Idaho Mule Deer Pronghorn Elk California Bighorn Sheep

Unit 40 (Owyhee Zone)

Idaho Hunting Guide — Mule Deer, Pronghorn, Elk, California Bighorn Sheep

Unit 40 lies in Owyhee County and covers about 2,256 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 2,333 to 8,401 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put deer success here as high as 32%. Federal land covers about 69% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

View Draw Odds Idaho Hunting Guide

🏔️

69%

Public Land

⛰️

2,408–6,720 ft

Sampled elevation

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 40

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Idaho Unit 40 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.

Mule Deer guide Pronghorn guide Elk guide California Bighorn Sheep 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.

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 40

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 40

Idaho Fish and Game's material on unit 40 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 Owyhee County. It runs to about 2,256 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up mule deer hunting in unit 40

Idaho Fish and Game keeps a general deer season page for unit 40, and that page is where this year's dates and weapon rules live.

The lines of the unit: Snake River, Mud Flat-Juniper Mountain and Owyhee River

Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 40 in Owyhee County on a line that runs along State Highway 78, and past Snake River, Mud Flat-Juniper Mountain and Owyhee River, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. 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: Silver City Range, Cinnabar Mountain and Hayden Peak

Named high points inside the unit include Silver City Range at 8,401 feet, Cinnabar Mountain at 8,401 feet, Hayden Peak at 8,401 feet, Owyhee Mountains at 8,383 feet and Turntable Mountain at 8,096 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Mule deer on open country use every fold and draw there is, and almost none of the flat.

Holding ground: Rich Gulch, Bull Meadow and Avondale Basin

Below them sit Rich Gulch at 6,566 feet, Bull Meadow at 6,529 feet, Avondale Basin at 6,523 feet, Coffee Gulch at 6,495 feet and Negro Gulch at 6,468 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 in this unit

The water inside the unit line comes to 113 mapped stream reaches, 34 lakes, 226 stock tanks and 5 springs. On ground with that many tanks, knowing which two or three hold water in your season is the most useful thing a scouting trip can tell you.

Reading the land status

Our ownership read for this unit is approximate — it comes out as Private / Other 77%, 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 40 runs from 2,333 feet to 8,401 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.

Unit 40 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

2,408–6,720 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 4,722 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
2,255.5 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.

Who owns the ground

BLM — 15%
State Trust — 8%
Private / Other — 77%

Roughly 23% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

226 tanks
5 springs
113 stream segments
34 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: Silver City Range (8,401 ft), Quicksilver Mountain (8,077 ft), War Eagle Mountain (8,041 ft), South Mountain (7,797 ft)

Holding ground: Pickett Creek Saddle (7,243 ft), Linehan Flat (6,889 ft), Bull Meadow (6,529 ft)

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 40

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put deer success in unit 40 at 32% 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 40

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 rules list 3 controlled hunts for mule deer on unit 40 under its own number.

Hunt 1031 — antlered deer, 200 tags, Nov 1–Nov 24
Hunt 1073 — archery only deer, 50 tags, Aug 15–Sep 30. Antlered only
Hunt 1169 — outfitter allocation deer, antlered deer only, 5 tags, Nov 1–Nov 24

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 40 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 Sawpit Peak, Florida Mountain and Mammoth Ridge

Take a position on one of Sawpit Peak (7,793 ft), Florida Mountain (7,776 ft), Mammoth Ridge (7,494 ft) and China Butte (7,458 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. 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 113 mapped stream reaches and 226 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 77/44°F, Oct 62/34°F and Nov 48/25°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 0.4 in. in Sep, 0.8 in. in Oct and 1.2 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

Getting past the roads: Juniper Mountain Road and Mud Flat Road

There are roughly 25.1 miles of genuine four-wheel-drive road in the unit, and the country past the end of them is the part worth your legs.

