Oregon Elk 259R — Unit 59

Snake Rvr Unit Bow · Snake River

What you may take
Snake Rvr Unit Bow (antlered)
Weapon
Archery
Archery gear only — no rifle season on this license.
Where
Unit 59 — Snake River
93% public of 294,405 acres
Season (2026)
Aug 29 – Sep 27, 2026
Tags (2026)
502
for 36 first-choice applicants · nonresidents capped at 5%
Hunter success here (2025)
49%
of everyone who hunted the area

Showing nonresident results. Switch to resident

Odds by point level — 2026 draw

Prior-draw probability for a first-choice nonresident applicant. 223 tags, 36 first-choice applicants, drew out at 2 points. Source: ODFW 2026 Preference Point Draw... · row 1987.

Points Your chance Applicants Drawn
0 100% 16 0
1 100% 9 0
2 100% 5 5
3 100% 4 4
4 100% 1 1
5 100% 1 1
6–10 100% same chance at every one of these levels

Points pass + random pass, from published pools. A dash means Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife did not publish a count for that level. How we compute these.

What it costs (2026 nonresident fees)

Cash to apply
$203
Out of pocket if unsuccessful
$203
Total if drawn
$863
Refunded if unsuccessful
$0

At the 2026 odds, expected cost per hunt-year ranges from $863 (enough points to draw) .

Controlled hunt application (per hunt series; also the Point Saver price) · paid at application $10 source
Nonresident annual hunting license (required to apply) · paid at application $193 source
Nonresident controlled elk tag (paid only if drawn; sale by June 20 to day before season) · paid if drawn $660 source

Next application window: opens Dec 1, closes May 15, 2027 (expected) · results ~June 12. Last cycle's schedule rolled forward — confirm when the agency publishes.

Point creep & years to draw

Drew out at 1 → 1 → 1 → 1 → 2 points (2022–2026): +0.0 points/yr (range +0.0 to +1.0). Projecting that pace forward:

Your points nowYears until a sure thing
02 yrs (2–∞)
11 yr (1–∞)
2now

A projection of the last five draws' median creep (capped at 2 points/yr), not a forecast. Random-pass odds still apply every year you're below the cut.

Seasons (2026)

Split 1: Aug 29 – Sep 27, 2026 p. row 1987

How this tag has hunted

Across every license type in Unit 59, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife counted 377 hunters and 185 elk taken in 2025 — 49% of them killed something. Full Unit 59 profile: maps, public land, five years of harvest →

Hunters holding this license type (2025) — the rest of the area's hunters held something else:

What they hunted Hunters Harvest Success Days per animal
Type 259T Snake Rvr Unit Youth 7 4 50%
Type 259X Snake Rvr Unit No. 1 76 41 54%
Type 259Y Snake Rvr Unit No. 2 147 91 62%
Type 200R Oregon Youth Bow 2 1 50%
Type 259R Snake Rvr Unit Bow 145 48 33%

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 Archery Elk Harvest by Zone, Wildlife Management Unit and Hunt ODFW 2025 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest by Zone, Wildlife Management Unit and Hunt

Year by year

The standard draw for nonresidents, one row per year. Oregon runs a second, random pass after the points pass; it is shown beside the year it belongs to.

Year Tags Applicants Applicants per tag Points needed Random pass Source
2026 502 36 0.1 2 279 tags ODFW 2026 Preference Point Draw... · row 1987
2025 450 17 0.0 1 247 tags ODFW 2025 Preference Point Draw... · row 1944
2024 452 24 0.1 1 249 tags ODFW 2024 Preference Point Draw... · row 1971
2023 431 30 0.1 1 228 tags ODFW 2023 Preference Point Draw... · row 1948
2022 427 13 0.0 1 224 tags ODFW 2022 Preference Point Draw... · row 1996

Other licenses valid in Unit 59

Spot a data error on this page? Tell us.

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

How to read these numbers

Every percentage on this page is a prior-draw probability: the chance an applicant with that many points would have drawn in the draw year shown, computed from the agency's published results. It is not a forecast — quotas, applicant numbers, and point creep change every year. Every figure links to the agency document it came from. Where a state does not publish a number, we show a dash, never a zero. Hunts with fewer than five tags show counts instead of percentages. Fees show the fee year used. Read the methodology for the engine details.

Not an application service

This page is informational only. Draw rules, quotas, fees, and deadlines are set by the state agency and change by commission action — confirm everything on the agency's own site before you apply, and apply through the agency, not here. We disclaim all liability for reliance on this page.