Unit 76 (Diamond Creek Zone)
Idaho Hunting Guide — Elk
Unit 76 lies in Bear Lake and Caribou counties and covers about 1,388 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 5,788 to 9,943 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 17%. Federal land covers about 50% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Elk Hunting in Unit 76
Unit 76 lies in Bear Lake and Caribou counties and covers about 1,388 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 5,788 to 9,943 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 17%. Federal land covers about 50% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Elk in Unit 76
Idaho Fish and Game's material on unit 76 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its elk 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 Bear Lake and Caribou counties. It runs to about 1,388 square miles.
How Idaho Fish and Game sets up elk hunting in unit 76
Idaho Fish and Game runs its general elk seasons by elk management zone rather than unit by unit, and puts unit 76 in the Diamond Creek Zone, so the zone's tag rules are the ones that apply here.
What bounds unit 76
Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 76 in Bear Lake and Caribou counties on a line that runs along U.S. 89, U.S. 30 and State Highway 34, and past Soda Springs, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. 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: Meade Peak, Preuss Range and Snowdrift Mountain
Named high points inside the unit include Meade Peak at 9,943 feet, Preuss Range at 9,935 feet, Snowdrift Mountain at 9,352 feet, Bald Mountain at 9,264 feet and Threemile Peak at 9,217 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: Diamond Boulder Flat, Fisher Hollow and Diamond Flat
Below them sit Diamond Boulder Flat at 7,410 feet, Fisher Hollow at 7,377 feet, Diamond Flat at 7,371 feet, Big Basin at 7,333 feet and The Hole at 7,329 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this unit has, and they are what you glass into from above. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.
Water: Thompson Spring, Fox Spring and Bennetts Spring
The water inside the unit line comes to 241 mapped stream reaches, 24 lakes, 62 stock tanks and 7 springs. Named sources include Thompson Spring, Fox Spring, Bennetts Spring, Formation Spring, Goodheart Spring and Meadow 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 32% 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 76 runs from 5,788 feet to 9,943 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.
Unit 76 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
The lay of it
- 5,917–9,033 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 6,931 ft ; peaks can run higher.
- 1,388 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.
Who owns the ground
- National Forest — 60%
- State Trust — 8%
- Private / Other — 32%
Roughly 68% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.
Water on the ground
- 62 tanks
- 7 springs
- 241 stream segments
- 24 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: Meade Peak (9,943 ft), Snowdrift Mountain (9,352 ft), Bald Mountain (9,264 ft), Threemile Peak (9,217 ft)
Holding ground: Meade Basin (9,394 ft), Fox Flat (8,306 ft), Freeman Pass (7,714 ft), Thompson Spring, Fox 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 76
Elk Success Rates
Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 76 at 17% — 13 animals taken by 75 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) | 545 | 787 | 69.0% | — |
| Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident) | 55 | 88 | 62.0% | — |
| Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident) | 21 | 201 | 10.0% | — |
| Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident) | 3 | 29 | 10.0% | — |
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 76, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:
- Hunt 2107 — residents 787 applicants for 545 tags, 69% drawn; nonresidents 88 applicants for 55 tags, 62% 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 76?
What is the elk success rate in unit 76?
Where do you stay and resupply for a unit 76 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 Diamond Creek 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 76 · 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