Idaho Elk Mule Deer Pronghorn

Unit 30A (Beaverhead Zone)

Idaho Hunting Guide — Elk, Mule Deer, Pronghorn

Unit 30A lies in Lemhi County and covers about 275 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 6,587 to 10,765 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 24%. Federal land covers about 95% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

View Draw Odds Idaho Hunting Guide

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95%

Public Land

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6,182–9,074 ft

Sampled elevation

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 30A

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Idaho Unit 30A 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 Pronghorn 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.

Elk Hunting in Unit 30A

Where to Find Elk in Unit 30A

Idaho Fish and Game's material on unit 30A stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its elk live. 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 275 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up elk hunting in unit 30A

Idaho Fish and Game runs its general elk seasons by elk management zone rather than unit by unit, and puts unit 30A in the Beaverhead Zone, so the zone's tag rules are the ones that apply here.

What bounds unit 30A

Idaho Fish and Game describes unit 30A as that portion of Lemhi County within the Lemhi River Drainage north and east of State Highway 28 and east of State Highway 29. 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: Baldy Mountain, Horse Prairie Mountain and Elk Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Baldy Mountain at 10,765 feet, Horse Prairie Mountain at 10,171 feet and Elk Mountain at 10,171 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: Left Fork Rock Canyon, Gilmore Summit and Dry Canyon

Below them sit Left Fork Rock Canyon at 7,190 feet, Gilmore Summit at 7,165 feet, Dry Canyon at 6,982 feet, Powderhorn Gulch at 6,976 feet and Perk Canyon at 6,924 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: Slaughterhouse Spring, Allhands Spring and Robertson Spring

The water inside the unit line comes to 2 springs. Named sources include Slaughterhouse Spring, Allhands Spring and Robertson 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 30A runs from 6,587 feet to 10,765 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.

Unit 30A terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

6,182–9,074 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,443 ft ; peaks can run higher.
274.7 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

2 springs

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: Baldy Mountain (10,765 ft), Horse Prairie Mountain (10,171 ft)

Holding ground: Long Canyon (7,906 ft), Deadman Pass (7,745 ft), Rough Canyon (7,272 ft), Slaughterhouse 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 30A

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put elk success in unit 30A at 24% 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 30A

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

Hunt 2130 — muzzleloader only elk, 50 tags, Nov 1–Nov 30. Either sex

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 30A 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 Baldy Mountain, Horse Prairie Mountain and Elk Mountain

Take a position on one of Baldy Mountain (10,765 ft), Horse Prairie Mountain (10,171 ft) and Elk Mountain (10,171 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. 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 0 mapped stream reaches and 0 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 72/37°F, Oct 57/27°F and Nov 41/17°F. By Nov the lows are around 17°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 0.4 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

Getting past the roads: ID 29 and ID 28

ID 29 and ID 28 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 30A

Named routes and what they need

ID 29 — 7.2 mi · Paved (all rigs)
ID 28 — 4.9 mi · Paved (all rigs)
243 — 1.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Hawley Creek Road — 1.2 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Continental Divide Trail — 1 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

Leadore — 10.3 mi · no services listed
Lima — 29 mi · fuel, groceries
Dillon — 49.9 mi · no services listed

Developed camps

Lema's RV Park & Store

Season weather and signal

Jan30° / 9° · 0.3" precip
Aug82° / 44° · 0.9" precip
Sep72° / 37° · 0.9" precip
Oct57° / 27° · 0.9" precip
Nov41° / 17° · 0.4" precip
Dec30° / 9° · 0.4" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 15% 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

Rifle24%

Archery13%

Muzzleloader53%

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 30A at 24% — 5 animals taken by 21 hunters. On a sample that small the percentage moves several points with one animal, so read the hunter count beside 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	14	64.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	1	2	50.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident)	2	13	15.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident)	0	2	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 30A, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 2130 — residents 106 applicants for 45 tags, 42% drawn; nonresidents 39 applicants for 5 tags, 13% 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 30A

Unit 30A lies in Lemhi County and covers about 275 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 6,587 to 10,765 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put deer success here as high as 54%. Federal land covers about 95% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 30A

Idaho Fish and Game's material on unit 30A stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its mule deer 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 Lemhi County. It runs to about 275 square miles.

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

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

What bounds unit 30A

Idaho Fish and Game describes unit 30A as that portion of Lemhi County within the Lemhi River Drainage north and east of State Highway 28 and east of State Highway 29. 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: Baldy Mountain, Horse Prairie Mountain and Elk Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Baldy Mountain at 10,765 feet, Horse Prairie Mountain at 10,171 feet and Elk Mountain at 10,171 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: Hood Gulch, Cedar Gulch and Rocky Canyon

Below them sit Hood Gulch at 6,804 feet, Cedar Gulch at 6,644 feet, Rocky Canyon at 6,624 feet, Waugh Gulch at 6,587 feet and Long Canyon at 7,906 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Work out which of them you can see from one position before you pick a camp.

