Oregon Elk · Unit 44 Columbia Basin
Oregon Unit 44 spans 1,811,862 acres, centered 14 miles south of Hermiston. 5% of it is public land, mostly military (4%) and BLM (1%). In 2025, 377 people hunted elk here and took 162, a 43% success rate (sum of published weapon rows). Its most applied-for hunt, 244, put up 1,100 tags (all residencies) in the 2026 draw for 71 nonresident first-choice applicants, 21 of whom drew.
1 license · NR capped at 5%
first choice, NR
2025, all licenses
4% Other public
1,811,862 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, 2026 draw; licenses with at least 10 tags that anyone can buy.
Every License in Unit 44
| What | Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 244 | Columbia Plateau | 100% | 0 |
First-choice nonresident odds at your points, 2026 draw. Cut = points the last tag went at; ▲ = points added since the earliest draw on file. Not in the table, with no 2026 result: 244T.
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) | 377 | 162 | 43% |
| 2024 (summed) | 416 | 170 | 41% |
| 2023 (summed) | 2,116 | 317 | 15% |
| 2022 (summed) | 1,299 | 309 | 24% |
| 2021 (summed) | 2,623 | 345 | 13% |
| 2025 by License | Hunters | Elk | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 244 columbia plateau | 346 | 147 | 43% |
| Eastern elk archery | 31 | 15 | 47% |
2025 split: rifle 147 (91%) from 346 hunters, 42%, archery 15 (9%) from 31 hunters, 48%
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 Archery Elk Harvest by Zone.
The Ground
| Private | 1,715,270 ac | 95% |
| Department of Defense | 64,243 ac | 4% |
| BLM | 14,692 ac | <1% |
| National Wildlife Refuge | 8,927 ac | <1% |
| State land | 3,758 ac | <1% |
| Bureau of Reclamation | 2,600 ac | <1% |
| Other public | 1,650 ac | <1% |
| Tribal | 390 ac | <1% |
Source: Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office 2026 BLM /Washington Land Status Ownership.
▸ Sources 15
- ODFW 2026 Preference Point Draw Report draw results, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- ODFW 2026 OAR chapter 635 division 060 fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- ODFW 2026 Recreational Fee Schedule fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- ODFW 2025 Estimated Archery Elk Harvest by Zone harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- ODFW 2025 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- ODFW 2024 Estimated Archery Elk Harvest by Zone harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- ODFW 2024 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- ODFW 2023 Estimated Archery Elk Harvest by Zone harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- ODFW 2023 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- ODFW 2022 Estimated Archery Elk Harvest by Zone harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- ODFW 2022 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- ODFW 2021 Estimated Archery Elk Harvest by Zone harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- ODFW 2021 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest… 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 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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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