Idaho Mule Deer Elk

Unit 11 (Hells Canyon Zone)

Idaho Hunting Guide — Mule Deer, Elk

Unit 11 lies in Idaho, Lewis and Nez Perce counties and covers about 759 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 804 to 5,718 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put deer success here as high as 39%. Federal land covers about 6% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

View Draw Odds Idaho Hunting Guide

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Public Land

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1,461–5,061 ft

Sampled elevation

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 11

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Idaho Unit 11 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.

Mule Deer guide Elk guide

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Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 11

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 11

Idaho Fish and Game draws an exact line around unit 11 and says nothing about where the mule deer stand inside it. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Idaho, Lewis and Nez Perce counties. It runs to about 759 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up mule deer hunting in unit 11

Idaho Fish and Game keeps a general deer season page for unit 11, and that page is where this year's dates and weapon rules live.

The lines of the unit: Clearwater River, Graves Creek and Salmon River

Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 11 in Idaho, Lewis and Nez Perce counties on a line that runs along U.S. 95, and past Clearwater River, Graves Creek, Salmon River and Snake River, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. 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: Cottonwood Butte, Craig Mountain and Frye Point

Named high points inside the unit include Cottonwood Butte at 5,718 feet, Craig Mountain at 5,320 feet, Frye Point at 5,079 feet, Fort Simons Ridge at 4,818 feet and Mason Butte at 4,620 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: Polly Canyon, Cold Spring Gulch and Pruitt Draw

Below them sit Polly Canyon at 2,609 feet, Cold Spring Gulch at 2,448 feet, Pruitt Draw at 2,152 feet, Blackburn Gulch at 2,141 feet and Hamilton Canyon at 1,778 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this unit has, and they are what you glass into from above. Reaching the edge of one before light beats reaching its middle at noon.

Water: Roberts Spring, Howerton Spring and Mud Springs

The water inside the unit line comes to 152 mapped stream reaches, 18 lakes and 19 stock tanks. Named sources include Roberts Spring, Howerton Spring and Mud Springs. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

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 11 runs from 804 feet to 5,718 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.

Unit 11 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

1,461–5,061 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 3,449 ft ; peaks can run higher.
759.2 sq mi inside the boundary.

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

19 tanks
152 stream segments
18 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: Cottonwood Butte (5,718 ft), Craig Mountain (5,320 ft), Frye Point (5,079 ft), Fort Simons Ridge (4,818 ft)

Holding ground: Kruze Meadows (4,692 ft), Benton Meadows (4,683 ft), Pruitt Draw (2,152 ft), Roberts Spring, Howerton Spring

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 11

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put deer success in unit 11 at 39% 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.

The 2026 controlled hunts in unit 11

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 rules list 3 controlled hunts for mule deer on unit 11 under its own number.

Hunt 1002 — antlered deer, 50 tags, Oct 10–Nov 3
Hunt 1003 — antlered deer, 25 tags, Nov 10–Nov 24
Hunt 1149 — outfitter allocation deer, antlered deer only, 1 tag, Oct 10–Nov 3

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 11 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 deer 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 Moughmer Point, Moughmer Ridge and Golden Ridge

Take a position on one of Moughmer Point (4,166 ft), Moughmer Ridge (4,162 ft), Golden Ridge (3,817 ft) and Webb Ridge (3,572 ft) and be on it before light. In the dark the air runs downhill. Pick an approach that doesn't send it into the country you want to see, and plan to move once the slope warms. Give a basin forty minutes before you decide it is empty. On the rut hunts, late-season hunts put bucks with doe groups and moving in daylight.

Water against feed

There are 152 mapped stream reaches and 19 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

Season normals here run Sep 71/44°F, Oct 56/36°F and Nov 43/29°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 in. in Sep, 1.8 in. in Oct and 2 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

Getting past the roads: US 95 and Winchester Grade

US 95 is the paved frame, which is also where everyone else starts. There are roughly 6.1 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 11

Named routes and what they need

US 95 — 24 mi · Paved (all rigs)
Winchester Grade — 8.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Graves Creek Road — 5 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Eagle Creek Road — 4.7 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Talmaks Road — 4.1 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Old Highway 95 — 2.7 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)

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

Craigmont — 13 mi · no services listed
Culdesac — 15 mi · no services listed
Ferdinand / palx̂óockin — 15.5 mi · no services listed
Lapwai / léepwey — 17.5 mi · no services listed
Cottonwood — 19 mi · fuel

Developed camps

American Bar Campsite
Wikiup North Campsite
Upper Dem Bones Campsite
Lower Dem Bones Campsite
Killer Goat Campsite

Season weather and signal

Jan37° / 24° · 1.7" precip
Aug80° / 50° · 0.7" precip
Sep71° / 44° · 1" precip
Oct56° / 36° · 1.8" precip
Nov43° / 29° · 2" precip
Dec36° / 23° · 1.7" 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.

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Mule Deer Success Rates

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put deer success in unit 11 at 39% — 598 animals taken by 1,547 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.

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.

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (resident)	45	657	7.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	5	99	5.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident)	2	276	1.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident)	1	44	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 mule deer in unit 11, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 1002 — residents 657 applicants for 45 tags, 7% drawn; nonresidents 99 applicants for 5 tags, 5% drawn
Hunt 1003 — residents 499 applicants for 23 tags, 5% drawn; nonresidents 112 applicants for 2 tags, 2% 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.