Water: Slaughterhouse Spring, Allhands Spring and Robertson Spring

Reading the land status

Unit 30A terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

6,182–9,074 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,443 ft ; peaks can run higher.
274.7 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

2 springs

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: Baldy Mountain (10,765 ft), Horse Prairie Mountain (10,171 ft)

Holding ground: Long Canyon (7,906 ft), Deadman Pass (7,745 ft), Rough Canyon (7,272 ft), Slaughterhouse 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 30A

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put deer success in unit 30A at 54% across all manners of take. A number like that comes from few tags and a short season, not from easy hunting. The plan: glass the broken edges at first light, then sit still and keep glassing the same ground.

The 2026 controlled hunts in unit 30A

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 rules list 2 controlled hunts for mule deer on unit 30A under its own number.

Hunt 1021 — antlered deer, 30 tags, Oct 10–Oct 31
Hunt 1086 — muzzleloader only deer, 5 tags, Nov 1–Nov 30. 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 30A 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 Baldy Mountain, Horse Prairie Mountain and Elk Mountain

Take a position on one of Baldy Mountain (10,765 ft), Horse Prairie Mountain (10,171 ft) and Elk Mountain (10,171 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

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads: ID 29 and ID 28

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 30A

Named routes and what they need

ID 29 — 7.2 mi · Paved (all rigs)
ID 28 — 4.9 mi · Paved (all rigs)
243 — 1.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Hawley Creek Road — 1.2 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Continental Divide Trail — 1 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

Leadore — 10.3 mi · no services listed
Lima — 29 mi · fuel, groceries
Dillon — 49.9 mi · no services listed

Developed camps

Lema's RV Park & Store

Season weather and signal

Jan30° / 9° · 0.3" precip
Aug82° / 44° · 0.9" precip
Sep72° / 37° · 0.9" precip
Oct57° / 27° · 0.9" precip
Nov41° / 17° · 0.4" precip
Dec30° / 9° · 0.4" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 15% 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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Unlock mule deer tactics for Unit 30A

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Mule Deer Success Rates

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put deer success in unit 30A at 54% — 15 animals taken by 28 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)	27	144	19.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	3	23	13.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident)	0	84	0.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident)	1	13	8.0%	—

Open in Draw Odds Engine

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 first drawing for mule deer in unit 30A, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 1021 — residents 144 applicants for 27 tags, 19% drawn; nonresidents 23 applicants for 3 tags, 13% drawn
Hunt 1086 — residents 32 applicants for 4 tags, 12% drawn; nonresidents 9 applicants for 1 tag, 11% drawn

Pronghorn Hunting in Unit 30A

Unit 30A lies in Lemhi County and covers about 275 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 6,587 to 10,765 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put pronghorn success here as high as 35%. Federal land covers about 95% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Pronghorn in Unit 30A

Idaho Fish and Game's material on unit 30A stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its pronghorn live. 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 275 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up pronghorn hunting in unit 30A

Idaho Fish and Game hunts pronghorn here only by controlled hunt, and describes its pronghorn hunt area 30A as all of Unit 30A.

What bounds unit 30A

High ground inside the line: Baldy Mountain, Horse Prairie Mountain and Elk Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Baldy Mountain at 10,765 feet, Horse Prairie Mountain at 10,171 feet and Elk Mountain at 10,171 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Pronghorn stay on the open rolling ground and leave the timber alone.

Holding ground: Deadman Pass, Horsethief Canyon and Rough Canyon

Below them sit Deadman Pass at 7,745 feet, Horsethief Canyon at 7,676 feet, Rough Canyon at 7,272 feet, Deadhorse Canyon at 7,268 feet and Left Fork Rock Canyon at 7,190 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Two you can watch from a single knob is worth more than five you have to drive between.

Water: Slaughterhouse Spring, Allhands Spring and Robertson Spring

Reading the land status

Unit 30A terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

6,182–9,074 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,443 ft ; peaks can run higher.
274.7 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

2 springs

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: Baldy Mountain (10,765 ft), Horse Prairie Mountain (10,171 ft)

Holding ground: Long Canyon (7,906 ft), Deadman Pass (7,745 ft), Rough Canyon (7,272 ft), Slaughterhouse Spring

Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.

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How to Hunt Pronghorn in Unit 30A

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 30A at 35% across all manners of take. That is an ordinary spread for this country, and it rewards whoever scouted. The plan: spot from a vehicle or a rise at distance, then plan a stalk that uses the only cover there is — the curve of the ground.

The 2026 controlled hunts in unit 30A

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

Hunt 4043 — muzzleloader only, 40 tags, Sep 25–Oct 24. Either sex

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 30A 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. Anyone drawn for a limited pronghorn hunt in the first period must sit out the next year's first period for limited pronghorn hunts. 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 Baldy Mountain, Horse Prairie Mountain and Elk Mountain

Take a position on one of Baldy Mountain (10,765 ft), Horse Prairie Mountain (10,171 ft) and Elk Mountain (10,171 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. Glass the edges first, then the shaded timber, then the edges again as the light goes. On the rut hunts, early-season bucks hold does and can be decoyed where the law allows it.

