Idaho Deer — Unit 21-1X

Idaho Unit 21-1X covers 2,208,955 acres and lies 9 miles south of Salmon and 96 miles north of Ketchum. 90% of it is public land, mostly national forest (70%) and BLM (19%). In 2025, 336 people hunted deer here and took 168 — 50% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 200 tags here for 16 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):475 Nonresident share:capped at 10% Applicants:25 Hunter success (2025):50% Public land:90% Size:2,208,955 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in Unit 21-1X, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

No points in this draw — every nonresident applicant has the same chance.

3 licenses on offer · 475 tags · 25 applicants in the 2026 draw

Chances are from the 2026 draw (the most recent) for a first-choice nonresident. "Points needed" = the cut in the last draw.

Simple view Odds at every point level
  • 1111 Antlerless white-tailed deer, any weapon, Hunt Area 21-1X (youth only, extra tag) 75 tags · 1 applicants
    0% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • 1134 Antlerless white-tailed deer, any weapon, Hunt Area 21-1X (extra tag) 200 tags · 16 applicants
    81% Likely draw 0% as 2nd choice
  • 1135 Antlerless white-tailed deer, any weapon, Hunt Area 21-1X (extra tag) 200 tags · 8 applicants
    75% Likely draw 0% as 2nd choice
What these columns mean
Your odds
the share of applicants at your point level who drew this tag in the 2026 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.
As 2nd choice
Idaho lets you name more than one hunt on the application. Miss on your first choice and you go into the pot for whatever tags are left, alongside everyone else's second choices. Points never help a lower choice, so this number is the same whatever you have banked — it is usually worth naming a hunt that goes undersubscribed.
Points needed
the lowest point total that still got a tag in the 2026 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 (2026 nonresident fees)

License Up front Gone if you miss If you draw
Per application $203 $203 $554.75

Application window: opens May 1, closes Jun 5, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.

The country

Salmon Ketchum Grangeville Gooding Orofino
Unit 21-1X within Idaho
11 11A 13 14 14X 15-1X 16-1X 18 18X 19A 20A 21 21-1 21A 22 23 25 26 27 28 28-1 29-1 30 30A 32 32A 33-1 36 36A 36A-1X 36B 36B-1 39 39-1 39-2 50-1 50-1X 51-1 58-1 60-1 60-1X 60-2 61 62 63A 63A-1X 63AX Salmon McCall Grangeville St. Anthony Emmett
Unit 21-1X 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

  • National Forest 1,536,395 ac · 70%
  • BLM 427,337 ac · 19%
  • Private 212,113 ac · 10%
  • State land 28,660 ac · 1%
  • Other public 3,262 ac · 0%

Source: BLM Idaho Surface Management Agency (land ownership / SMA)

How the hunting has gone

What Idaho Department of Fish and Game publishes for this area after each season — harvest statistics for everyone who hunted it, not draw odds and not a forecast. Idaho Department of Fish and Game 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. Idaho's figures are counts from mandatory hunter reports and check stations rather than survey estimates, so they behave differently from the survey states.

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2025 336 168 50%
2024 202 108 53%
2023 199 97 49%
2022 181 97 54%
2021 183 105 57%

What people carried (2025 harvest)

  • Firearm 168 · 100% · 336 hunters, 50% success

What the agency says about the area

All of Units 21, 21A, 28, 29, 30, and 30A.

Source: Idaho Hunt Planner Harvest Statistics, deer 2025 (general + controlled hunt tables)

Boundary: Controlled Hunts - All Species, BigGame='Deer' AND Year=2025 (hunt-area boundaries)

Harvest: Idaho Hunt Planner Harvest Statistics, deer 2025 (general + controlled hunt tables)

Harvest: Idaho Hunt Planner Harvest Statistics, deer 2024 (general + controlled hunt tables)

Harvest: Idaho Hunt Planner Harvest Statistics, deer 2023 (general + controlled hunt tables)

How we compute draw odds · All Idaho deer hunts