Oregon Elk · Unit 46 Murderers Creek
Oregon Unit 46 covers 735,762 acres and lies 46 miles north of Burns and 72 miles south-west of Baker City. 68% of it is public land, mostly national forest (59%) and BLM (6%). In 2025, 1,942 people hunted elk here and took 328, a 17% success rate (sum of published weapon rows). Its most applied-for hunt, 246R, put up 930 tags (all residencies) in the 2026 draw for 90 nonresident first-choice applicants, 32 of whom drew.
7 licenses · NR capped at 5%
first choice, NR
2025, all licenses
59% Forest Service
735,762 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
- 17%
- Season
- Nov 21–29
- Tags / Apps
- 385 / 27
- If Drawn
- $863
- Success
- 17%
- Season
- Nov 7–15
- Tags / Apps
- 248 / 17
- If Drawn
- $863
- Success
- 17%
- Season
- Aug 29 – Sep 27
- Tags / Apps
- 930 / 90
- If Drawn
- $863
- Success
- 17%
- Season
- Oct 28 – Nov 1
- Tags / Apps
- 413 / 47
- If Drawn
- $863
Every License in Unit 46
| What | Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 246 | Murderers Cr Unit | 70% | 1 | |
| 246A | W Murderers Cr | 12% | 4 ▼1 | |
| 246B | E Murderers Cr | 22% | 6 ▲4 | |
| 246C · private | Murderers Cr Private Lands Plus | 100% | 0 | |
| 246R | Murderers Cr Unit Bow | 100% | 0 | |
| 246T · youth | Murderers Cr - Northside Youth | 23% | 1 ▼1 | |
| 246X | Murderers Cr Unit | 15% | 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. Not in the table, with no 2026 result: 246T1, 246T2.
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) | 1,942 | 328 | 17% |
| 2024 (summed) | 2,070 | 349 | 17% |
| 2025 by License | Hunters | Elk | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 246 murderers cr unit | 228 | 21 | 9% |
| 246a w murderers cr | 392 | 82 | 21% |
| 246b e murderers cr | 171 | 26 | 15% |
| 246c murderers cr private lands plus | 97 | 25 | 25% |
| 246t murderers cr - northside youth | 17 | 3 | 17% |
| 246x murderers cr unit | 317 | 73 | 23% |
| 200r oregon youth bow | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| 246r murderers cr unit bow | 660 | 88 | 13% |
| 265m e grant muzzleloader | 58 | 10 | 17% |
2025 split: rifle 230 (70%) from 1,222 hunters, 19%, archery 88 (27%) from 662 hunters, 13%, muzzleloader 10 (3%) from 58 hunters, 17%
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 Muzzleloader Elk Harvest by…; ODFW 2025 Estimated Archery Elk Harvest by Zone; ODFW 2025 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest….
The Ground
| National Forest | 435,918 ac | 59% |
| Private | 235,711 ac | 32% |
| BLM | 42,515 ac | 6% |
| State land | 21,932 ac | 3% |
| Other public | 33 ac | <1% |
Source: Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office 2026 BLM /Washington Land Status Ownership.
▸ Sources 11
- 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 Muzzleloader Elk Harvest by… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 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 Muzzleloader Elk Harvest by… 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 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