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 40

Named routes and what they need

Juniper Mountain Road — 28.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Mud Flat Road — 27.5 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Cow Creek Road — 11.5 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
McBride Creek Road — 3.8 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
A & A Road — 3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Hill Road — 3 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

Jordan Valley — 19.4 mi · fuel
Grand View — 29.5 mi · no services listed
Kuna — 35.5 mi · fuel, groceries
Marsing — 37.4 mi · no services listed
Nampa — 39.4 mi · fuel, groceries, gear

Developed camps

Silver City Campground
Wine Region RV Resort
Owyhee North Fork Campground
Unnamed camp site
Riverhaven

Season weather and signal

Jan39° / 21° · 1.2" precip
Aug87° / 52° · 0.3" precip
Sep77° / 44° · 0.4" precip
Oct62° / 34° · 0.8" precip
Nov48° / 25° · 1.2" precip
Dec38° / 20° · 1.4" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 26% 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.

Pro Members Only

Unlock mule deer tactics for Unit 40

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Mule Deer Success Rates

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put deer success in unit 40 at 32% — 631 animals taken by 1,979 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)	180	4,731	4.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	20	751	3.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident)	4	1,739	0.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident)	0	232	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 mule deer in unit 40, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 1031 — residents 4,731 applicants for 180 tags, 4% drawn; nonresidents 751 applicants for 20 tags, 3% drawn
Hunt 1073 — residents 172 applicants for 45 tags, 26% drawn; nonresidents 71 applicants for 5 tags, 7% 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.

Pronghorn Hunting in Unit 40

Unit 40 lies in Owyhee County and covers about 2,256 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 2,333 to 8,401 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put pronghorn success here as high as 26%. Federal land covers about 69% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Pronghorn in Unit 40

Idaho Fish and Game's material on unit 40 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 Owyhee County. It runs to about 2,256 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up pronghorn hunting in unit 40

Idaho Fish and Game hunts pronghorn here only by controlled hunt, and describes its pronghorn hunt area 40 as all of Unit 40.

The lines of the unit: Snake River, Mud Flat-Juniper Mountain and Owyhee River

Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 40 in Owyhee County on a line that runs along State Highway 78, and past Snake River, Mud Flat-Juniper Mountain and Owyhee River, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. 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: Quicksilver Mountain, War Eagle Mountain and South Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Quicksilver Mountain at 8,077 feet, War Eagle Mountain at 8,041 feet, South Mountain at 7,797 feet, Sawpit Peak at 7,793 feet and Florida Mountain at 7,776 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Pronghorn live in the open and trust their eyes, which is the whole problem.

Holding ground: Leviathan Gulch, Silver Cord Gulch and Indian Meadows

Below them sit Leviathan Gulch at 6,443 feet, Silver Cord Gulch at 6,394 feet, Indian Meadows at 6,393 feet, Chariot Gulch at 6,347 feet and North Sinker Flat at 6,346 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 in this unit

Reading the land status

Unit 40 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

2,408–6,720 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 4,722 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
2,255.5 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.

Who owns the ground

BLM — 15%
State Trust — 8%
Private / Other — 77%

Roughly 23% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

226 tanks
5 springs
113 stream segments
34 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: Silver City Range (8,401 ft), Quicksilver Mountain (8,077 ft), War Eagle Mountain (8,041 ft), South Mountain (7,797 ft)

Holding ground: Pickett Creek Saddle (7,243 ft), Linehan Flat (6,889 ft), Bull Meadow (6,529 ft)

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 Pronghorn in Unit 40

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 40 at 26% 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 40

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 rules list one controlled hunt for pronghorn on unit 40 under its own number.

Hunt 4008 — either sex pronghorn, 75 tags, Sep 25–Oct 24

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 40 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 Stormy Hill, Slacks Mountain and China Point

Take a position on one of Stormy Hill (7,441 ft), Slacks Mountain (7,315 ft), China Point (7,237 ft) and Potosi Ridge (7,177 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. 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

There are 113 mapped stream reaches and 226 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

Getting past the roads: Juniper Mountain Road and Mud Flat Road

There are roughly 25.1 miles of genuine four-wheel-drive road in the unit, and the country past the end of them is the part worth your legs.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Silver City Range, Quicksilver Mountain, War Eagle Mountain and South Mountain as places to see from, and Pickett Creek Saddle, Linehan Flat, Bull Meadow and ID 55 @ unit boundary 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.

