Idaho Mule Deer Mountain Goat Elk

Unit 22 (Weiser River Zone)

Idaho Hunting Guide — Mule Deer, Mountain Goat, Elk

Unit 22 lies in Adams, Idaho and Washington counties and covers about 855 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 1,688 to 8,724 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put deer success here as high as 26%. Federal land covers about 61% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

View Draw Odds Idaho Hunting Guide

🏔️

61%

Public Land

⛰️

2,443–7,390 ft

Sampled elevation

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 22

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Idaho Unit 22 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 Mountain Goat guide Elk 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.

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 22

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 22

What Idaho Fish and Game publishes for unit 22 is a boundary, not a mule deer map. 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 Adams, Idaho and Washington counties. It runs to about 855 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up mule deer hunting in unit 22

Idaho Fish and Game keeps a general deer season page for unit 22, and that page is where this year's dates and weapon rules live.

The lines of the unit: Granite Creek, Snake River and Rapid River

Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 22 in Adams, Idaho and Washington counties on a line that runs along U.S. 95 and State Highway 71, and past Granite Creek, Snake River, Rapid River and Lick Creek, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. That is a legal description, not a habitat map. 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: Casey Mountain, White Mountain and Emmett Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Casey Mountain at 8,724 feet, White Mountain at 8,494 feet, Emmett Mountain at 8,330 feet, Smith Mountain at 7,998 feet and Cuddy Mountain at 7,869 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: Oxbow Saddle, Bear Saddle and Big Flat

Below them sit Oxbow Saddle at 7,151 feet, Bear Saddle at 6,997 feet, Big Flat at 6,975 feet, Sucker Gulch at 6,755 feet and Placer Basin at 6,422 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this unit has, and they are what you glass into from above. Work out which of them you can see from one position before you pick a camp.

Water: Homestead Spring, Chipmunk Spring and Harrington Spring

The water inside the unit line comes to 57 mapped stream reaches, 11 lakes, 44 stock tanks and 1 springs. Named sources include Homestead Spring, Chipmunk Spring, Harrington Spring, Peck Mountain Spring, Dean Spring and Fir Point 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 22 runs from 1,688 feet to 8,724 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.

Unit 22 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

2,443–7,390 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 4,640 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
854.6 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

44 tanks
1 springs
57 stream segments
11 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: Casey Mountain (8,724 ft), White Mountain (8,494 ft), Emmett Mountain (8,330 ft), Smith Mountain (7,998 ft)

Holding ground: Joes Gap (8,012 ft), Lost Basin (7,358 ft), Buck Park (7,279 ft), Homestead Spring, Chipmunk 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 22

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put deer success in unit 22 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 22

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 rules list 4 controlled hunts for mule deer on unit 22 under its own number.

Hunt 1014 — antlered deer, 60 tags, Nov 1–Nov 24
Hunt 1071 — archery only deer, 25 tags, Aug 15–Sep 30. Either sex
Hunt 1084 — muzzleloader only deer, 15 tags, Oct 1–Oct 9. Antlered only
Hunt 1159 — outfitter allocation deer, antlered deer only, 6 tags, Nov 1–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 22 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 Rush Peak, White Monument and Cliff Mountain

Take a position on one of Rush Peak (7,633 ft), White Monument (7,599 ft), Cliff Mountain (7,355 ft) and Kinney Point (7,070 ft) and be on it before light. Cold air slides downhill in the dark, so keep your scent out of the bowl you mean to watch; expect the thermals to turn uphill an hour after the sun reaches the slope. 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 57 mapped stream reaches and 44 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 80/46°F, Oct 64/37°F and Nov 47/28°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 0.8 in. in Sep, 1.5 in. in Oct and 2.1 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

Getting past the roads: US 95 and ID 71

US 95 and ID 71 are the paved frame, which is also where everyone else starts. 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 22

Named routes and what they need

US 95 — 20.2 mi · Paved (all rigs)
ID 71 — 15.5 mi · Paved (all rigs)
Fruitvale Glendale Road — 9.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Black Lake Road — 6.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Brownlee-Oxbow Highway — 4.6 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
NF 454 — 3 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

Council — 14.3 mi · no services listed
New Meadows — 18 mi · fuel, lodging
Cambridge — 21.8 mi · fuel, groceries
Halfway — 23.4 mi · lodging
McCall — 26.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear

