Idaho Mule Deer

Unit D51-1 (Deer Hunt Area 51-1)

Idaho Hunting Guide — Mule Deer

Hunt Area 51-1 is drawn from units 51 and 50, in Butte, Custer, Lemhi and Blaine counties. Named ground inside it runs from 4,797 to 12,631 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.

View Draw Odds Idaho Hunting Guide

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit D51-1

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Idaho Unit D51-1 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

Free accounts get one report a year with the top spot unlocked. ProHunt Pro includes unlimited reports, all three spots, the full camp plan, and GPX/KML downloads for onX and Google Earth. Prefer to see one first? Open the builder and pick any unit.

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit D51-1

Where to Find Mule Deer in Hunt Area 51-1

Idaho Fish and Game draws an exact line around hunt area 51-1 and says nothing about where the mule deer stand inside it. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's.

What hunt area 51-1 is

Idaho Fish and Game describes deer hunt area 51-1 as all of Unit 51 and that portion of Unit 50 east of U.S. Highway 93. 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 Butte, Custer, Lemhi and Blaine counties. Idaho Fish and Game also uses the code 51-1 for elk 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: Borah Peak, Mount Breitenbach and Donaldson Peak

Named high points inside the hunt area include Borah Peak at 12,631 feet, Mount Breitenbach at 12,092 feet, Donaldson Peak at 11,996 feet, Mount McCaleb at 11,607 feet and Bell Mountain at 11,589 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: Wet Creek Basin, Pass Creek Summit and Methodist Gulch

Below them sit Wet Creek Basin at 7,764 feet, Pass Creek Summit at 7,639 feet, Methodist Gulch at 7,599 feet, Black Tail Canyon at 7,511 feet and Little Basin at 7,414 feet. That is the low country of the hunt area — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Reaching the edge of one before light beats reaching its middle at noon.

Water: Dry Creek Spring Number 2, Y Springs and Coyote Spring

Named sources include Dry Creek Spring Number 2, Y Springs, Coyote Spring, Moffett Springs, Magpie Springs and Blind Springs. 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 51-1 runs from 4,797 feet to 12,631 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.

Unit D51-1 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Borah Peak (12,631 ft), Mount Breitenbach (12,092 ft), Mount McCaleb (11,607 ft), Bell Mountain (11,589 ft)

Holding ground: Firbox Meadows (9,159 ft), Hell Canyon (8,432 ft), Doublespring Pass (8,327 ft), Dry Creek Spring Number 2, Y Springs

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 51-1

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 51-1 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 one controlled hunt for mule deer in hunt area 51-1.

Hunt 1090 — muzzleloader only deer, 50 tags, Nov 1–Nov 30. Antlered only, Motorized Hunting Rule Applies

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 51-1

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 Massacre Mountain, Castle Peak and Sheep Mountain

Take a position on one of Massacre Mountain (10,916 ft), Castle Peak (10,910 ft), Sheep Mountain (10,862 ft) and Saddle Mountain (10,795 ft) and be on it before light. Cold air slides downhill in the dark, so keep your scent out of the bowl you mean to watch; expect the thermals to turn uphill an hour after the sun reaches the slope. Work the glass in strips and go back over ground you already covered — animals appear in country you looked at ten minutes ago. 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 Borah Peak, Mount Breitenbach, Mount McCaleb and Bell Mountain as places to see from, and Firbox Meadows, Hell Canyon, Doublespring Pass and Dry Creek Spring Number 2 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 7,834 feet between the lowest and highest ground, the walk back up out of a kill site is the part to plan first. One good position held through the whole of first light beats three visited in a hurry.

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.

Pro Members Only

Unlock mule deer tactics for Unit 51-1

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Mule Deer Success Rates

Idaho Fish and Game's per-unit harvest statistics describe general seasons on game management units, and hunt area 51-1 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

Draw odds data not available for this specific unit/species combination in our database.

Search Idaho Draw Odds

Idaho Fish and Game's 2024 first drawing for mule deer in hunt area 51-1, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 1093 — residents 286 applicants for 47 tags, 16% drawn; nonresidents 34 applicants for 3 tags, 9% 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

💧

Water

22 named water sources inside the hunt area in our water layer, including Dry Creek Spring Number 2, Y Springs and Coyote Spring. Which of them run in autumn is something only a scouting trip will tell you.

🛣️

Road Conditions

Idaho Fish and Game's boundary for the hunt area follows U.S. Highway 93. That is the edge, not a promise of access inside — check a current motor-vehicle-use map before you drive in.

🥾

Terrain Difficulty

Named features inside the hunt area run from 4,797 to 12,631 ft. More than 4,000 feet between them alone, so plan the pack-out before the shot.

📋

Permit Notes

Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt 1090 (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.

Pro Members Only

Unlock logistics for Unit 51-1

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Idaho hunt area 51-1?

Hunt Area 51-1 is drawn from units 51 and 50, in Butte, Custer, Lemhi and Blaine counties. Idaho Fish and Game describes deer hunt area 51-1 as all of Unit 51 and that portion of Unit 50 east of U.S. Highway 93.

What is the mule deer success rate in hunt area 51-1?

Idaho Fish and Game's per-unit harvest statistics cover general seasons on game management units, and hunt area 51-1 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.

Free Hunt Planning Tools

🎰 Idaho Draw Odds Unit-level tag success rates 📅 Application Timeline Deadlines for all 9 states 🦌 Rut Forecast Peak rut timing by species 💰 Hunt Cost Calculator Budget your entire hunt

Plan Your Hunt with ProHunt Pro

Unlock advanced tactics, the Tag-to-Trail Planner, AI hunt strategy assistant, and personalized camp and trip execution plans.

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

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 51-1, 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