Unit 63 (Snake River Zone)
Idaho Hunting Guide — Elk
Unit 63 lies in Bingham, Bonneville, Butte, Clark and Jefferson counties and covers about 2,005 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 4,554 to 6,564 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 8%. Federal land covers about 21% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Elk Hunting in Unit 63
Unit 63 lies in Bingham, Bonneville, Butte, Clark and Jefferson counties and covers about 2,005 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 4,554 to 6,564 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 8%. Federal land covers about 21% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Elk in Unit 63
What Idaho Fish and Game publishes for unit 63 is a boundary, not a elk map. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Bingham, Bonneville, Butte, Clark and Jefferson counties. It runs to about 2,005 square miles.
How Idaho Fish and Game sets up elk hunting in unit 63
Idaho Fish and Game runs its general elk seasons by elk management zone rather than unit by unit, and puts unit 63 in the Snake River Zone, so the zone's tag rules are the ones that apply here.
What bounds unit 63
Idaho Fish and Game describes unit 63 as those portions of Bingham, Bonneville, Butte, Clark, and Jefferson counties within the following boundary: beginning at Blackfoot then north on Interstate 15 to Dubois, then southwest on State Highway 22 to U.S. 20-26, then southeast on U.S. 26 to Interstate 15 at Blackfoot, the point of beginning. That is a legal description, not a habitat map. What it does give you is the way in: the rivers and highways you cross, and the divides that decide which drainage you end up in.
High ground inside the line: Twin Buttes, East Butte and Middle Butte
Named high points inside the unit include Twin Buttes at 6,564 feet, East Butte at 6,478 feet, Middle Butte at 6,388 feet, Kettle Butte at 5,549 feet and Little Butte at 5,515 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: Morgans Pasture, Oakland Valley and Lemhi Pass
Below them sit Morgans Pasture at 4,737 feet, Oakland Valley at 4,720 feet, Lemhi Pass at 4,554 feet, Tractor Flat at 5,200 feet and Dutch Flat at 4,925 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
The water inside the unit line comes to 41 mapped stream reaches, 6 lakes, 16 stock tanks and 7 springs. 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 63 runs from 4,554 feet to 6,564 feet. Those are the heights of the features GNIS names, which bound the range from inside rather than measure it.
Unit 63 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
The lay of it
- 4,704–5,325 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 4,907 ft ; peaks can run higher.
- 2,005.4 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
- 16 tanks
- 7 springs
- 41 stream segments
- 6 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: Kettle Butte (5,549 ft), Little Butte (5,515 ft), Cedar Butte (5,372 ft), Saint Marys Knoll (5,331 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 63
Elk Success Rates
Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 63 at 8% — 1 animals taken by 12 hunters. On a sample that small the percentage moves several points with one animal, so read the hunter count beside 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) | 255 | 255 | 100.0% | — |
| Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident) | 3 | 3 | 100.0% | — |
| Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident) | 35 | 73 | 48.0% | — |
| Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident) | 1 | 2 | 50.0% | — |
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 63, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:
- Hunt 2120 — residents 698 applicants for 94 tags, 13% drawn; nonresidents 34 applicants for 6 tags, 18% drawn
- Hunt 2100 — residents 255 applicants for 255 tags, 100% drawn; nonresidents 3 applicants for 3 tags, 100% drawn
- Hunt 2119 — residents 219 applicants for 219 tags, 100% drawn; nonresidents 25 applicants for 25 tags, 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 63?
What is the elk success rate in unit 63?
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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 Snake River 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 63 · 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