Oregon Elk · Unit 78
Its most applied-for hunt, 278A2, put up 440 tags (all residencies) in the 2026 draw for 99 nonresident first-choice applicants, 18 of whom drew, and the last tag went to someone with 3 points.
4 licenses · NR capped at 5%
first choice, NR
not published
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife does not publish a mapped boundary for Unit 78, so there is no map to draw.
Best Bets at 0 Points
Ranked by your odds times how often that license type's hunters filled their tag. Nonresident, first choice, 2026 draw; licenses with at least 10 tags that anyone can buy.
- Success
- —
- Season
- Oct 28 – Nov 3
- Tags / Apps
- 440 / 45
- If Drawn
- $863
- Success
- —
- Season
- Nov 7–15
- Tags / Apps
- 440 / 99
- If Drawn
- $863
- Success
- —
- Season
- Oct 17–25
- Tags / Apps
- 138 / 7
- If Drawn
- $863
Every License in Unit 78
| What | Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 278A1 | High Desert No. 1 | 90% | 2 ▲1 | |
| 278A2 | High Desert No. 2 | 51% | 3 ▲1 | |
| 278M | High Desert Muzzleloader | 100% | 0 ▼1 | |
| 278T · youth | High Desert Youth | 25% | 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.
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.
What the Agency Says About the Area
"278" series ("High Desert No. 1/No. 2") -- a multi-unit hunt, not a single WMU. ODFW's own 2025 elk ALW harvest report lists its harvest under WMU 70 Beatys Butte and 71 Juniper, not under any standalone "78" boundary -- confirmed in harvest_elk_2025.csv (license_type='278A1 High Desert No. 1'/'278A2 High Desert No. 2', unit_code in {70,71}).
▸ Sources 4
- 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… area description, 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.
Report an error on this page
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