Developed camps

Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site
Brownlee Campground
McCormick Campgrounds
Mundo Hot Springs

Season weather and signal

Jan35° / 20° · 2.4" precip
Aug91° / 55° · 0.4" precip
Sep80° / 46° · 0.8" precip
Oct64° / 37° · 1.5" precip
Nov47° / 28° · 2.1" precip
Dec36° / 21° · 2.9" 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 22

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Mule Deer Success Rates

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put deer success in unit 22 at 26% — 367 animals taken by 1,394 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)	54	2,874	2.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	6	439	1.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident)	4	878	0.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident)	0	120	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 mule deer in unit 22, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 1014 — residents 2,874 applicants for 54 tags, 2% drawn; nonresidents 439 applicants for 6 tags, 1% drawn
Hunt 1071 — residents 148 applicants for 23 tags, 16% drawn; nonresidents 29 applicants for 2 tags, 7% drawn
Hunt 1084 — residents 76 applicants for 14 tags, 18% drawn; nonresidents 8 applicants for 1 tag, 12% 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.

Mountain Goat Hunting in Unit 22

Unit 22 lies in Adams, Idaho and Washington counties and covers about 855 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 1,688 to 8,724 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put mountain goat success here as high as 100%. Federal land covers about 61% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Mountain Goat in Unit 22

What Idaho Fish and Game publishes for unit 22 is a boundary, not a mountain goat 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 Adams, Idaho and Washington counties. It runs to about 855 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up mountain goat hunting in unit 22

Idaho Fish and Game hunts mountain goat here only by controlled hunt, and describes its mountain goat hunt area 22 as all of Unit 22.

The lines of the unit: Granite Creek, Snake River and Rapid River

Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 22 in Adams, Idaho and Washington counties on a line that runs along U.S. 95 and State Highway 71, and past Granite Creek, Snake River, Rapid River and Lick Creek, 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: Cuddy Mountains, Pepperbox Hill and Summers Point

Named high points inside the unit include Cuddy Mountains at 7,867 feet, Pepperbox Hill at 7,774 feet, Summers Point at 7,716 feet, Rush Peak at 7,633 feet and White Monument at 7,599 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Goats live above the trees on cliff and talus and come down only when weather makes them.

Holding ground: Olive Meadows, Lockwood Saddle and Calamity Meadows

Below them sit Olive Meadows at 6,395 feet, Lockwood Saddle at 6,364 feet, Calamity Meadows at 6,262 feet, Grizzly Basin at 5,983 feet and Railroad Saddle at 5,835 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Two you can watch from a single knob is worth more than five you have to drive between.

Water: Weasel Spring, Willow Spring and Homestead Spring

The water inside the unit line comes to 57 mapped stream reaches, 11 lakes, 44 stock tanks and 1 springs. Named sources include Weasel Spring, Willow Spring, Homestead Spring, Chipmunk Spring, Harrington Spring and Peck Mountain Spring. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

Reading the land status

Unit 22 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

2,443–7,390 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 4,640 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
854.6 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

44 tanks
1 springs
57 stream segments
11 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: Casey Mountain (8,724 ft), White Mountain (8,494 ft), Emmett Mountain (8,330 ft), Smith Mountain (7,998 ft)

Holding ground: Joes Gap (8,012 ft), Lost Basin (7,358 ft), Buck Park (7,279 ft), Homestead Spring, Chipmunk 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 Mountain Goat in Unit 22

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put mountain goat success in unit 22 at 100% across all manners of take. A number like that comes from few tags and a short season, not from easy hunting. The plan: glass from across the basin, judge the climb honestly, and decide whether a hit animal could be recovered.

The 2025 and 2026 controlled hunts in unit 22

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 and 2026 rules list one controlled hunt for mountain goat on unit 22 under its own number.

Hunt 6004 — 3 tags, Aug 30–Nov 12

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 22 tag

Idaho Fish and Game takes moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat applications together, and anyone who applies for one of the three may not apply for another big game controlled hunt in the same year's first drawing, apart from the unlimited, extra, black bear and depredation hunts IDFG names. Anyone who has taken a mountain goat in Idaho since 1977 may not apply for a goat tag at all. Two hunters may apply together on one application. Idaho's draw is random, with no preference or bonus points to build.

