Unit 37 (Lemhi Zone)
Idaho Hunting Guide — Elk
Unit 37 lies in Custer and Lemhi counties and covers about 702 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 4,643 to 12,631 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 44%. Federal land covers about 88% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Elk Hunting in Unit 37
Unit 37 lies in Custer and Lemhi counties and covers about 702 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 4,643 to 12,631 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 44%. Federal land covers about 88% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Elk in Unit 37
Idaho Fish and Game draws an exact line around unit 37 and says nothing about where the elk stand inside it. 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 Custer and Lemhi counties. It runs to about 702 square miles.
How Idaho Fish and Game sets up elk hunting in unit 37
Idaho Fish and Game runs its general elk seasons by elk management zone rather than unit by unit, and puts unit 37 in the Lemhi Zone, so the zone's tag rules are the ones that apply here.
The lines of the unit: Pahsimeroi River, Salmon River and Willow Creek
Idaho Fish and Game describes unit 37 as those portions of Custer and Lemhi counties within the Salmon and Pahsimeroi River drainages east of the Salmon River, south and west of the Ellis-May-Howe Highway, and north and east of U.S. 93 between the U.S. 93 bridge across the Salmon River south of the town of Challis and Willow Creek Summit. 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: Borah Peak, Lost River Range and Leatherman Peak
Named high points inside the unit include Borah Peak at 12,631 feet, Lost River Range at 12,619 feet, Leatherman Peak at 12,197 feet, Grouse Creek Mountain at 11,065 feet and Spring Hill at 9,441 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: Spud Basin, Mud Spring Canyon and Dodge Basin
Below them sit Spud Basin at 7,690 feet, Mud Spring Canyon at 7,510 feet, Dodge Basin at 7,362 feet, Crane Basin at 7,242 feet and Dead Cat Canyon at 7,213 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: Gooseberry Spring, Mule Spring and Baby Creek Spring
The water inside the unit line comes to 46 mapped stream reaches, 7 lakes, 22 stock tanks and 2 springs. Named sources include Gooseberry Spring, Mule Spring and Baby Creek 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 37 runs from 4,643 feet to 12,631 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.
Unit 37 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
The lay of it
- 5,079–9,799 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,464 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
- 701.7 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
- 22 tanks
- 2 springs
- 46 stream segments
- 7 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: Leatherman Peak (12,197 ft), Grouse Creek Mountain (11,065 ft), Spring Hill (9,441 ft)
Holding ground: Leatherman Pass (10,509 ft), Sheep Pen Basin (8,721 ft), Wino Basin (8,346 ft), Gooseberry Spring, Mule Spring, Baby Creek 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 37
Elk Success Rates
Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 37 at 44% — 88 animals taken by 198 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.
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) | 90 | 519 | 17.0% | — |
| Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident) | 10 | 131 | 8.0% | — |
| Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident) | 3 | 188 | 2.0% | — |
| Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident) | 0 | 20 | 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 elk in unit 37, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:
- Hunt 2012 — residents 519 applicants for 90 tags, 17% drawn; nonresidents 131 applicants for 10 tags, 8% drawn
- Hunt 2079 — residents 170 applicants for 90 tags, 53% drawn; nonresidents 26 applicants for 10 tags, 38% drawn
- Hunt 2078 — residents 83 applicants for 54 tags, 65% drawn; nonresidents 10 applicants for 6 tags, 60% drawn
- Hunt 2157 — residents 43 applicants for 24 tags, 56% drawn; nonresidents 1 applicants for 1 tag, 100% 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 37?
What is the elk success rate in unit 37?
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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, Controlled hunt numbers, tags and season dates · accessed 2026-10-24
- IDFG Lemhi 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 37 · 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