Unit 47 (South Hills Zone)

What Idaho Fish and Game publishes for unit 47 is a boundary, not a pronghorn map. 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 Owyhee and Twin Falls counties. It runs to about 346 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up pronghorn hunting in unit 47

Idaho Fish and Game hunts pronghorn here only by controlled hunt, and describes its pronghorn hunt area 47 as all of Unit 47.

What bounds unit 47

Idaho Fish and Game describes unit 47 as those portions of Owyhee and Twin Falls counties within the following boundary: beginning at Rogerson on U.S. 93, then southwest on Rogerson-Three Creek-Jarbidge Road to the Idaho-Nevada State line, then east along the state line to U.S. 93, then north on U.S. 93 to the point of beginning. 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: Bobcat Butte, Player Butte and Mud Flat Hill

Named high points inside the unit include Bobcat Butte at 6,098 feet, Player Butte at 6,092 feet, Mud Flat Hill at 6,007 feet, Horse Hill at 5,894 feet and Castle Rock at 5,558 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: Deer Canyon, Hays Canyon and Middle Canyon

Below them sit Deer Canyon at 5,708 feet, Hays Canyon at 5,696 feet, Middle Canyon at 5,690 feet, North Canyon at 5,682 feet and Higgins Draw at 5,668 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Work out which of them you can see from one position before you pick a camp.

Water: Mauldin Springs, Meadow Springs and Big Spring

The water inside the unit line comes to 9 mapped stream reaches, 2 lakes, 4 stock tanks and 26 springs. Named sources include Mauldin Springs, Meadow Springs, Big Spring, Dove Spring, Strawberry Spring and Box 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 47 runs from 5,002 feet to 7,550 feet. Those are the heights of the features GNIS names, which bound the range from inside rather than measure it.

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put pronghorn success in unit 47 at 40% 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 47

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 rules list one controlled hunt for pronghorn on unit 47 under its own number.

• Hunt 4045 — muzzleloader only, 50 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 47 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 Salmon Butte, Browns Bench and China Mountain

Take a position on one of Salmon Butte (5,385 ft), Browns Bench (5,250 ft), China Mountain (7,550 ft) and Steamboat (7,092 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, early-season bucks hold does and can be decoyed where the law allows it.

Water against feed

There are 9 mapped stream reaches and 4 tanks inside the unit, so water is rarely the limiting factor. Where water is everywhere, feed is what concentrates animals, so hunt the feed and treat water as a convenience. Sitting water works where you can see fresh tracks going in, and nowhere else.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Season normals here run Sep 76/37°F, Oct 62/28°F and Nov 47/20°F. By Nov the lows are around 20°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, 1.1 in. in Oct and 1 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

Getting past the roads: Three Creek Road and US 93

US 93 is the paved frame, which is also where everyone else starts. There are roughly 10.6 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 a day here costs you

346 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. The nearest services are at Jackpot, about 15 miles out, which is an hour of your morning each way if you sleep there. Decide the night before where you will be at first light, and go there in the dark.