Glassing from Haley Ridge, Crooked River Point and Horse Mountain

Take a position on one of Haley Ridge (7,040 ft), Crooked River Point (6,928 ft), Horse Mountain (6,892 ft) and Sheep Rock (6,814 ft) and be on it before light. Cold air slides downhill in the dark, so keep your scent out of the bowl you mean to watch; expect the thermals to turn uphill an hour after the sun reaches the slope. Glass the edges first, then the shaded timber, then the edges again as the light goes. On the rut hunts, early hunts find goats higher and later hunts find them pushed down by snow.

Water against feed

There are 57 mapped stream reaches and 44 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

Getting past the roads: US 95 and ID 71

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 22

Named routes and what they need

US 95 — 20.2 mi · Paved (all rigs)
ID 71 — 15.5 mi · Paved (all rigs)
Fruitvale Glendale Road — 9.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Black Lake Road — 6.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Brownlee-Oxbow Highway — 4.6 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
NF 454 — 3 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

Council — 14.3 mi · no services listed
New Meadows — 18 mi · fuel, lodging
Cambridge — 21.8 mi · fuel, groceries
Halfway — 23.4 mi · lodging
McCall — 26.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear

Developed camps

Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site
Brownlee Campground
McCormick Campgrounds
Mundo Hot Springs

Season weather and signal

Jan35° / 20° · 2.4" precip
Aug91° / 55° · 0.4" precip
Sep80° / 46° · 0.8" precip
Oct64° / 37° · 1.5" precip
Nov47° / 28° · 2.1" precip
Dec36° / 21° · 2.9" 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.

Mountain Goat: 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 goat tactics for Unit 22

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Mountain Goat Success Rates

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put mountain goat success in unit 22 at 100% — 3 animals taken by 3 hunters. On a sample that small the percentage moves several points with one animal, so read the hunter count beside it.

Mountain Goat Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (resident)	3	66	5.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	0	40	0.0%	—

Data from 2026 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 2026 first drawing for mountain goat in unit 22, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 6004 — residents 66 applicants for 3 tags, 5% drawn; nonresidents 40 applicants for 0 tags, 0% 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 2026. Checked against Idaho Fish and Game's hunt planner draw results on 2026-06-09.

Elk Hunting in Unit 22

Unit 22 lies in Adams, Idaho and Washington counties and covers about 855 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 1,688 to 8,724 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 22%. Federal land covers about 61% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Elk in Unit 22

Idaho Fish and Game's material on unit 22 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its elk live. 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 Adams, Idaho and Washington counties. It runs to about 855 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up elk hunting in unit 22

Idaho Fish and Game runs its general elk seasons by elk management zone rather than unit by unit, and puts unit 22 in the Weiser River Zone, so the zone's tag rules are the ones that apply here.

The lines of the unit: Granite Creek, Snake River and Rapid River

Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 22 in Adams, Idaho and Washington counties on a line that runs along U.S. 95 and State Highway 71, and past Granite Creek, Snake River, Rapid River and Lick Creek, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. Read it as a frame, not as a hint about animals. 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: Cliff Mountain, Kinney Point and Haley Ridge

Named high points inside the unit include Cliff Mountain at 7,355 feet, Kinney Point at 7,070 feet, Haley Ridge at 7,040 feet, Crooked River Point at 6,928 feet and Horse Mountain at 6,892 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: Brush Creek Saddle, Greasewood Flat and Hardrock Gulch

Below them sit Brush Creek Saddle at 5,768 feet, Greasewood Flat at 5,737 feet, Hardrock Gulch at 5,136 feet, Devils Hollow at 5,083 feet and Butter Gulch at 4,980 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Reaching the edge of one before light beats reaching its middle at noon.

Water: Dean Spring, Fir Point Spring and Weasel Spring

The water inside the unit line comes to 57 mapped stream reaches, 11 lakes, 44 stock tanks and 1 springs. Named sources include Dean Spring, Fir Point Spring, Weasel Spring, Willow Spring, Homestead Spring and Chipmunk Spring. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

Reading the land status

Unit 22 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

2,443–7,390 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 4,640 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
854.6 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

44 tanks
1 springs
57 stream segments
11 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: Casey Mountain (8,724 ft), White Mountain (8,494 ft), Emmett Mountain (8,330 ft), Smith Mountain (7,998 ft)

Holding ground: Joes Gap (8,012 ft), Lost Basin (7,358 ft), Buck Park (7,279 ft), Homestead Spring, Chipmunk 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 22

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put elk success in unit 22 at 22% across all manners of take. That is an ordinary spread for this country, and it rewards whoever scouted. 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 22

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 rules list one controlled hunt for elk on unit 22 under its own number.

