Oregon Deer · Unit 50 Desolation
Oregon Unit 50 covers 429,127 acres and lies 40 miles west of Baker City and 59 miles south of Pendleton. 89% of it is public land, mostly national forest (89%). In 2025, 841 people hunted deer here and took 249, a 30% success rate (sum of published hunt rows). Its most applied-for hunt, 150, put up 770 tags (all residencies) in the 2025 draw for 43 nonresident first-choice applicants, 15 of whom drew, and the last tag went to someone with 1 point.
No more draws here. The last one was 2025.
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife held its 2026 deer draw without Unit 50. Its ground is now drawn as FX-01 — Fox 01 (85% of this unit), EH-01 — Elkhorn 01 (15% of this unit). The odds, costs and harvest below are that history, kept for the record.
2 licenses · NR capped at 5%
first choice, NR
2025, all licenses
89% Forest Service
429,127 acres
Boundaries are drawn for orientation only. The written boundary description in the regulations governs.
Best Bets at 0 Points
Ranked by your odds times how often that license type's hunters filled their tag in 2025. Nonresident, first choice, 2025 draw; licenses with at least 10 tags that anyone can buy.
Every License in Unit 50
The last draw held in Unit 50 was 2025. These are that draw's chances for a first-choice nonresident applicant, kept for the record.
| What | Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 150 | Desolation Unit | 29% | 1 | |
| 150R | Desolation Unit Bow | 100% | 0 |
First-choice nonresident odds at your points, 2025 draw. Cut = points the last tag went at; ▲ = points added since the earliest draw on file.
Draw results: ODFW 2025 Preference Point Draw Report, retrieved Aug 31, 2026.
If you draw (2025 nonresident fees): $623.50 ($180 to apply). Open Dec 1, 2026 – May 15, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.
Harvest
| Year | Hunters | Deer | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 (summed) | 841 | 249 | 30% |
| 2024 (summed) | 875 | 202 | 23% |
| 2022 (summed) | 588 | 144 | 24% |
| 2025 by License | Hunters | Deer | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 150 desolation unit | 525 | 199 | 38% |
| 150r desolation unit bow | 309 | 45 | 14% |
| 647b middle fork john day | 7 | 5 | 67% |
2025 split: rifle 199 (82%) from 525 hunters, 38%, archery 45 (18%) from 309 hunters, 15%
What Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife publishes after each season, for everyone who hunted the area: harvest statistics, not draw odds. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife publishes no whole-unit line for 2025; a year's total is the sum of published hunt rows, added only where the lines do not overlap. Oregon requires every tag holder to report, but the numbers ODFW publishes are survey estimates expanded from the reporting rate — the agency's own tables are titled "Estimated harvest... based on Mandatory Harvest Survey Reports" — not a count of animals checked in. Source: ODFW 2025 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Buck Deer…; ODFW 2025 Estimated Archery Buck Deer Harvest by…; ODFW 2025 Estimated Antlerless Buck Deer Harvest….
The Ground
| National Forest | 383,827 ac | 89% |
| Private | 45,145 ac | 11% |
| BLM | 229 ac | <1% |
| Other public | 76 ac | <1% |
| State land | 9 ac | <1% |
Source: Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office 2026 BLM /Washington Land Status Ownership.
▸ Sources 11
- ODFW 2025 Preference Point Draw Report draw results, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- ODFW 2026 Recreational Fee Schedule fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- ODFW 2025 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Buck Deer… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- ODFW 2025 Estimated Archery Buck Deer Harvest by… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- ODFW 2025 Estimated Antlerless Buck Deer Harvest… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- ODFW 2024 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Buck Deer… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- ODFW 2024 Estimated Archery Buck Deer Harvest by… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- ODFW 2024 Estimated Antlerless Buck Deer Harvest… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- ODFW 2022 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Buck Deer… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- ODFW 2026 Wildlife Management Unit boundaries boundary, area description, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office 2026 BLM /Washington Land Status Ownership land ownership, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
About These Numbers
Odds are from the 2025 draw, the latest on file, computed from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife'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.
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We don't take applications: check Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's site and apply there.
Prior-draw odds from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's results, not a forecast · Methodology · All Oregon deer hunts