Idaho Elk · Unit 30A

Idaho Unit 30A covers 176,278 acres and lies 53 miles south-east of Salmon. 88% of it is public land, mostly BLM (52%) and national forest (32%). In 2025, 357 people hunted elk here and took 70, a 20% success rate. Its most applied-for hunt, 2130, put up 50 tags (all residencies) in the 2026 draw for 46 nonresident first-choice applicants, 5 of whom drew.

No points in this draw. Every applicant has the same chance each year.

Tags, 2026
50

1 license · NR capped at 10%

Applicants
46

first choice, NR

Hunter Success
20%

2025, all licenses

Public Land
88%

52% BLM

Size
275 mi²

176,278 acres

30A
20%hunter success 2025 · 357 hunters, 70 elk

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

Best Bets

Ranked by your odds times how often that license type's hunters filled their tag in 2025. Nonresident, first choice, 2026 draw; licenses with at least 10 tags that anyone can buy.

Every License in Unit 30A

90–100% 50–89% 10–49% 1–9% under 1% fewer than 5 tags: one applicant swings it
2130 11%

First-choice nonresident odds, 2026 draw. No points in this draw: every applicant has the same chance.

Draw results: IDFG 2026 Hunt Planner drawing odds, retrieved Aug 31, 2026.

If you draw (2026 nonresident fees): $854.75 ($203 to apply). Open May 1 – Jun 5, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.

Harvest

Year Hunters Elk Success
2025 357 70 20%
2024 (summed) 415 67 16%
2023 415 83 20%
2022 (summed) 401 91 23%
2021 356 63 18%
2025 by LicenseHuntersElkSuccess
2130 48 14 29%

2025 split: firearm 5 (7%) from 21 hunters, 24%, archery 37 (53%) from 283 hunters, 13%, muzzleloader 28 (40%) from 53 hunters, 53%

What Idaho Department of Fish and Game publishes after each season, for everyone who hunted the area: harvest statistics, not draw odds. Idaho Department of Fish and Game publishes no whole-unit line for some years; a year's total is the sum of published rows, added only where the lines do not overlap. Idaho's figures are counts from mandatory hunter reports and check stations rather than survey estimates, so they behave differently from the survey states. Source: IDFG 2025 Hunt Planner Harvest Statistics, elk; IDFG 2024 Hunt Planner Harvest Statistics, elk; IDFG 2023 Hunt Planner Harvest Statistics, elk.

The Ground

BLM 92,184 ac 52%
National Forest 57,053 ac 32%
Private 20,795 ac 12%
State land 6,019 ac 3%

Source: U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Idaho State Office 2026 BLM Surface Management Agency.

What the Agency Says About the Area

All of Unit 30A.

Source: IDFG 2025 Hunt Planner Harvest Statistics, elk.

▸ Sources 9
  1. IDFG 2026 Hunt Planner drawing odds draw results, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  2. IDFG 2026 License, Tag, and Permit Costs fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  3. IDFG 2025 Hunt Planner Harvest Statistics, elk harvest, area description, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  4. IDFG 2024 Hunt Planner Harvest Statistics, elk harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  5. IDFG 2023 Hunt Planner Harvest Statistics, elk harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  6. IDFG 2022 Hunt Planner Harvest Statistics, elk harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  7. IDFG 2021 Hunt Planner Harvest Statistics, elk harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  8. IDFG 2025 Controlled hunt area boundaries boundary, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  9. U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Idaho State Office 2026 BLM Surface Management Agency land ownership, retrieved Aug 31, 2026

About These Numbers

Odds are from the 2026 draw, the latest on file, computed from Idaho Department of Fish and Game's published results. They are what happened in that draw, not a forecast. Under five tags a percentage carries a *, because one applicant either way swings it. A dash means the agency did not publish the number, and a date marked expected is last cycle's schedule rolled forward. How we compute these.

Report an error on this page

Every report is checked against the agency source before we change anything.

We don't take applications: check Idaho Department of Fish and Game's site and apply there.

Prior-draw odds from Idaho Department of Fish and Game's results, not a forecast · Methodology · All Idaho elk hunts