Hunt 2129 — muzzleloader only elk, 150 tags, Dec 1–Dec 31. Antlerless 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 22 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 Devils Slide, Pyramid Point and Tussel Ridge

Take a position on one of Devils Slide (6,650 ft), Pyramid Point (6,501 ft), Tussel Ridge (6,437 ft) and Grassy Ridge (6,267 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. Give a basin forty minutes before you decide it is empty. On the rut hunts, September bugling works where you can get above a drainage and let the thermals carry sound downhill.

Water against feed

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads: US 95 and ID 71

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Casey Mountain, White Mountain, Emmett Mountain and Smith Mountain as places to see from, and Joes Gap, Lost Basin, Buck Park and Homestead Spring as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the unit line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Walk between two of them rather than driving between four, and you will learn more in a day.

Getting in and staying out: unit 22

Named routes and what they need

US 95 — 20.2 mi · Paved (all rigs)
ID 71 — 15.5 mi · Paved (all rigs)
Fruitvale Glendale Road — 9.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Black Lake Road — 6.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Brownlee-Oxbow Highway — 4.6 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
NF 454 — 3 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

Council — 14.3 mi · no services listed
New Meadows — 18 mi · fuel, lodging
Cambridge — 21.8 mi · fuel, groceries
Halfway — 23.4 mi · lodging
McCall — 26.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear

Developed camps

Unnamed camp site
Unnamed camp site
Brownlee Campground
McCormick Campgrounds
Mundo Hot Springs

Season weather and signal

Jan35° / 20° · 2.4" precip
Aug91° / 55° · 0.4" precip
Sep80° / 46° · 0.8" precip
Oct64° / 37° · 1.5" precip
Nov47° / 28° · 2.1" precip
Dec36° / 21° · 2.9" 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

Rifle22%

Archery14%

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 22 at 22% — 325 animals taken by 1,497 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.

Elk Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (resident)	33	33	100.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	2	2	100.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident)	45	45	100.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident)	1	1	100.0%	—

Open in Draw Odds Engine

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 first drawing for elk in unit 22, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 2129 — residents 33 applicants for 33 tags, 100% drawn; nonresidents 2 applicants for 2 tags, 100% drawn

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

⛺

Camp Sites

17 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit, including Brownlee Campground, McCormick Campgrounds and Mundo Hot Springs.

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Road Conditions

US 95, ID 71 and Fruitvale Glendale Road are the named routes in the unit. Roughly 45 mi paved, 36 mi gravel and 1 mi four-wheel-drive.

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Terrain Difficulty

Named features from 1,688 to 8,724 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 80/46°F, 0.8 in.; Oct 64/37°F, 1.5 in.; Nov 47/28°F, 2.1 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.

🏘️

Nearest Town

Council (14 mi), New Meadows (18 mi), Cambridge (22 mi)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Idaho unit 22?

Unit 22 lies in Adams, Idaho and Washington counties. Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 22 on a line that runs along U.S. 95 and State Highway 71, and past Granite Creek, Snake River, Rapid River and Lick Creek, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. It covers about 855 square miles.

What is the mule deer success rate in unit 22?

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put deer success in unit 22 at 26% 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 22 hunt?

The nearest services our logistics pipeline finds for unit 22 are at Council, about 14 miles from the unit's centre, with New Meadows at about 18 miles. There are also 17 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit.

What is the mountain goat success rate in unit 22?

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put mountain goat success in unit 22 at 100% across all manners of take. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

What is the elk success rate in unit 22?

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 22 at 22% across all manners of take. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

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

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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 22 — 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 22 · 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
Moose, Bighorn Sheep & Mountain Goat 2025 & 2026 Seasons & Rules — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Controlled hunt application periods and eligibility rules · accessed 2026-10-24
IDFG Weiser River Zone elk tag limits — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Season structure for the unit · accessed 2026-10-24