Oregon Elk · Unit 45 Fossil
Oregon Unit 45 covers 902,240 acres and lies 59 miles north-east of Prineville and 73 miles north-east of Redmond. 15% of it is public land, mostly BLM (12%) and national forest (3%). In 2025, 1,227 people hunted elk here and took 351, a 29% success rate (sum of published weapon rows). Its most applied-for hunt, 245D, put up 688 tags (all residencies) in the 2026 draw for 25 nonresident first-choice applicants, 3 of whom drew.
9 licenses · NR capped at 5%
first choice, NR
2025, all licenses
12% BLM
902,240 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.
- Success
- 29%
- Season
- Nov 21–29
- Tags / Apps
- 55 / 0
- If Drawn
- $863
- Success
- 29%
- Season
- Oct 28 – Nov 1
- Tags / Apps
- 275 / 16
- If Drawn
- $863
- Success
- 29%
- Season
- Nov 7–15
- Tags / Apps
- 275 / 14
- If Drawn
- $863
Every License in Unit 45
| What | Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 245A1 · private | N Fossil Private No. 1 | 100% | 0 | |
| 245A2 · private | N Fossil Private No. 2 | 100% | 0 | |
| 245B1 · private | S Fossil Private No. 1 | 100% | 0 | |
| 245B2 · private | S Fossil Private No. 2 | 100% | 0 | |
| 245C | Fossil Unit | 100% | 0 ▼1 | |
| 245D · private | Fossil Private | 100% | 0 | |
| 245T · youth | Fossil Unit Youth | 100% | 0 | |
| 245X | Fossil Unit No. 1 | 100% | 0 | |
| 245Y | Fossil Unit No. 2 | 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.
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) | 1,227 | 351 | 29% |
| 2024 (summed) | 1,223 | 390 | 32% |
| 2023 (summed) | 1,478 | 389 | 26% |
| 2022 (summed) | 1,554 | 510 | 33% |
| 2021 (summed) | 1,485 | 431 | 29% |
| 2025 by License | Hunters | Elk | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 245a1 n fossil private no. 1 | 44 | 18 | 41% |
| 245a2 n fossil private no. 2 | 96 | 30 | 31% |
| 245b1 s fossil private no. 1 | 36 | 13 | 37% |
| 245b2 s fossil private no. 2 | 80 | 27 | 33% |
| 245c fossil unit | 33 | 2 | 7% |
| 245d fossil unit private | 348 | 134 | 39% |
| 245t fossil unit youth | 28 | 6 | 21% |
| 245x fossil unit no. 1 | 130 | 22 | 17% |
| 245y fossil unit no. 2 | 172 | 18 | 11% |
| Eastern general bow elk w/ 217r | 2 | 1 | 50% |
| Eastern general bow elk w/ 218r | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Eastern elk archery | 257 | 80 | 31% |
2025 split: rifle 270 (77%) from 967 hunters, 28%, archery 81 (23%) from 260 hunters, 31%
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 Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest…; ODFW 2025 Estimated Archery Elk Harvest by Zone; ODFW 2024 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest….
The Ground
| Private | 759,173 ac | 84% |
| BLM | 104,633 ac | 12% |
| National Forest | 30,291 ac | 3% |
| Tribal | 3,835 ac | <1% |
| State land | 3,169 ac | <1% |
| National Park Service | 1,445 ac | <1% |
| Other public | 3 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 Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- ODFW 2025 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 2024 Estimated Archery Elk Harvest by Zone 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 Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- ODFW 2022 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 2021 Estimated Archery Elk Harvest by Zone 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