Unit 52A (Big Desert Zone)
Idaho Hunting Guide — Mule Deer
Unit 52A lies in Blaine, Butte, Lincoln and Minidoka counties and covers about 1,733 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 4,136 to 5,894 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put deer success here as high as 16%. Federal land covers about 96% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 52A
Unit 52A lies in Blaine, Butte, Lincoln and Minidoka counties and covers about 1,733 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 4,136 to 5,894 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put deer success here as high as 16%. Federal land covers about 96% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 52A
What Idaho Fish and Game publishes for unit 52A is a boundary, not a mule deer map. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Blaine, Butte, Lincoln and Minidoka counties. It runs to about 1,733 square miles.
How Idaho Fish and Game sets up mule deer hunting in unit 52A
Idaho Fish and Game keeps a general deer season page for unit 52A, and that page is where this year's dates and weapon rules live.
What bounds unit 52A
Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 52A in Blaine, Butte, Lincoln and Minidoka counties on a line that runs along U.S. 93 and State Highway 24, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. That is a legal description, not a habitat map. 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: North Laidlaw Butte, Wildhorse Butte and Fingers Butte
Named high points inside the unit include North Laidlaw Butte at 5,894 feet, Wildhorse Butte at 5,711 feet, Fingers Butte at 5,616 feet, Saddle Butte at 5,568 feet and Cruthers Butte at 5,514 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: Bear Park, Paddelford Flat and Snake River Plains
Below them sit Bear Park at 4,980 feet, Paddelford Flat at 4,889 feet, Snake River Plains at 4,494 feet, Larkspur Park at 4,471 feet and North Center Lake at 4,216 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: South Park Well, Peavey Well and Pagari Well
The water inside the unit line comes to 18 mapped stream reaches and 14 stock tanks. Named sources include South Park Well, Peavey Well, Pagari Well, Black Ridge Well and Clark Well. 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 Private / Other 85% and BLM 15%, so treat it as a starting point and check a current land-status layer before you plan a route. Named ground inside unit 52A runs from 4,136 feet to 5,894 feet. Those are the heights of the features GNIS names, which bound the range from inside rather than measure it.
Unit 52A terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
The lay of it
- 4,224–5,565 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 4,729 ft ; peaks can run higher.
- 1,733.1 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.
Who owns the ground
- BLM — 15%
- Private / Other — 85%
Roughly 15% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.
Water on the ground
- 14 tanks
- 18 stream segments
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: Wildhorse Butte (5,711 ft), Fingers Butte (5,616 ft), Saddle Butte (5,568 ft), Cruthers Butte (5,514 ft)
Holding ground: Hollow Top (5,380 ft), Litte Park (5,012 ft), Snake River Plains (4,494 ft), South Park Well, Peavey Well
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 52A
Mule Deer Success Rates
Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put deer success in unit 52A at 16% — 202 animals taken by 1,283 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) | 68 | 117 | 58.0% | — |
| Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident) | 7 | 13 | 54.0% | — |
| Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident) | 1 | 39 | 3.0% | — |
| Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident) | 0 | 4 | 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 52A, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:
- Hunt 1092 — residents 117 applicants for 68 tags, 58% drawn; nonresidents 13 applicants for 7 tags, 54% 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 52A?
What is the mule deer success rate in unit 52A?
Where do you stay and resupply for a unit 52A hunt?
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Upgrade to Pro — $49/yrSources & 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 52A — 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 52A · 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