Unit E74X (Elk Hunt Area 74X)

Idaho Hunting Guide — Elk

Hunt Area 74X is drawn from unit 74, in Bannock, Caribou and Franklin counties. Named ground inside it runs from 4,792 to 9,147 feet. Idaho Fish and Game publishes no per-unit elk 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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Elk guide

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Elk Hunting in Unit E74X

Where to Find Elk in Hunt Area 74X

What Idaho Fish and Game publishes for hunt area 74X is a boundary, not a elk map. So the ground below is the unit's own and the read on where to start is ours, labelled as such.

What hunt area 74X is

Idaho Fish and Game describes elk hunt area 74X as all of Unit 74. 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 Bannock, Caribou and Franklin counties.

High ground inside the line: Sedgwick Peak, Baldy Mountain and Petticoat Peak

Named high points inside the hunt area include Sedgwick Peak at 9,147 feet, Baldy Mountain at 8,319 feet, Petticoat Peak at 8,015 feet, Fish Creek Range at 7,989 feet and Thatcher Hill at 7,959 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: Bullwhacker Canyon, Walker Gulch and Fox Canyon

Below them sit Bullwhacker Canyon at 6,471 feet, Walker Gulch at 6,436 feet, Fox Canyon at 6,428 feet, Fish Creek Basin at 6,396 feet and Mill Canyon at 6,343 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: Heart Mountain Spring, Christenson Spring and Welcome Spring

Named sources include Heart Mountain Spring, Christenson Spring, Welcome Spring, Milkshake Spring, Time Spring and Dry Hollow 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 74X runs from 4,792 feet to 9,147 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.

Unit E74X terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Sedgwick Peak (9,147 ft), Baldy Mountain (8,319 ft), Petticoat Peak (8,015 ft), Cottonwood Peak (7,900 ft)

Holding ground: Windy Pass (7,555 ft), Hog Wallow (6,814 ft), Right Fork Mill Canyon (6,605 ft), Heart Mountain Spring, Christenson 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 Hunt Area 74X

Idaho Fish and Game's per-unit harvest statistics describe general seasons on game management units, so there is no elk success figure we can tie to hunt area 74X alone, and we won't borrow one from a unit. The plan: find the feed, find the timber it backs onto, then watch the seam between them at the edges of the day.

The 2026 controlled hunts

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 rules list 2 controlled hunts for elk in hunt area 74X.

Hunt 2172 — extra antlerless elk, 100 tags, Dec 1–Dec 15
Hunt 2173 — extra antlerless elk, 100 tags, Dec 16–Dec 31

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 74X

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 elk 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 Treasureton Hill, Buckskin Mountain and Heart Mountain

Take a position on one of Treasureton Hill (6,680 ft), Buckskin Mountain (6,408 ft), Heart Mountain (6,304 ft) and Mount Moh (6,235 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, September bugling works where you can get above a drainage and let the thermals carry sound downhill.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Sedgwick Peak, Baldy Mountain, Petticoat Peak and Cottonwood Peak as places to see from, and Windy Pass, Hog Wallow, Right Fork Mill Canyon and Heart Mountain 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 4,355 feet between the lowest and highest ground, the walk back up out of a kill site is the part to plan first. Leave the truck earlier than you want to and you will hunt the best half-hour of the day.

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 elk 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.

Elk: 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. That is lungs, and on a quartering-away angle it picks up the far shoulder.

Shots to refuse

No straight-on and no straight-away shots. An elk's chest is deep and the margin is small.
Nothing standing behind or overlapping the animal you picked. A pass-through kills the elk behind it too.
Your maximum range is the farthest you have put three shots in a paper plate off the sticks you are actually carrying. Not the farthest you have ever hit anything.
Scope on 3–4x. A herd fills a 12x field of view and you lose the animal you picked.

Identification:On an antlerless tag, legal means no antler of any kind through the skin. A spike looks exactly like a cow until it turns its head. If you can't see the head, don't shoot.

Plan the carry: roughly 150– 220 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — two to four large coolers, plus bagged ice from town. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

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Elk Success Rates

Idaho Fish and Game's per-unit harvest statistics describe general seasons on game management units, and hunt area 74X 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.

Elk Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (resident)	98	129	76.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	2	2	100.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident)	8	36	22.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident)	0	0	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 Engine

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 first drawing for elk in hunt area 74X, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 2173 — residents 219 applicants for 98 tags, 45% drawn; nonresidents 2 applicants for 2 tags, 100% drawn
Hunt 2172 — residents 129 applicants for 98 tags, 76% drawn; nonresidents 2 applicants for 2 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

Planning Notes

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Water

12 named water sources inside the hunt area in our water layer, including Heart Mountain Spring, Christenson Spring and Welcome 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 4,792 to 9,147 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 2172 and 2173 (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 74X?

Hunt Area 74X is drawn from unit 74, in Bannock, Caribou and Franklin counties. Idaho Fish and Game describes elk hunt area 74X as all of Unit 74.

What is the elk success rate in hunt area 74X?

Idaho Fish and Game's per-unit harvest statistics cover general seasons on game management units, and hunt area 74X 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 elk hunt area 74X, 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