Oregon Elk · Unit 50 Desolation
Oregon Unit 50 covers 429,127 acres and lies 40 miles west of Baker City and 59 miles south of Pendleton. 89% of it is public land, mostly national forest (89%). In 2025, 2,128 people hunted elk here and took 283, a 13% success rate (sum of published weapon rows). Its most applied-for hunt, 250R1, put up 1,085 tags (all residencies) in the 2026 draw for 127 nonresident first-choice applicants, 50 of whom drew.
4 licenses · NR capped at 5%
first choice, NR
2025, all licenses
89% Forest Service
429,127 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
- 13%
- Season
- Aug 29 – Sep 27
- Tags / Apps
- 1,085 / 127
- If Drawn
- $863
- Success
- 13%
- Season
- Aug 29 – Oct 2
- Tags / Apps
- 110 / 10
- If Drawn
- $863
- Success
- 13%
- Season
- Oct 28 – Nov 1
- Tags / Apps
- 1,100 / 116
- If Drawn
- $863
Every License in Unit 50
| What | Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 250R1 | Desolation Unit Bow | 100% | 0 | |
| 250R2 | N Fork Traditional Bow | 100% | 0 | |
| 250T · youth | Desolation Unit Youth | 10% | 5 ▲3 | |
| 250X | Desolation Unit | 30% | 1 |
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) | 2,128 | 283 | 13% |
| 2024 (summed) | 2,195 | 303 | 14% |
| 2025 by License | Hunters | Elk | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 250t desolation unit youth | 16 | 8 | 50% |
| 250x desolation unit | 767 | 127 | 17% |
| Rocky mtn 2nd season | 482 | 32 | 7% |
| 200r oregon youth bow | 18 | 4 | 20% |
| 250r1 desolation unit bow | 805 | 108 | 13% |
| 250r2 n fork traditional bow | 40 | 4 | 9% |
2025 split: rifle 167 (59%) from 1,265 hunters, 13%, archery 116 (41%) from 863 hunters, 13%
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
| National Forest | 383,827 ac | 89% |
| Private | 45,145 ac | 11% |
| BLM | 229 ac | <1% |
| Other public | 76 ac | <1% |
| State land | 9 ac | <1% |
Source: Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office 2026 BLM /Washington Land Status Ownership.
▸ Sources 9
- 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 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