Unit-level tag success rates 📅 Application Timeline Deadlines for all 9 states 🦌 Rut Forecast Peak rut timing by species 💰 Hunt Cost Calculator Budget your entire hunt

Plan Your Hunt with ProHunt Pro

Unlock advanced tactics, the Tag-to-Trail Planner, AI hunt strategy assistant, and personalized camp and trip execution plans.

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Sources & Verification

Every fact on this page is tied to a primary source below. Last fact-checked 2026-10-24.

Idaho Big Game 2026 Seasons & Rules — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Game management unit boundary description, Counties the unit lies in, Controlled hunt numbers, tags and season dates · accessed 2026-10-24
IDFG Panhandle Zone elk tag limits — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Season structure for the unit · accessed 2026-10-24
IDFG Hunt Planner — 2025 general hunt harvest statistics — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Harvest, hunters and percent success for elk in unit 1 · accessed 2026-10-19
IDFG Hunt Planner — controlled hunt drawing odds — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Applicants, tags and percent drawn by hunt, year and residency · accessed 2026-06-09
IDFG GameManagementUnits and ControlledHunts_All feature services — game management units and every species' controlled-hunt areas — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Mapped extent of the unit or hunt area, Which named ground falls inside its line · accessed 2026-10-24
IDFG general deer season page for unit 1 — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Season structure for the unit · accessed 2026-10-24

Unit 1 (Panhandle Zone)

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 1

Elk Hunting in Unit 1

Where to Find Elk in Unit 1

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up elk hunting in unit 1

The lines of the unit: Pend Oreille River, Pend Oreille Lake and Clark Fork River

High ground inside the line: Parker Peak, Smith Peak and Fisher Peak

Holding ground: Cooks Pass, Kelly Pass and Schweitzer Basin

Water: Benton Spring, Leslie Springs and Torrelle Falls

Reading the land status

Unit 1 terrain and land status

The lay of it

Who owns the ground

Water on the ground

Named features inside the unit

How to Hunt Elk in Unit 1

Elk Success Rates

Elk Draw Odds

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 1

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 1

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up mule deer hunting in unit 1

The lines of the unit: Pend Oreille River, Pend Oreille Lake and Clark Fork River

High ground inside the line: Pyramid Peak, Mount Roothaan and Farnham Ridge

Holding ground: Auxor Basin, Twentymile Pass and Beaver Pass

Water: Benton Spring, Leslie Springs and Torrelle Falls

Reading the land status

Unit 1 terrain and land status

The lay of it

Who owns the ground

Water on the ground

Named features inside the unit

How to Hunt Mule Deer in Unit 1

Mule Deer Success Rates

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Black Bear Hunting in Unit 1

Where to Find Black Bear in Unit 1

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up black bear hunting in unit 1

The lines of the unit: Pend Oreille River, Pend Oreille Lake and Clark Fork River

High ground inside the line: The Lions Head, Roman Nose and Kent Peak

Holding ground: Packer Meadows, Cabinet Pass and McCormack Meadows

Water: Benton Spring, Leslie Springs and Torrelle Falls

Reading the land status

Unit 1 terrain and land status

The lay of it

Who owns the ground

Water on the ground

Named features inside the unit

How to Hunt Black Bear in Unit 1

Black Bear Success Rates

Black Bear Draw Odds

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Explore Related Units

Unit 1 — Elk

Unit 32 — Black Bear

Frequently Asked Questions

Free Hunt Planning Tools

Plan Your Hunt with ProHunt Pro

Sources & Verification