Elk Hunting in Unit 11

Unit 11 lies in Idaho, Lewis and Nez Perce counties and covers about 759 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 804 to 5,718 feet. Idaho Fish and Game publishes no per-unit elk success figure we can verify for this unit. Federal land covers about 6% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Elk in Unit 11

Idaho Fish and Game's material on unit 11 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its elk live. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Idaho, Lewis and Nez Perce counties. It runs to about 759 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up elk hunting in unit 11

Idaho Fish and Game runs its general elk seasons by elk management zone rather than unit by unit, and puts unit 11 in the Hells Canyon Zone, so the zone's tag rules are the ones that apply here.

The lines of the unit: Clearwater River, Graves Creek and Salmon River

Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 11 in Idaho, Lewis and Nez Perce counties on a line that runs along U.S. 95, and past Clearwater River, Graves Creek, Salmon River and Snake River, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. 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: Hoover Point, Wapshilla Ridge and Polly Ridge

Named high points inside the unit include Hoover Point at 4,577 feet, Wapshilla Ridge at 4,542 feet, Polly Ridge at 4,211 feet, Moughmer Point at 4,166 feet and Moughmer Ridge at 4,162 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: Bug Slope, Packers Gulch and Short Canyon

Below them sit Bug Slope at 1,637 feet, Packers Gulch at 1,591 feet, Short Canyon at 1,425 feet, Rocky Canyon at 1,319 feet and Thiessen Gulch at 1,229 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Work out which of them you can see from one position before you pick a camp.

Water: Roberts Spring, Howerton Spring and Mud Springs

Reading the land status

Unit 11 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

1,461–5,061 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 3,449 ft ; peaks can run higher.
759.2 sq mi inside the boundary.

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

19 tanks
152 stream segments
18 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: Cottonwood Butte (5,718 ft), Craig Mountain (5,320 ft), Frye Point (5,079 ft), Fort Simons Ridge (4,818 ft)

Holding ground: Kruze Meadows (4,692 ft), Benton Meadows (4,683 ft), Pruitt Draw (2,152 ft), Roberts Spring, Howerton Spring

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 11

Idaho Fish and Game publishes no elk success figure for unit 11 that we can tie to this unit alone, so we won't quote one. 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 11

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 rules list 2 controlled hunts for elk on unit 11 under its own number.

Hunt 2001 — antlered elk, 40 tags, Oct 10–Nov 3
Hunt 2176 — outfitter allocation elk, 5 tags, Oct 10–Nov 3. Antlered only

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 11 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 Gold Hill, Culdesac Hill and McCormack Ridge

Take a position on one of Gold Hill (3,245 ft), Culdesac Hill (2,815 ft), McCormack Ridge (2,563 ft) and Big Bench (2,462 ft) and be on it before light. In the dark the air runs downhill. Pick an approach that doesn't send it into the country you want to see, and plan to move once the slope warms. Work the glass in strips and go back over ground you already covered — animals appear in country you looked at ten minutes ago. 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 152 mapped stream reaches and 19 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. A tank with no tracks is a tank with no reason to sit on it.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads: US 95 and Winchester Grade

Getting in and staying out: unit 11

Named routes and what they need

US 95 — 24 mi · Paved (all rigs)
Winchester Grade — 8.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Graves Creek Road — 5 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Eagle Creek Road — 4.7 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Talmaks Road — 4.1 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Old Highway 95 — 2.7 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)

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

Craigmont — 13 mi · no services listed
Culdesac — 15 mi · no services listed
Ferdinand / palx̂óockin — 15.5 mi · no services listed
Lapwai / léepwey — 17.5 mi · no services listed
Cottonwood — 19 mi · fuel

Developed camps

American Bar Campsite
Wikiup North Campsite
Upper Dem Bones Campsite
Lower Dem Bones Campsite
Killer Goat Campsite

Season weather and signal

Jan37° / 24° · 1.7" precip
Aug80° / 50° · 0.7" precip
Sep71° / 44° · 1" precip
Oct56° / 36° · 1.8" precip
Nov43° / 29° · 2" precip
Dec36° / 23° · 1.7" 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.

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Elk Success Rates

Rifle56%

Archery48%

Muzzleloader15%

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 general-hunt harvest statistics carry no elk success figure for unit 11 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.

Elk Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (resident)	36	676	5.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	4	88	5.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident)	1	121	1.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident)	0	27	0.0%	—

Open in Draw Odds Engine

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 first drawing for elk in unit 11, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 2001 — residents 676 applicants for 36 tags, 5% drawn; nonresidents 88 applicants for 4 tags, 5% drawn

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

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Camp Sites

47 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit, including American Bar Campsite, Wikiup North Campsite and Upper Dem Bones Campsite.

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Road Conditions

US 95, Winchester Grade and Graves Creek Road are the named routes in the unit. Roughly 29 mi paved, 33 mi gravel and 6 mi four-wheel-drive.

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Terrain Difficulty

Named features from 804 to 5,718 ft. More than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so plan the pack-out before the shot.

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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.

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Weather

Season normals: Sep 71/44°F, 1 in.; Oct 56/36°F, 1.8 in.; Nov 43/29°F, 2 in..

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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.

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Nearest Town

Craigmont (13 mi), Culdesac (15 mi), Ferdinand / palx̂óockin (16 mi)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Idaho unit 11?

Unit 11 lies in Idaho, Lewis and Nez Perce counties. Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 11 on a line that runs along U.S. 95, and past Clearwater River, Graves Creek, Salmon River and Snake River, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. It covers about 759 square miles.

What is the mule deer success rate in unit 11?

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put deer success in unit 11 at 39% 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 11 hunt?

The nearest services our logistics pipeline finds for unit 11 are at Craigmont, about 13 miles from the unit's centre, with Culdesac at about 15 miles. There are also 47 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit.

What is the elk success rate in unit 11?

Idaho Fish and Game publishes no elk success figure we can tie to unit 11 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.

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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 general deer season page for unit 11 — 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 deer in unit 11 · 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