Water against feed

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads: ID 29 and ID 28

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Baldy Mountain and Horse Prairie Mountain as places to see from, and Long Canyon, Deadman Pass, Rough Canyon and Slaughterhouse 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.

Getting in and staying out: unit 30A

Named routes and what they need

ID 29 — 7.2 mi · Paved (all rigs)
ID 28 — 4.9 mi · Paved (all rigs)
243 — 1.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Hawley Creek Road — 1.2 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Continental Divide Trail — 1 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

Leadore — 10.3 mi · no services listed
Lima — 29 mi · fuel, groceries
Dillon — 49.9 mi · no services listed

Developed camps

Lema's RV Park & Store

Season weather and signal

Jan30° / 9° · 0.3" precip
Aug82° / 44° · 0.9" precip
Sep72° / 37° · 0.9" precip
Oct57° / 27° · 0.9" precip
Nov41° / 17° · 0.4" precip
Dec30° / 9° · 0.4" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 15% 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.

Pronghorn: where to put the shot

Broadside, straight up the front leg, a third of the way into the body. Pronghorn are shallow-chested and the lungs sit forward.

Shots to refuse

Range it, then range it again. Open country makes 400 yards look like 250.
Wait for the buck to stop. Nobody kills a running pronghorn cleanly on purpose.
Mind the backdrop. A miss carries a long way across a flat.

Plan the carry: roughly 30– 45 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — one large cooler with ice already in it. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

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Pronghorn Success Rates

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 30A at 35% — 26 animals taken by 74 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.

Pronghorn Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (resident)	181	181	100.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	52	52	100.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident)	1	15	7.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—

Open in Draw Odds Engine

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 first drawing for pronghorn in unit 30A, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 4043 — residents 148 applicants for 36 tags, 24% drawn; nonresidents 34 applicants for 4 tags, 12% drawn

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

⛺

Camp Sites

1 developed campground in or beside the unit, including Lema's RV Park & Store.

🛣️

Road Conditions

ID 29, ID 28 and 243 are the named routes in the unit. Roughly 12 mi paved, 6 mi gravel and 0 mi four-wheel-drive.

🥾

Terrain Difficulty

Named features from 6,587 to 10,765 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.

🌦️

Weather

Season normals: Sep 72/37°F, 0.9 in.; Oct 57/27°F, 0.9 in.; Nov 41/17°F, 0.4 in..

📱

Cell Service

Verizon 15%, AT&T 10%, T-Mobile 5% of the unit area — modelled coverage, not measured. Assume no signal off the paved road.

🏘️

Nearest Town

Leadore (10 mi), Lima (29 mi), Dillon (50 mi)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Idaho unit 30A?

Unit 30A lies in Lemhi County. Idaho Fish and Game describes unit 30A as that portion of Lemhi County within the Lemhi River Drainage north and east of State Highway 28 and east of State Highway 29. It covers about 275 square miles.

What is the elk success rate in unit 30A?

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 30A at 24% 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 30A hunt?

The nearest services our logistics pipeline finds for unit 30A are at Leadore, about 10 miles from the unit's centre, with Lima at about 29 miles. There are also 1 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit.

What is the mule deer success rate in unit 30A?

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put deer success in unit 30A at 54% across all manners of take. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

What is the pronghorn success rate in unit 30A?

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 30A at 35% 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 Beaverhead 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 30A · 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 30A — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Season structure for the unit · accessed 2026-10-24

Unit 30A (Beaverhead Zone)

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 30A

Elk Hunting in Unit 30A

Where to Find Elk in Unit 30A

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up elk hunting in unit 30A

What bounds unit 30A

High ground inside the line: Baldy Mountain, Horse Prairie Mountain and Elk Mountain

Holding ground: Left Fork Rock Canyon, Gilmore Summit and Dry Canyon

Water: Slaughterhouse Spring, Allhands Spring and Robertson Spring

Reading the land status

Unit 30A terrain and land status

The lay of it

Who owns the ground

Water on the ground

Named features inside the unit

How to Hunt Elk in Unit 30A

Elk Success Rates

Elk Draw Odds

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 30A

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 30A

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

What bounds unit 30A

High ground inside the line: Baldy Mountain, Horse Prairie Mountain and Elk Mountain

Holding ground: Hood Gulch, Cedar Gulch and Rocky Canyon

Water: Slaughterhouse Spring, Allhands Spring and Robertson Spring

Reading the land status

Unit 30A terrain and land status

The lay of it

Who owns the ground

Water on the ground

Named features inside the unit

How to Hunt Mule Deer in Unit 30A

Mule Deer Success Rates

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Pronghorn Hunting in Unit 30A

Where to Find Pronghorn in Unit 30A

How to Hunt Pronghorn in Unit 30A

Pronghorn Success Rates

Pronghorn Draw Odds

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Explore Related Units

Unit 27 — Salmon River Elk

Unit 36 — Sawtooth Elk

Unit 30A — Mule Deer

Frequently Asked Questions

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Sources & Verification