California Elk — Cache Creek

Cache Creek Tule Elk Hunt

California Cache Creek covers 178,103 acres and lies 41 miles north of Santa Rosa and 60 miles north-west of Fairfield. 60% of it is public land, mostly BLM (40%) and national forest (12%). In 2022, 5 people hunted tule here and took 4 — 80% of them killed something. The 2025 draw put up 2 tags here for 799 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2025):5 Nonresident share:capped at 1 Applicants:1,161 Tule success (2022):80% Public land:60% Size:178,103 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in Cache Creek, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

3 licenses on offer · 5 tags · 1,161 applicants in the 2025 draw

Chances are from the 2025 draw (the most recent) for a first-choice nonresident. "Points needed" = the cut in the last draw.

Simple view Odds at every point level
  • 406 Cache Creek Period 1 - General Methods - Bull 2 tags · 799 applicants
    <1% Point builder
  • 416 Cache Creek Period 2 - General Methods - Antlerless 2 tags · 176 applicants
    <1% Point builder
  • 484 Cache Creek Apprentice - General Methods - Bull 1 tags · 186 applicants
    <1% Point builder
What these columns mean
Your odds
the share of applicants at your point level who drew this tag in the 2025 draw. Not a forecast: quotas and demand move every year.
The badge
plain language for that number. Likely draw 75% or better · Real chance 40%+ · Long shot 15%+ · Point builder below that, so you are applying mainly to bank a point · Undersubscribed means fewer first-choice applicants than tags, so everyone who applied drew.
Points needed
the lowest point total that still got a tag in the 2025 draw, and how that cut has moved since the earliest draw we hold.
Tags / applicants
tags on offer and first-choice applicants for them, as the agency published them. Under five tags we print counts instead of a percentage, because one applicant either way swings it.

What it costs to apply (2025 nonresident fees)

License Up front Gone if you miss If you draw
Per application $227.94 $227.94 $2,053.79

Application window: opens Apr 15, closes Jun 2, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.

The country

Santa Rosa San Francisco Salinas Santa Maria Oxnard
Cache Creek within California
Bear Valley Lake Pillsbury
Cache Creek and its neighbours
Zoomable USGS topo, aerial imagery and shaded relief, with the neighboring areas drawn on.

Boundaries are drawn for orientation only — the written boundary description in the regulations governs.

Who owns the ground

  • BLM 72,130 ac · 40%
  • National Forest 21,653 ac · 12%
  • State land 6,325 ac · 4%
  • County or city land 4,681 ac · 3%
  • Other public 1,270 ac · 1%
  • Private or other non-public land 72,042 ac · 40%

Source: California Protected Areas Database (CPAD) 2026a -- Holdings by Agency Classification

How the hunting has gone

What California Department of Fish and Wildlife publishes for this area after each season — harvest statistics for everyone who hunted it, not draw odds and not a forecast. California Department of Fish and Wildlife publishes these per hunt rather than per unit; the rows below add its own figures together, since a hunter holds one tag for the species in a season.

Tule

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2022 5 4 80%

All elk

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2021 5 2 40%

Boundary: Elk Hunt Zones [ds786]

Harvest: 2022 Elk Harvest Statistics

Harvest: 2021 Elk Harvest Success Rates

How we compute draw odds · All California elk hunts