Getting in and staying out: unit 40

Named routes and what they need

Juniper Mountain Road — 28.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Mud Flat Road — 27.5 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Cow Creek Road — 11.5 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
McBride Creek Road — 3.8 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
A & A Road — 3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Hill Road — 3 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

Jordan Valley — 19.4 mi · fuel
Grand View — 29.5 mi · no services listed
Kuna — 35.5 mi · fuel, groceries
Marsing — 37.4 mi · no services listed
Nampa — 39.4 mi · fuel, groceries, gear

Developed camps

Silver City Campground
Wine Region RV Resort
Owyhee North Fork Campground
Unnamed camp site
Riverhaven

Season weather and signal

Jan39° / 21° · 1.2" precip
Aug87° / 52° · 0.3" precip
Sep77° / 44° · 0.4" precip
Oct62° / 34° · 0.8" precip
Nov48° / 25° · 1.2" precip
Dec38° / 20° · 1.4" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 26% 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.

Pro Members Only

Unlock pronghorn tactics for Unit 40

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Pronghorn Success Rates

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 40 at 26% — 62 animals taken by 239 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)	68	2,492	3.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	7	262	3.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident)	2	824	0.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident)	0	90	0.0%	—

Open in Draw Odds Engine

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 first drawing for pronghorn in unit 40, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 4008 — residents 2,492 applicants for 68 tags, 3% drawn; nonresidents 262 applicants for 7 tags, 3% drawn

Elk Hunting in Unit 40

Unit 40 lies in Owyhee County and covers about 2,256 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 2,333 to 8,401 feet. Idaho Fish and Game publishes no per-unit elk success figure we can verify for this unit. Federal land covers about 69% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Elk in Unit 40

Idaho Fish and Game draws an exact line around unit 40 and says nothing about where the elk stand inside it. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Owyhee County. It runs to about 2,256 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up elk hunting in unit 40

Idaho Fish and Game runs its general elk seasons by elk management zone rather than unit by unit, and puts unit 40 in the Owyhee Zone, so the zone's tag rules are the ones that apply here.

The lines of the unit: Snake River, Mud Flat-Juniper Mountain and Owyhee River

Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 40 in Owyhee County on a line that runs along State Highway 78, and past Snake River, Mud Flat-Juniper Mountain and Owyhee River, 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: Mammoth Ridge, China Butte and Stormy Hill

Named high points inside the unit include Mammoth Ridge at 7,494 feet, China Butte at 7,458 feet, Stormy Hill at 7,441 feet, Slacks Mountain at 7,315 feet and China Point at 7,237 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Elk on low, open country live on distance and visibility, so they see you first.

Holding ground: Half Moon Pass, Blacksmith Gulch and Sawpit Gulch

Below them sit Half Moon Pass at 6,313 feet, Blacksmith Gulch at 6,305 feet, Sawpit Gulch at 6,286 feet, Webfoot Gulch at 6,216 feet and Mahogany Gulch at 6,176 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Reaching the edge of one before light beats reaching its middle at noon.

Water in this unit

Reading the land status

Unit 40 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

2,408–6,720 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 4,722 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
2,255.5 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.

Who owns the ground

BLM — 15%
State Trust — 8%
Private / Other — 77%

Roughly 23% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

226 tanks
5 springs
113 stream segments
34 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: Silver City Range (8,401 ft), Quicksilver Mountain (8,077 ft), War Eagle Mountain (8,041 ft), South Mountain (7,797 ft)

Holding ground: Pickett Creek Saddle (7,243 ft), Linehan Flat (6,889 ft), Bull Meadow (6,529 ft)

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 40

Idaho Fish and Game publishes no elk success figure for unit 40 that we can tie to this unit alone, so we won't quote one. 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 40

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 rules list one controlled hunt for elk on unit 40 under its own number.

Hunt 2014 — antlered elk, 60 tags, Oct 15–Nov 24

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 40 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 Rough Mountain, Twin Peaks and Tennessee Mountain

Take a position on one of Rough Mountain (7,068 ft), Twin Peaks (7,060 ft), Tennessee Mountain (6,977 ft) and Boone Peak (6,962 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. 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 113 mapped stream reaches and 226 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. A tank with no tracks is a tank with no reason to sit on it.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads: Juniper Mountain Road and Mud Flat Road

There are roughly 25.1 miles of genuine four-wheel-drive road in the unit, and the country past the end of them is the part worth your legs.

