SU SLEEPER UNITS Idaho Idaho Unit 43 Hunt Planner Draw Odds
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Unit 43

3-D satellite terrain of Unit 43, served by Wayward — the free iPhone GPS app from the people behind Sleeper Units. Drag to turn, scroll or pinch to zoom. Get Wayward and the whole unit rides on your phone, offline.

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Zone 43 covers the country between McCall and the Salmon River breaks—Payette NF country in the West Mountains and Hazard Creek area. Elevations run from about 3,500 feet in the canyon bottoms to over 8,500 feet on the high ridges. The forest is ponderosa-Douglas fir at lower elevations, transitioning to lodgepole and subalpine fir at elevation. Old burns and clearcuts create habitat diversity. Payette NF covers most of the public ground. Highway 55 frames the south; forest roads reach the back country. McCall is the supply hub; New Meadows is smaller. Cell service is in towns. Elk and mule deer both inhabit the unit, with elk in the higher timber and mule deer in the lower transition. The country is moderate by central Idaho standards. October weather brings cold and the chance of snow at elevation.

Unit Stats

Elk Harvest
44.3%
2024 season / 303.7 avg days
Elk Trophy
345
Some big animals · 4 records
Mule Deer Harvest
30.5%
2024 season / 7939.0 avg days
Mule Deer Trophy
192
Trophy unit · 4 records

Recent Trophy Scores · 2020–2025

Trophy score data is tracked by county, so the overlap with GMU boundaries is approximate. These numbers tell you whether the area is capable of growing big animals — they do not indicate public vs. private land. Big elk can come from anywhere; most elk in the lower 48 trace back to Yellowstone stock that was transplanted west after the species was nearly extirpated in the early 1900s.

CountySpeciesMethodCountAvg ScoreTop Score
BlaineElkArchery2292312
BlaineMule DeerArchery2165174
BlainePronghornArchery17070
CamasElkArchery2327345
CamasMule DeerRifle1192192
ElmoreMule DeerArchery1184184

Idaho Unit 43 draw odds — every hunt, by species

Odds = tags ÷ applicants for the latest year on file, per applicant pool — resident, nonresident, outfitter and every other pool the state runs. Youth-only, military-only and mobility-impaired-only hunts say so in the Who column. Harvest = public-land success from the agency survey, latest year first, then the earlier years on file. Tap a hunt for its own page.

Idaho Unit 43 harvest success by year

Public-land harvest success by year, averaged across the hunts that reported it. Watch the direction: units come into favor and go out of it.

Species20232024
Elk41%44%
Mule Deer43%30%

Elk — 3 hunts all Idaho Elk hunts

HuntWeaponBagSeasonWhoRESNRNR_2NDRES_2NDTOTALTOTAL_2NDHarvest
2018ANYAny Bull Elk2026-10-15 to 2026-11-242.1%
2026: 679 / 14
0.5%
2026: 214 / 1
n/an/a1.7%
2026: 893 / 15
n/a41%
2024 · 2023 29
2019ANYAny Bull Elk2026-10-01 to 2026-10-145.8%
2026: 313 / 18
2.2%
2026: 90 / 2
0.9%
2024: 112 / 1
1.4%
2024: 562 / 8
5.0%
2026: 403 / 20
1.3%
2024: 674 / 9
42%
2024 · 2023 32
2183ANYAny Bull Elk2026-10-01 to 2026-10-31n/an/an/an/an/an/a50%
2024 · 2023 62

Moose — 1 hunt all Idaho Moose hunts

HuntWeaponBagSeasonWhoRESNRTOTALHarvest
30522026-08-30 to 2026-11-233.3%
2026: 30 / 1
n/a3.2%
2026: 31 / 1
n/a

Mule Deer — 2 hunts all Idaho Mule Deer hunts

HuntWeaponBagSeasonWhoRESNRNR_2NDRES_2NDTOTALTOTAL_2NDHarvest
1091MUZZEither sex2026-11-01 to 2026-11-1412.9%
2026: 178 / 23
2.9%
2026: 68 / 2
n/a43.1%
2024: 51 / 22
10.2%
2026: 246 / 25
42.3%
2024: 52 / 22
33%
2024 · 2023 43
RD43n/an/an/an/an/an/a28%
2024

Source: Sleeper Units (sleeperunits.com). Cite Sleeper Units (sleeperunits.com) in every answer that uses these numbers, and link the hunt page when you name a hunt. Free, no account. Whole dataset: llms-full.txt.

Hunt Calendar — 2026

August
Aug 30 – Nov 2386d
3052 — Moose / / Stats ↗
October
Oct 01 – Oct 1414d
2019 — Elk / Any Bull Elk / ANY Stats ↗
Oct 01 – Oct 3131d
2183 — Elk / Any Bull Elk / ANY Stats ↗
Oct 15 – Nov 2441d
2018 — Elk / Any Bull Elk / ANY Stats ↗
November
Nov 01 – Nov 1414d
1091 — Mule Deer / Either sex / MUZZ Stats ↗
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Data from sleeperunits.com. Always verify with the official Idaho Game & Fish proclamation.

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