Idaho Mountain Goat

Unit G51 (Mountain Goat Hunt Area 51)

Idaho Hunting Guide — Mountain Goat

Hunt Area 51 is drawn from units 51 and 58, in Butte, Custer, Lemhi, Clark and Jefferson counties. Named ground inside it runs from 4,797 to 12,158 feet. Idaho Fish and Game publishes no per-unit mountain goat 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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Mountain Goat guide

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Mountain Goat Hunting in Unit G51

Where to Find Mountain Goat in Hunt Area 51

Idaho Fish and Game's material on hunt area 51 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its mountain goat live. 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 51 is

Idaho Fish and Game describes mountain goat hunt area 51 as that portion of Unit 51 east of the Little Lost Highway and east of Sawmill Canyon Road/Forest Service road 101, and south of Forest Service Road 102, and that portion of Unit 58 south of Forest Service Road 918 (Quartzite Canyon), south of Forest Service Road 296/Spring Mountain Canyon Road, and west of Highway 28. That makes it a piece of ground drawn for this hunt, not a unit, and the outline on this page is IDFG's own polygon for it rather than a unit outline. The units it is drawn from lie in Butte, Custer, Lemhi, Clark and Jefferson counties. Idaho Fish and Game also uses the code 51 for elk, moose, pronghorn and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep hunts, and in its own words "hunt areas are different for each species" — those are other pieces of ground, and this page is the mountain goat area.

High ground inside the line: Diamond Peak, Bell Mountain and Saddle Mountain

Named high points inside the hunt area include Diamond Peak at 12,158 feet, Bell Mountain at 11,589 feet, Saddle Mountain at 10,795 feet, Tyler Peak at 10,704 feet and Trail Peak at 10,513 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Goats live above the trees on cliff and talus and come down only when weather makes them.

Holding ground: Mammoth Canyon, Bell Mountain Canyon and Meadow Canyon

Below them sit Mammoth Canyon at 7,455 feet, Bell Mountain Canyon at 7,440 feet, Meadow Canyon at 7,354 feet, Coal Kiln Canyon at 7,314 feet and Davis Canyon at 7,306 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Work out which of them you can see from one position before you pick a camp.

Water: Y Springs, Coyote Spring and Magpie Springs

Named sources include Y Springs, Coyote Spring, Magpie Springs, Blind Springs, McCoy Spring and Magpie 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 51 runs from 4,797 feet to 12,158 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.

Unit G51 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Diamond Peak (12,158 ft), Bell Mountain (11,589 ft), Saddle Mountain (10,795 ft), Tyler Peak (10,704 ft)

Holding ground: Horseshoe Gulch (8,103 ft), Right Fork Rocky Canyon (7,987 ft), South Fork Meadow Canyon (7,725 ft), Y Springs, Coyote 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 Mountain Goat in Hunt Area 51

Idaho Fish and Game's per-unit harvest statistics describe general seasons on game management units, so there is no mountain goat success figure we can tie to hunt area 51 alone, and we won't borrow one from a unit. The plan: glass from across the basin, judge the climb honestly, and decide whether a hit animal could be recovered.

The 2025 and 2026 controlled hunts

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 and 2026 rules list one controlled hunt for mountain goat in hunt area 51.

Hunt 6018 — 2 tags, Aug 30–Nov 12

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

Idaho Fish and Game takes moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat applications together, and anyone who applies for one of the three may not apply for another big game controlled hunt in the same year's first drawing, apart from the unlimited, extra, black bear and depredation hunts IDFG names. Anyone who has taken a mountain goat in Idaho since 1977 may not apply for a goat tag at all. Two hunters may apply together on one application. Idaho's draw is random, with no preference or bonus points to build.

Glassing from Bald Mountain, Mahogany Butte and Lava Ridge

Take a position on one of Bald Mountain (8,981 ft), Mahogany Butte (6,998 ft), Lava Ridge (5,247 ft) and Richard Butte (5,162 ft) and be on it before light. Work the morning with the air falling away from you, then accept that by mid-morning the wind has reversed and the plan has to change with it. Give a basin forty minutes before you decide it is empty. On the rut hunts, early hunts find goats higher and later hunts find them pushed down by snow.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Diamond Peak, Bell Mountain, Saddle Mountain and Tyler Peak as places to see from, and Horseshoe Gulch, Right Fork Rocky Canyon, South Fork Meadow Canyon and Y Springs as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the hunt-area line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Join two of them into a morning: be on the first before light, move to the second once the thermals turn.

What a day here costs you

With 7,361 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 mountain goat 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.

Mountain Goat: 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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Mountain Goat Success Rates

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

Mountain Goat 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 2025 first drawing for mountain goat in hunt area 51, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 6018 — residents 58 applicants for 2 tags, 3% drawn; nonresidents 12 applicants for 0 tags, 0% 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

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

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Road Conditions

Idaho Fish and Game's boundary for the hunt area follows Forest Service Road 102, Forest Service Road 918 and Forest Service Road 296. That is the edge, not a promise of access inside — check a current motor-vehicle-use map before you drive in.

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Terrain Difficulty

Named features inside the hunt area run from 4,797 to 12,158 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 hunt 6018 (2025 and 2026 rules). Moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat applications run April 1 to 30. Idaho's draw is random, with no preference or bonus points.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Idaho hunt area 51?

Hunt Area 51 is drawn from units 51 and 58, in Butte, Custer, Lemhi, Clark and Jefferson counties. Idaho Fish and Game describes mountain goat hunt area 51 as that portion of Unit 51 east of the Little Lost Highway and east of Sawmill Canyon Road/Forest Service road 101, and south of Forest Service Road 102, and that portion of Unit 58 south of Forest Service Road 918 (Quartzite Canyon), south of Forest Service Road 296/Spring Mountain Canyon Road, and west of Highway 28.

What is the mountain goat success rate in hunt area 51?

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

Moose, Bighorn Sheep & Mountain Goat 2025 & 2026 Seasons & Rules — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Controlled hunt area description for mountain goat hunt area 51, 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