Oregon Elk · Unit 63 Keating

Oregon Unit 63 covers 393,110 acres and lies 22 miles north-east of Baker City and 41 miles south-east of La Grande. 57% of it is public land, mostly national forest (41%) and BLM (16%). In 2025, 686 people hunted elk here and took 133, a 19% success rate (sum of published weapon rows). Its most applied-for hunt, 263, put up 88 tags (all residencies) in the 2026 draw for 27 nonresident first-choice applicants, 4 of whom drew, and the last tag went to someone with 5 points.

Tags, 2026
336

2 licenses · NR capped at 5%

Applicants
51

first choice, NR

Hunter Success
19%

2025, all licenses

Public Land
57%

42% Forest Service

Size
614 mi²

393,110 acres

Baker City La Grande 63
19%hunter success 2025 · 686 hunters, 133 elk

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 63

90–100% 50–89% 10–49% 1–9% under 1% fewer than 5 tags: one applicant swings it
263 16% 5 ▲2
263X 18% 2

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) 686 133 19%
2024 (summed) 698 155 22%
2023 (summed) 715 138 19%
2022 (summed) 696 161 23%
2021 (summed) 922 169 18%
2025 by LicenseHuntersElkSuccess
251t baker youth 22 14 67%
263 keating unit 74 25 33%
263x keating unit 198 39 20%
Rocky mtn 2nd season 232 24 11%
200r oregon youth bow 1 1 100%
253r1 eagle cap zone 146 27 18%
253r2 eagle cap traditional bow 13 3 20%

2025 split: rifle 102 (77%) from 526 hunters, 19%, archery 31 (23%) from 160 hunters, 19%

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

Private 165,827 ac 42%
National Forest 161,660 ac 41%
BLM 61,024 ac 16%
Bureau of Reclamation 589 ac <1%
State land 2 ac <1%
Private or other non-public land 4,005 ac 1%

Source: Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office 2026 BLM /Washington Land Status Ownership.

▸ Sources 15
  1. ODFW 2026 Preference Point Draw Report draw results, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  2. ODFW 2026 OAR chapter 635 division 060 fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  3. ODFW 2026 Recreational Fee Schedule fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  4. ODFW 2025 Estimated Archery Elk Harvest by Zone harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  5. ODFW 2025 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  6. ODFW 2024 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  7. ODFW 2024 Estimated Archery Elk Harvest by Zone harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  8. ODFW 2023 Estimated Archery Elk Harvest by Zone harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  9. ODFW 2023 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  10. ODFW 2022 Estimated Archery Elk Harvest by Zone harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  11. ODFW 2022 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  12. ODFW 2021 Estimated Any Legal Weapon Elk Harvest… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  13. ODFW 2021 Estimated Archery Elk Harvest by Zone harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  14. ODFW 2026 Wildlife Management Unit boundaries boundary, area description, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  15. 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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Every report is checked against the agency source before we change anything.

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