Zone 25 covers the Pioneer Mountains and the country between the Big Lost River and the upper Salmon, a high alpine landscape that includes some of Idaho's most underappreciated mule deer habitat. Elevations span from about 5,300 feet on the Big Lost to over 12,000 feet on Hyndman Peak and Old Hyndman. The valleys are sagebrush and bitterbrush; the foothills carry mahogany and aspen; and the high country has lodgepole, subalpine fir, and rock above timberline. The Pioneer Wilderness Study Area covers a chunk of the alpine core. Sawtooth National Forest, Salmon-Challis NF, and BLM split the ground. Highway 75 between Ketchum and Stanley runs the western edge; Trail Creek Road (rough, seasonal) crosses east into the Big Lost drainage. Ketchum/Sun Valley has every service you could want, at resort prices. Mackay is the smaller, cheaper option. Cell service is good around Ketchum and absent everywhere else. Mule deer hunting in the mahogany-aspen-sage transition is the calling card—the bucks use the high basins through October and drop to the foothills with the first heavy snow. Elk are present but in lower density than the Frank Church country. Weather flips fast at elevation; pack like you mean it.