Unit 30 (Beaverhead Zone)

What Idaho Fish and Game publishes for unit 30 is a boundary, not a mule deer map. So the ground below is the unit's own and the read on where to start is ours, labelled as such. The unit lies in Lemhi County. It runs to about 401 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up mule deer hunting in unit 30

Idaho Fish and Game keeps a general deer season page for unit 30, and that page is where this year's dates and weapon rules live.

The lines of the unit: Lemhi River, Salmon River and Carmen Creek

Idaho Fish and Game describes unit 30 as that portion of Lemhi County within the Lemhi River drainage north and east of State Highway 28 and north and west of State Highway 29 and that portion of the Salmon River drainage east of the Salmon River from the U.S. 93 bridge in the City of Salmon downstream to, but excluding, the Carmen Creek drainage. 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: Mineral Hill, Goat Mountain and East and West Peak

Named high points inside the unit include Mineral Hill at 6,826 feet, Goat Mountain at 9,930 feet, East and West Peak at 9,902 feet, Goldstone Mountain at 9,897 feet and Grizzly Hill at 9,277 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: Stroud Gulch, Cedar Gulch and Mollie Gulch

Below them sit Stroud Gulch at 5,836 feet, Cedar Gulch at 5,806 feet, Mollie Gulch at 5,731 feet, Napo Canyon at 5,595 feet and Little Dry Gulch at 5,136 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: Poison Gulch Spring, Mud Flat Spring and Sawmill Gulch Spring

The water inside the unit line comes to 8 mapped stream reaches, 3 lakes and 2 stock tanks. Named sources include Poison Gulch Spring, Mud Flat Spring, Sawmill Gulch Spring, Sharkey Hot Spring, Coal Mine Gulch Spring and Dragroad 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 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 30 runs from 3,917 feet to 9,930 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 30 at 36% 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 30

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 rules list one controlled hunt for mule deer on unit 30 under its own number.

• Hunt 1020 — antlered deer, 5 tags, 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 30 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 Goat Mountain, East and West Peak and Goldstone Mountain

Take a position on one of Goat Mountain (9,930 ft), East and West Peak (9,902 ft), Goldstone Mountain (9,897 ft) and Grizzly Hill (9,277 ft) and be on it before light. Work the morning with the air falling away from you, then accept that by mid-morning the wind has reversed and the plan has to change with it. A tripod is worth more here than another hour of walking. On the rut hunts, late-season hunts put bucks with doe groups and moving in daylight.

Water against feed

There are 8 mapped stream reaches and 2 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 71/37°F, Oct 55/28°F and Nov 39/18°F. By Nov the lows are around 18°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 0.9 in. in Sep, 0.9 in. in Oct and 0.7 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

Getting past the roads: ID 28 and Lewis and Clark Highway

ID 28 and ID 29 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.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Goat Mountain, Goldstone Mountain, Grizzly Hill and Ramsey Mountain as places to see from, and Goldstone Pass, Bannock Pass, Lemhi Pass and Sawmill Gulch 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.