A first plan from the pins on this page

Getting in and staying out: unit 40

Named routes and what they need

Juniper Mountain Road — 28.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Mud Flat Road — 27.5 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Cow Creek Road — 11.5 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
McBride Creek Road — 3.8 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
A & A Road — 3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Hill Road — 3 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

Jordan Valley — 19.4 mi · fuel
Grand View — 29.5 mi · no services listed
Kuna — 35.5 mi · fuel, groceries
Marsing — 37.4 mi · no services listed
Nampa — 39.4 mi · fuel, groceries, gear

Developed camps

Silver City Campground
Wine Region RV Resort
Owyhee North Fork Campground
Unnamed camp site
Riverhaven

Season weather and signal

Jan39° / 21° · 1.2" precip
Aug87° / 52° · 0.3" precip
Sep77° / 44° · 0.4" precip
Oct62° / 34° · 0.8" precip
Nov48° / 25° · 1.2" precip
Dec38° / 20° · 1.4" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 26% 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

Rifle56%

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 general-hunt harvest statistics carry no elk success figure for unit 40 with a hunter count behind it, so we leave the number out rather than print one we cannot read back to this unit. Idaho Fish and Game's hunt planner is the place to check before you apply.

Elk Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (resident)	54	2,043	3.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	6	362	2.0%	—

Open in Draw Odds Engine

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 first drawing for elk in unit 40, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 2014 — residents 2,043 applicants for 54 tags, 3% drawn; nonresidents 362 applicants for 6 tags, 2% drawn

California Bighorn Sheep Hunting in Unit 40

Unit 40 lies in Owyhee County and covers about 2,256 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 2,333 to 8,401 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put California bighorn sheep success here as high as 70%. Federal land covers about 69% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find California Bighorn Sheep in Unit 40

Idaho Fish and Game's material on unit 40 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its California bighorn sheep live. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Owyhee County. It runs to about 2,256 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up California bighorn sheep hunting in unit 40

Idaho Fish and Game hunts California bighorn sheep here only by controlled hunt, and describes its California bighorn sheep hunt area 40 as all of Unit 40.

The lines of the unit: Snake River, Mud Flat-Juniper Mountain and Owyhee River

Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 40 in Owyhee County on a line that runs along State Highway 78, and past Snake River, Mud Flat-Juniper Mountain and Owyhee River, 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: Potosi Ridge, Rough Mountain and Twin Peaks

Named high points inside the unit include Potosi Ridge at 7,177 feet, Rough Mountain at 7,068 feet, Twin Peaks at 7,060 feet, Tennessee Mountain at 6,977 feet and Boone Peak at 6,962 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Sheep on lower country still need rock, and on a desert unit the rock is the whole hunt.

Holding ground: Newsome Gulch, Long Gulch and Cemetery Gulch

Below them sit Newsome Gulch at 6,167 feet, Long Gulch at 6,164 feet, Cemetery Gulch at 6,135 feet, Slaughterhouse Gulch at 6,071 feet and Picnic Gulch at 6,049 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 in this unit

Reading the land status

Unit 40 terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

2,408–6,720 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 4,722 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
2,255.5 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.

Who owns the ground

BLM — 15%
State Trust — 8%
Private / Other — 77%

Roughly 23% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

226 tanks
5 springs
113 stream segments
34 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: Silver City Range (8,401 ft), Quicksilver Mountain (8,077 ft), War Eagle Mountain (8,041 ft), South Mountain (7,797 ft)

Holding ground: Pickett Creek Saddle (7,243 ft), Linehan Flat (6,889 ft), Bull Meadow (6,529 ft)

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 California Bighorn Sheep in Unit 40

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put California bighorn sheep success in unit 40 at 70% across all manners of take. A number like that comes from few tags and a short season, not from easy hunting. The plan: pick a glassing position across from the escape terrain and stay on it for hours, not minutes.

The 2025 and 2026 controlled hunts in unit 40

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 and 2026 rules list one controlled hunt for California bighorn sheep on unit 40 under its own number.

Hunt 7001 — 0 tags, Aug 30–Oct 8

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 40 tag

Idaho Fish and Game takes moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat applications together, and anyone who applies for one of the three may not apply for another big game controlled hunt in the same year's first drawing, apart from the unlimited, extra, black bear and depredation hunts IDFG names. A hunter drawn for either bighorn may not apply for a bighorn tag for two years, and IDFG allows one Rocky Mountain and one California bighorn per hunter in a lifetime. Two hunters may apply together on one application. Idaho's draw is random, with no preference or bonus points to build.

