Unit 33 (Sawtooth Zone)
Idaho Hunting Guide — Mule Deer
Unit 33 lies in Boise and Valley counties and covers about 669 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 3,003 to 8,671 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put deer success here as high as 23%. Federal land covers about 81% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 33
Unit 33 lies in Boise and Valley counties and covers about 669 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 3,003 to 8,671 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put deer success here as high as 23%. Federal land covers about 81% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 33
Idaho Fish and Game's material on unit 33 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its mule deer 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 Boise and Valley counties. It runs to about 669 square miles.
How Idaho Fish and Game sets up mule deer hunting in unit 33
Idaho Fish and Game keeps a general deer season page for unit 33, and that page is where this year's dates and weapon rules live.
The lines of the unit: Payette River, Deadwood River and Nine Mile Creek
Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 33 in Boise and Valley counties on a line that runs along Forest Service Road 689, and past Payette River, Deadwood River, Nine Mile Creek and No Man Creek, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. It tells you the shape of the unit and nothing about its inhabitants. 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: Red Mountain, Scott Mountain and Lightning Ridge
Named high points inside the unit include Red Mountain at 8,671 feet, Scott Mountain at 8,191 feet, Lightning Ridge at 8,107 feet, Peace Rock at 8,015 feet and Deadwood Ridge at 7,900 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: Beaver Creek Summit, Granite Basin and Lookout Canyon
Below them sit Beaver Creek Summit at 6,067 feet, Granite Basin at 5,620 feet, Lookout Canyon at 5,447 feet, Box Canyon at 5,160 feet and Trail Creek Summit at 5,051 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this unit has, and they are what you glass into from above. Reaching the edge of one before light beats reaching its middle at noon.
Water: Boiling Springs, Bull Creek Hot Springs and Hot Springs
The water inside the unit line comes to 27 mapped stream reaches, 9 lakes and 16 stock tanks. Named sources include Boiling Springs, Bull Creek Hot Springs, Hot Springs, Packer Spring, Pine Flat Hot Springs and Basque 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 33 runs from 3,003 feet to 8,671 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.
Unit 33 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
The lay of it
- 3,658–7,563 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 5,382 ft ; peaks can run higher.
- 668.8 sq mi inside the boundary.
Who owns the ground
- National Forest — 60%
- State Trust — 8%
- Private / Other — 32%
Roughly 68% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.
Water on the ground
- 16 tanks
- 27 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: Red Mountain (8,671 ft), Scott Mountain (8,191 ft), Lightning Ridge (8,107 ft), Peace Rock (8,015 ft)
Holding ground: Skunk Creek Summit (7,089 ft), Clear Creek Summit (7,024 ft), Stony Meadow (6,870 ft), Boiling Springs, Bull Creek Hot Springs
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 33
Mule Deer Success Rates
Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put deer success in unit 33 at 23% — 284 animals taken by 1,244 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) | 135 | 359 | 38.0% | — |
| Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident) | 15 | 68 | 22.0% | — |
| Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident) | 5 | 195 | 3.0% | — |
| Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident) | 0 | 29 | 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 EngineIdaho Fish and Game's 2025 first drawing for mule deer in unit 33, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:
- Hunt 1087 — residents 359 applicants for 135 tags, 38% drawn; nonresidents 68 applicants for 15 tags, 22% 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.
Unit Logistics & Expectations
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Idaho unit 33?
What is the mule deer success rate in unit 33?
Where do you stay and resupply for a unit 33 hunt?
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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 · accessed 2026-10-24
- IDFG general deer season page for unit 33 — 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 33 · 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