Idaho Elk Mule Deer

Unit 19A (McCall Zone)

Idaho Hunting Guide — Elk, Mule Deer

Unit 19A lies in Idaho and Valley counties and covers about 461 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 2,087 to 9,300 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 12%. Federal land covers about 100% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

View Draw Odds Idaho Hunting Guide

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100%

Public Land

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4,058–8,381 ft

Sampled elevation

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 19A

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Idaho Unit 19A 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

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Elk Hunting in Unit 19A

Where to Find Elk in Unit 19A

Idaho Fish and Game draws an exact line around unit 19A 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 Idaho and Valley counties. It runs to about 461 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up elk hunting in unit 19A

Idaho Fish and Game runs its general elk seasons by elk management zone rather than unit by unit, and puts unit 19A in the McCall Zone, so the zone's tag rules are the ones that apply here.

The lines of the unit: Salmon River, French Creek-Burgdorf-Summit Creek and Bear Creek

Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 19A in Idaho and Valley counties on a line that runs along Salmon River, French Creek-Burgdorf-Summit Creek, Bear Creek and Secesh 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: North Loon Mountain, South Loon Mountain and Victor Peak

Named high points inside the unit include North Loon Mountain at 9,300 feet, South Loon Mountain at 9,256 feet, Victor Peak at 8,633 feet, Diamond Ridge at 8,528 feet and Diamond Rock at 8,457 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: Buck Saddle, Little Pony Meadows and Pony Meadows

Below them sit Buck Saddle at 7,392 feet, Little Pony Meadows at 7,346 feet, Pony Meadows at 7,261 feet, Keystone Meadows at 7,181 feet and Canada Saddle at 7,038 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this unit has, and they are what you glass into from above. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.

Water: Skunk Spring

The water inside the unit line comes to 108 mapped stream reaches, 9 lakes and 27 stock tanks. Named sources include Skunk Spring. 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 19A runs from 2,087 feet to 9,300 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.

Unit 19A terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

4,058–8,381 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 6,507 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
460.7 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

27 tanks
108 stream segments
9 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: North Loon Mountain (9,300 ft), Victor Peak (8,633 ft), Diamond Ridge (8,528 ft), Marshall Mountain (8,421 ft)

Holding ground: Rye Patch (7,878 ft), Beartrap Saddle (7,847 ft), Faust Meadows (7,661 ft), Skunk 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 19A

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put elk success in unit 19A at 12% 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 19A

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 rules list 2 controlled hunts for elk on unit 19A under its own number.

Hunt 2003 — antlered elk, 10 tags, Oct 1–Oct 14
Hunt 2057 — antlerless elk, 25 tags, Oct 15–Nov 8

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 19A 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 Bear Creek Point, Lake Rock and China Mountain

Take a position on one of Bear Creek Point (8,101 ft), Lake Rock (7,958 ft), China Mountain (7,941 ft) and Carey Dome (7,689 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. Glass the edges first, then the shaded timber, then the edges again as the light goes. 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 108 mapped stream reaches and 27 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 73/37°F, Oct 57/29°F and Nov 41/20°F. By Nov the lows are around 20°F, and the first hard storm after that moves animals off the high ground — a late tag is a bet on that storm arriving. Precipitation runs about 1.4 in. in Sep, 2.1 in. in Oct and 3 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

Getting past the roads: National Forest Development Road 318 and FS 246

National Forest Development Road 318, FS 246 and FS 1614 need clearance, and that is usually where the boot tracks thin out. There is little true four-wheel-drive road here, so distance from the gravel is the only thing separating you from the next hunter.

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 19A

Named routes and what they need

National Forest Development Road 318 — 17.7 mi · High-clearance
FS 246 — 15 mi · High-clearance
FS 1614 — 3.8 mi · High-clearance
National Forest Development Road 21 — 1.5 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

McCall — 30.8 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
New Meadows — 33.7 mi · fuel, lodging
Grangeville — 47.8 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Council — 50.9 mi · no services listed

Developed camps

Unnamed camp site
South Fork Campsite
South Fork Island Campsite
Pine Tree Hole Campsite
Flat Rock Campsite

Season weather and signal

Jan34° / 12° · 2.9" precip
Aug84° / 43° · 0.8" precip
Sep73° / 37° · 1.4" precip
Oct57° / 29° · 2.1" precip
Nov41° / 20° · 3" precip
Dec32° / 13° · 3.5" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 21% 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

Rifle12%

Archery9%

Muzzleloader10%

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 19A at 12% — 45 animals taken by 361 hunters. The hunter count is large enough for the percentage to mean something and small enough that a good or bad year still moves 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)	9	72	12.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	1	18	6.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident)	2	68	3.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident)	0	11	0.0%	—

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 19A, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 2003 — residents 72 applicants for 9 tags, 12% drawn; nonresidents 18 applicants for 1 tag, 6% drawn
Hunt 2057 — residents 40 applicants for 24 tags, 60% drawn; nonresidents 1 applicants for 1 tag, 100% 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 19A

Unit 19A lies in Idaho and Valley counties and covers about 461 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 2,087 to 9,300 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put deer success here as high as 26%. Federal land covers about 100% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 19A

What Idaho Fish and Game publishes for unit 19A is a boundary, not a mule deer map. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Idaho and Valley counties. It runs to about 461 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up mule deer hunting in unit 19A

Idaho Fish and Game keeps a general deer season page for unit 19A, and that page is where this year's dates and weapon rules live.

