Idaho Mule Deer

Unit D29-1 (Deer Hunt Area 29-1)

Idaho Hunting Guide — Mule Deer

Hunt Area 29-1 is drawn from units 29 and 37A, in Lemhi and Custer counties. Named ground inside it runs from 4,575 to 11,313 feet. Idaho Fish and Game publishes no per-unit mule deer success figure we can verify for this hunt area. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

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Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Idaho Unit D29-1 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

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Mule Deer Hunting in Unit D29-1

Where to Find Mule Deer in Hunt Area 29-1

What Idaho Fish and Game publishes for hunt area 29-1 is a boundary, not a mule deer map. Every place named below sits inside the hunt-area line. Which of them holds animals in your season is for you to find out.

What hunt area 29-1 is

Idaho Fish and Game describes deer hunt area 29-1 as all of Units 29 and 37A. That is whole units, so the outline on this page follows unit lines all the way round. The units it is drawn from lie in Lemhi and Custer counties. Idaho Fish and Game also uses the code 29-1 for pronghorn hunts, and in its own words "hunt areas are different for each species" — those are other pieces of ground, and this page is the deer area.

High ground inside the line: Big Creek Peak, Flatiron Mountain and Lemhi Range

Named high points inside the hunt area include Big Creek Peak at 11,313 feet, Flatiron Mountain at 11,011 feet, Lemhi Range at 10,998 feet, Lem Peak at 10,959 feet and Yellow Peak at 10,947 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Mule deer bed on broken ground with a view and feed on the brush below it.

Holding ground: Copper Basin, Long Canyon and Liberty Gulch

Below them sit Copper Basin at 7,361 feet, Long Canyon at 7,296 feet, Liberty Gulch at 7,174 feet, Federal Gulch at 7,173 feet and Silver Moon Gulch at 7,172 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this hunt area has, and they are what you glass into from above. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.

Water: Hodges Spring, Rigger Spring and Smith Spring

Named sources include Hodges Spring, Rigger Spring, Smith Spring, Graves Spring, Cold Spring and First Basin Spring. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

How high the named ground goes

Named ground inside hunt area 29-1 runs from 4,575 feet to 11,313 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.

Unit D29-1 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Big Creek Peak (11,313 ft), Lem Peak (10,959 ft), Yellow Peak (10,947 ft), May Mountain (10,924 ft)

Holding ground: Timber Creek Pass (9,327 ft), Devils Basin (9,024 ft), First Basin (7,993 ft), Hodges Spring, Rigger 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 Mule Deer in Hunt Area 29-1

Idaho Fish and Game's per-unit harvest statistics describe general seasons on game management units, so there is no mule deer success figure we can tie to hunt area 29-1 alone, and we won't borrow one from a unit. The plan: glass the broken edges at first light, then sit still and keep glassing the same ground.

The 2026 controlled hunts

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 rules list 2 controlled hunts for mule deer in hunt area 29-1.

Hunt 1085 — muzzleloader only deer, 63 tags, Nov 25–Dec 9. Antlered only, Motorized Hunting Rule Applies
Hunt 1163 — outfitter allocation deer, antlered deer only, 2 tags, Nov 25–Dec 9. Muzzleloader only

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 hunt area 29-1

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 Mill Mountain, Long Mountain and Junction Peak

Take a position on one of Mill Mountain (10,780 ft), Long Mountain (10,670 ft), Junction Peak (10,604 ft) and Mogg Mountain (10,556 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, late-season hunts put bucks with doe groups and moving in daylight.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Big Creek Peak, Lem Peak, Yellow Peak and May Mountain as places to see from, and Timber Creek Pass, Devils Basin, First Basin and Hodges Spring as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the hunt-area line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Take the pair you can reach on one road and treat the rest as a second trip.

What a day here costs you

With 6,738 feet between the lowest and highest ground, the walk back up out of a kill site is the part to plan first. Decide the night before where you will be at first light, and go there in the dark.

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. We have no mule deer success figure for this hunt area that survives checking against Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest and hunter counts, and we would rather say so than print a statewide average as though it were measured here.

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.

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Mule Deer Success Rates

Idaho Fish and Game's per-unit harvest statistics describe general seasons on game management units, and hunt area 29-1 is a controlled-hunt area, not a unit, so there is no figure here we can tie to it. A unit's general-season number would describe different hunters on different ground. Idaho Fish and Game's hunt planner reports controlled-hunt results hunt by hunt, which is the figure to check before you apply.

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (resident)	0	0	0.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	0	0	0.0%	—

Data from 2024 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 2024 first drawing for mule deer in hunt area 29-1, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 1088 — residents 106 applicants for 57 tags, 54% drawn; nonresidents 25 applicants for 6 tags, 24% 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 2024. Checked against Idaho Fish and Game's hunt planner draw results on 2026-06-09.

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

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Water

8 named water sources inside the hunt area in our water layer, including Hodges Spring, Rigger Spring and Smith Spring. Which of them run in autumn is something only a scouting trip will tell you.

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Terrain Difficulty

Named features inside the hunt area run from 4,575 to 11,313 ft. More than 4,000 feet between them alone, so plan the pack-out before the shot.

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Permit Notes

Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunts 1085 and 1163 (2026 rules). The first application period runs May 1 to June 5 and the second August 5 to 15. Idaho's draw is random, with no preference or bonus points.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Idaho hunt area 29-1?

Hunt Area 29-1 is drawn from units 29 and 37A, in Lemhi and Custer counties. Idaho Fish and Game describes deer hunt area 29-1 as all of Units 29 and 37A.

What is the mule deer success rate in hunt area 29-1?

Idaho Fish and Game's per-unit harvest statistics cover general seasons on game management units, and hunt area 29-1 is a controlled-hunt area, so there is no figure we can tie to it. Idaho Fish and Game's hunt planner reports controlled-hunt results hunt by hunt, and that is the number to check before you apply.

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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: Controlled hunt area description for deer hunt area 29-1, The game management units the area is drawn from, Controlled hunt numbers, tags and season dates · accessed 2026-10-24
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