Unit 28 (Salmon Zone)

Idaho Fish and Game draws an exact line around unit 28 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 Lemhi County. It runs to about 1,306 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up mule deer hunting in unit 28

Idaho Fish and Game keeps a general deer season page for unit 28, and that page is where this year's dates and weapon rules live.

The lines of the unit: Salmon River, Middle Fork and Ellis Creek

Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 28 in Lemhi County on a line that runs along Salmon River, Middle Fork, Ellis Creek and Morgan Creek, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. That is a legal description, not a habitat map. Its value is practical — those are the features you will navigate by, and the ridges that separate one day's country from another's.

High ground inside the line: Taylor Mountain, Fishfin Ridge and Yellowjacket Mountains

Named high points inside the unit include Taylor Mountain at 9,947 feet, Fishfin Ridge at 9,509 feet, Yellowjacket Mountains at 9,509 feet, Black Mountain at 9,501 feet and Gant Ridge at 9,434 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: Williams Creek Summit, Frog Meadows and Sierra Gulch

Below them sit Williams Creek Summit at 7,818 feet, Frog Meadows at 7,799 feet, Sierra Gulch at 7,256 feet, Coffee Gulch at 7,165 feet and Racetrack Meadow at 7,118 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: Magpie Spring, Sheephorn Spring and Dishrag Spring

The water inside the unit line comes to 47 mapped stream reaches, 22 lakes and 50 stock tanks. Named sources include Magpie Spring, Sheephorn Spring, Dishrag Spring, Crib Spring, Sagebrush Spring and Napias Creek Falls. 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 32% 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 28 runs from 3,277 feet to 9,947 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put deer success in unit 28 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.

The 2026 controlled hunts in unit 28

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 rules list 2 controlled hunts for mule deer on unit 28 under its own number.

• Hunt 1019 — antlered deer, 5 tags, Oct 10–Nov 30
• Hunt 1162 — outfitter allocation deer, antlered deer only, 1 tag, Oct 10–Nov 30

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 28 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 Duck Creek Point, Baldy and White Mountain

Take a position on one of Duck Creek Point (9,128 ft), Baldy (9,128 ft), White Mountain (9,095 ft) and Blackbird Mountain (9,090 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, late-season hunts put bucks with doe groups and moving in daylight.

Water against feed

There are 47 mapped stream reaches and 50 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 75/41°F, Oct 58/31°F and Nov 41/22°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 0.9 in. in Sep, 0.9 in. in Oct and 0.8 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

Getting past the roads: US 93 and NF 112

US 93 is 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.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Taylor Mountain, Fishfin Ridge, Black Mountain and Gant Ridge as places to see from, and Goodluck Meadow, Hoodoo Meadows, Camas Meadows and Magpie 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.