The lines of the unit: Salmon River, French Creek-Burgdorf-Summit Creek and Bear Creek

Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 19A in Idaho and Valley counties on a line that runs along Salmon River, French Creek-Burgdorf-Summit Creek, Bear Creek and Secesh River, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. Read it as a frame, not as a hint about animals. 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: Marshall Mountain, War Eagle Mountain and Burgdorf Summit

Named high points inside the unit include Marshall Mountain at 8,421 feet, War Eagle Mountain at 8,213 feet, Burgdorf Summit at 8,118 feet, Bear Creek Point at 8,101 feet and Lake Rock at 7,958 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: Warren Summit, Republican Flats and Kelly Meadows

Below them sit Warren Summit at 6,971 feet, Republican Flats at 6,902 feet, Kelly Meadows at 6,898 feet, Steamboat Summit at 6,703 feet and Stratton Meadow at 6,469 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: Skunk Spring

Reading the land status

Unit 19A terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

4,058–8,381 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 6,507 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
460.7 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

27 tanks
108 stream segments
9 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: North Loon Mountain (9,300 ft), Victor Peak (8,633 ft), Diamond Ridge (8,528 ft), Marshall Mountain (8,421 ft)

Holding ground: Rye Patch (7,878 ft), Beartrap Saddle (7,847 ft), Faust Meadows (7,661 ft), Skunk 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 19A

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put deer success in unit 19A at 26% 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 19A

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 rules list one controlled hunt for mule deer on unit 19A under its own number.

Hunt 1011 — antlered deer, 10 tags, Oct 10–Nov 24

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 19A 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 Cottontail Point, Bemis Point and Chimney Rock

Take a position on one of Cottontail Point (7,662 ft), Bemis Point (7,585 ft), Chimney Rock (7,568 ft) and Jim Thrash Knob (7,552 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. A tripod is worth more here than another hour of walking. On the rut hunts, late-season hunts put bucks with doe groups and moving in daylight.

Water against feed

There are 108 mapped stream reaches and 27 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: National Forest Development Road 318 and FS 246

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 19A

Named routes and what they need

National Forest Development Road 318 — 17.7 mi · High-clearance
FS 246 — 15 mi · High-clearance
FS 1614 — 3.8 mi · High-clearance
National Forest Development Road 21 — 1.5 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

McCall — 30.8 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
New Meadows — 33.7 mi · fuel, lodging
Grangeville — 47.8 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Council — 50.9 mi · no services listed

Developed camps

Unnamed camp site
South Fork Campsite
South Fork Island Campsite
Pine Tree Hole Campsite
Flat Rock Campsite

Season weather and signal

Jan34° / 12° · 2.9" precip
Aug84° / 43° · 0.8" precip
Sep73° / 37° · 1.4" precip
Oct57° / 29° · 2.1" precip
Nov41° / 20° · 3" precip
Dec32° / 13° · 3.5" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 21% 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 19A at 26% — 110 animals taken by 416 hunters. The hunter count is large enough for the percentage to mean something and small enough that a good or bad year still moves 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)	9	97	9.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	1	14	7.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident)	1	25	4.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident)	0	5	0.0%	—

Open in Draw Odds Engine

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 first drawing for mule deer in unit 19A, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 1011 — residents 97 applicants for 9 tags, 9% drawn; nonresidents 14 applicants for 1 tag, 7% drawn

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

⛺

Camp Sites

18 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit, including South Fork Campsite, South Fork Island Campsite and Pine Tree Hole Campsite.

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Road Conditions

National Forest Development Road 318, FS 246 and FS 1614 are the named routes in the unit. Roughly 2 mi paved, 20 mi gravel and 0 mi four-wheel-drive.

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Terrain Difficulty

Named features from 2,087 to 9,300 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.

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Weather

Season normals: Sep 73/37°F, 1.4 in.; Oct 57/29°F, 2.1 in.; Nov 41/20°F, 3 in..

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Cell Service

Verizon 21%, AT&T 14%, T-Mobile 7% of the unit area — modelled coverage, not measured. Assume no signal off the paved road.

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Nearest Town

McCall (31 mi), New Meadows (34 mi), Grangeville (48 mi)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Idaho unit 19A?

Unit 19A lies in Idaho and Valley counties. Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 19A on a line that runs along Salmon River, French Creek-Burgdorf-Summit Creek, Bear Creek and Secesh River, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. It covers about 461 square miles.

What is the elk success rate in unit 19A?

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 19A at 12% 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 19A hunt?

The nearest services our logistics pipeline finds for unit 19A are at McCall, about 31 miles from the unit's centre, with New Meadows at about 34 miles. There are also 18 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit.

What is the mule deer success rate in unit 19A?

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put deer success in unit 19A at 26% across all manners of take. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

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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 McCall 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 19A · 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 19A — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Season structure for the unit · accessed 2026-10-24