Glassing from Clover Mountain, Glass Hill and Jims Peak

Take a position on one of Clover Mountain (6,862 ft), Glass Hill (6,829 ft), Jims Peak (6,798 ft) and Combination Ridge (6,789 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. 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, late hunts put rams with ewe groups on the same rock.

Water against feed

There are 113 mapped stream reaches and 226 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. A tank with no tracks is a tank with no reason to sit on it.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads: Juniper Mountain Road and Mud Flat Road

There are roughly 25.1 miles of genuine four-wheel-drive road in the unit, and the country past the end of them is the part worth your legs.

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 40

Named routes and what they need

Juniper Mountain Road — 28.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Mud Flat Road — 27.5 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Cow Creek Road — 11.5 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
McBride Creek Road — 3.8 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
A & A Road — 3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Hill Road — 3 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

Jordan Valley — 19.4 mi · fuel
Grand View — 29.5 mi · no services listed
Kuna — 35.5 mi · fuel, groceries
Marsing — 37.4 mi · no services listed
Nampa — 39.4 mi · fuel, groceries, gear

Developed camps

Silver City Campground
Wine Region RV Resort
Owyhee North Fork Campground
Unnamed camp site
Riverhaven

Season weather and signal

Jan39° / 21° · 1.2" precip
Aug87° / 52° · 0.3" precip
Sep77° / 44° · 0.4" precip
Oct62° / 34° · 0.8" precip
Nov48° / 25° · 1.2" precip
Dec38° / 20° · 1.4" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 26% 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.

California Bighorn Sheep: 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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California Bighorn Sheep Success Rates

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put California bighorn sheep success in unit 40 at 70% — 173 animals taken by 246 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.

California Bighorn Sheep Draw Odds

Draw odds data not available for this specific unit/species combination in our database.

Search Idaho Draw Odds

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 first drawing for California bighorn sheep in unit 40, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 7001 — residents 52 applicants for 0 tags, 0% drawn; nonresidents 98 applicants for 1 tag, 1% drawn

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

⛺

Camp Sites

6 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit, including Silver City Campground, Wine Region RV Resort and Owyhee North Fork Campground.

🛣️

Road Conditions

Juniper Mountain Road, Mud Flat Road and Cow Creek Road are the named routes in the unit. Roughly 14 mi paved, 79 mi gravel and 25 mi four-wheel-drive.

🥾

Terrain Difficulty

Named features from 2,333 to 8,401 ft. More than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so plan the pack-out before the shot.

👥

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 77/44°F, 0.4 in.; Oct 62/34°F, 0.8 in.; Nov 48/25°F, 1.2 in..

📱

Cell Service

Verizon 26%, AT&T 17%, T-Mobile 9% of the unit area — modelled coverage, not measured. Assume no signal off the paved road.

🏘️

Nearest Town

Jordan Valley (19 mi), Grand View (30 mi), Kuna (36 mi)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Idaho unit 40?

Unit 40 lies in Owyhee County. Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 40 on a line that runs along State Highway 78, and past Snake River, Mud Flat-Juniper Mountain and Owyhee River, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. It covers about 2,256 square miles.

What is the mule deer success rate in unit 40?

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put deer success in unit 40 at 32% 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 40 hunt?

The nearest services our logistics pipeline finds for unit 40 are at Jordan Valley, about 19 miles from the unit's centre, with Grand View at about 30 miles. There are also 6 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit.

What is the pronghorn success rate in unit 40?

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 40 at 26% across all manners of take. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

What is the elk success rate in unit 40?

Idaho Fish and Game publishes no elk success figure we can tie to unit 40 on its own — the 2025 harvest tables either omit the unit or report it in a grouping we could not read back to it reliably. Rather than quote a statewide average as though it were measured here, we say so. Check Idaho Fish and Game's current harvest estimates before you apply.

What is the California bighorn sheep success rate in unit 40?

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put California bighorn sheep success in unit 40 at 70% 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 general deer season page for unit 40 — 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 40 · 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
Moose, Bighorn Sheep & Mountain Goat 2025 & 2026 Seasons & Rules — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Controlled hunt application periods and eligibility rules · accessed 2026-10-24