Oregon Elk · Unit 61 Imnaha
Oregon Unit 61 covers 272,161 acres and lies 53 miles east of La Grande. 74% of it is public land, mostly national forest (74%). In 2025, 1,015 people hunted elk here and took 310, a 31% success rate (sum of published weapon rows). Its most applied-for hunt, 261X, put up 303 tags (all residencies) in the 2026 draw for 89 nonresident first-choice applicants, 9 of whom drew, and the last tag went to someone with 5 points.
3 licenses · NR capped at 5%
first choice, NR
2025, all licenses
74% Forest Service
272,161 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 61
| What | Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 261 | Imnaha Unit | 5% | 5 ▲2 | |
| 261T · youth | Imnaha Unit Youth | 5% | 5 ▲3 | |
| 261X | Imnaha Unit | 11% | 5 ▲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. Not in the table, with no 2026 result: 261A.
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) | 1,015 | 310 | 31% |
| 2024 (summed) | 1,021 | 243 | 24% |
| 2023 (summed) | 1,019 | 209 | 21% |
| 2022 (summed) | 848 | 222 | 26% |
| 2021 (summed) | 1,440 | 262 | 18% |
| 2025 by License | Hunters | Elk | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 261 imnaha unit | 22 | 9 | 44% |
| 261t imnaha unit youth | 10 | 8 | 83% |
| 261x imnaha unit | 247 | 106 | 43% |
| Rocky mtn 2nd season | 432 | 121 | 28% |
| 200r oregon youth bow | 7 | 2 | 33% |
| 253r1 eagle cap zone | 276 | 59 | 21% |
| 253r2 eagle cap traditional bow | 21 | 5 | 24% |
2025 split: rifle 244 (79%) from 711 hunters, 34%, archery 66 (21%) from 304 hunters, 22%
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
| National Forest | 201,384 ac | 74% |
| Private | 70,358 ac | 26% |
| BLM | 417 ac | <1% |
| State land | 42 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 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 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 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.
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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 · All Oregon elk hunts