Oregon Elk · Unit 38 Grizzly

Oregon Unit 38 spans 1,079,441 acres, centered 21 miles north of Prineville. 28% of it is public land, mostly national forest (19%) and BLM (8%). In 2025, 1,316 people hunted elk here and took 211, a 16% success rate (sum of published weapon rows). Its most applied-for hunt, 238A, put up 440 tags (all residencies) in the 2026 draw for 17 nonresident first-choice applicants, 4 of whom drew.

Tags, 2026
830

6 licenses · NR capped at 5%

Applicants
46

first choice, NR

Hunter Success
16%

2025, all licenses

Public Land
28%

19% Forest Service

Size
1,687 mi²

1,079,441 acres

Prineville Bend 38
16%hunter success 2025 · 1,316 hunters, 211 elk

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, 2026 draw; licenses with at least 10 tags that anyone can buy.

Every License in Unit 38

90–100% 50–89% 10–49% 1–9% under 1% fewer than 5 tags: one applicant swings it
238A 100% 0
238B1 · private 100% 0
238B2 · private 100% 0
238T · youth 100% 3 ▲1
238X 6% 3
238Y 10% 3

First-choice nonresident odds at your points, 2026 draw. Cut = points the last tag went at; ▲ = points added since the earliest draw on file.

Draw results: ODFW 2026 Preference Point Draw Report, retrieved Aug 31, 2026.

If you draw (2026 nonresident fees): $863 ($203 to apply). Open Dec 1, 2026 – May 15, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.

Harvest

Year Hunters Elk Success
2025 (summed) 1,316 211 16%
2024 (summed) 1,364 220 16%
2023 (summed) 1,376 193 14%
2022 (summed) 1,451 235 16%
2021 (summed) 1,413 206 15%
2025 by LicenseHuntersElkSuccess
238a grizzly grassland 303 64 21%
238b1 grizzly private no. 1 72 20 27%
238b2 grizzly private no. 2 132 42 32%
238t grizzly unit youth 10 3 33%
238x grizzly unit no. 1 48 9 18%
238y grizzly unit no. 2 53 8 15%
200r oregon youth bow 1 0 0%
Eastern general bow elk w/ 216r2 1 0 0%
Eastern general bow elk w/ 219r 4 0 0%
Eastern general bow elk w/ 221r 1 1 100%
Eastern elk archery 691 64 9%

2025 split: rifle 146 (69%) from 618 hunters, 24%, archery 65 (31%) from 698 hunters, 9%

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 weapon 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 Archery Elk Harvest by Zone; ODFW 2025 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest…; ODFW 2024 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest….

The Ground

Private 781,683 ac 72%
National Forest 206,585 ac 19%
BLM 84,811 ac 8%
State land 2,938 ac <1%
National Park Service 2,848 ac <1%
Bureau of Reclamation 567 ac <1%
Other public 461 ac <1%
Tribal 16 ac <1%

Source: Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office 2026 BLM /Washington Land Status Ownership.

▸ Sources 16
  1. ODFW 2026 Preference Point Draw Report draw results, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  2. ODFW 2026 OAR chapter 635 division 060 fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  3. ODFW 2026 Recreational Fee Schedule fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  4. ODFW 2025 Estimated Archery Elk Harvest by Zone harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  5. ODFW 2025 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  6. ODFW 2024 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  7. ODFW 2024 Estimated Archery Elk Harvest by Zone harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  8. ODFW 2023 Estimated Archery Elk Harvest by Zone harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  9. ODFW 2023 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  10. ODFW 2022 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  11. ODFW 2022 Estimated Archery Elk Harvest by Zone harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  12. ODFW 2021 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  13. ODFW 2021 Estimated Archery Elk Harvest by Zone harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  14. ODFW 2021 Estimated Muzzleloader Elk Harvest by… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  15. ODFW 2026 Wildlife Management Unit boundaries boundary, area description, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  16. 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 2026 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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Every report is checked against the agency source before we change anything.

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 elk hunts