Unit 77 Deer Hunting, Idaho
Idaho hunting unit · 263 sq mi
General season — resident tags over the counter
Residents buy general deer tags over the counter — no draw, no points. Nonresident general tags are allocated by random draw. It also has 1 controlled hunt, drawn by pure random draw with no points — resident odds good odds.
What hunting Unit 77 is like
Unit 77 sits in rolling to moderately steep country ranging from 4,500 feet up to 9,500 feet, with most of the ground in the gentle-to-moderate range and only a fifth of it steep or rugged. Cover shifts with elevation: mid-elevation slopes run heavy to sagebrush with aspen mixed in and pockets of grass and meadow, while higher up conifer and aspen take over and sagebrush thins out. It is largely foot-and-glass country, with the Caribou National Forest anchoring the public ground and enough open hillside to make long-range glassing a productive way to locate deer before closing the distance.
About 46% of the unit — roughly 122 square miles — is generally open to public hunting across National Forest, BLM, and Idaho state endowment land, though endowment parcels can be posted closed or leased and should not be assumed open. The rest, just over half the unit, is private and requires permission to hunt. That split means a hunter needs a plan for where the open ground actually lies before the season starts, since public and private are mixed rather than neatly divided.
Tags here follow Idaho's general structure: residents buy general deer tags over the counter with no draw required, while nonresidents apply through a random draw for either the regular deer tag or the white-tailed deer tag, choosing which one when they apply. On top of the general seasons, a controlled antlerless hunt adds extra opportunity late in the year for hunters who draw it.
General-season deer (2026)
The Regular Deer tag is valid for mule deer or white-tailed deer unless a season says otherwise; the White-tailed Deer tag is white-tailed deer only. Residents buy general deer tags over the counter; nonresident general tags are allocated by random draw.
| Season | Dates | Legal deer | Rut phase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular deer tag · Archery Motorized Hunting Rule Applies | August 30 – September 30 | Antlered | Summer Range / Bachelor Pattern, Velvet Shed / Early Fall Transition |
| Regular deer tag · Any weapon Motorized Hunting Rule Applies | October 10 – October 24 | Antlered | Early Fall Migration / Nocturnal Buck Phase |
Regular deer tag · Archery · August 30 – September 30
Archery season opens while bucks are still in velvet and holding to summer bachelor groups, and it runs on into the velvet-shed transition by its close. Summer scouting and patient glassing pay off more than anything else — deer don't need much water here, so a small seep or a passing rainstorm can be enough to hold a buck nearby, and they lean on forbs and browse to feed. Mornings are for glassing shady pockets and north-facing slopes to find a bedded buck, then still-hunting or stalking him through the middle of the day while he's down. Evenings are for finding a buck again, sometimes to make a move before dark and sometimes just to mark him and come back at first light; once velvet sheds the same pattern holds, though bucks may bed earlier and stay put later, so a buck that seems to vanish is usually just tucked into a nearby draw or crevice. The tag is good for antlered deer only, and the motorized hunting rule applies across the unit.
Regular deer tag · Any weapon · October 10 – October 24
By the time the any-weapon season opens in October, bucks have slid into a more nocturnal pattern, moving less in daylight but still mostly holding near the same ground they used through summer. That makes early and late light the best windows to catch one on his feet, with the bulk of the day better spent covering terrain quietly or glassing likely pockets rather than expecting much daytime movement. The tag covers antlered deer only, and the motorized hunting rule applies through this stretch as it does in archery season.
Controlled deer hunts (2026)
Controlled hunts have a limited number of tags and are drawn by pure random draw — Idaho uses no points, so years of applying do not improve the odds. First choices are drawn before second choices. A hunt marked as covering part of Unit 77 is valid only in its own hunt area.
| Season | Dates | Legal deer | Resident draw | Rut phase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controlled hunt 66A-1X · Any weapon Extra antlerless tag; White-tailed deer only, Very limited access; 77 and 78 | October 1 – November 30 | Antlerless only | Good odds | Early Fall Migration / Nocturnal Buck Phase, Early Pre-Rut / Migration Corridor Staging, Primary Rut, Late Rut / Winter Consolidation |
Resident draw is a band in words from the 2026 first-choice results: good, fair, long or very long odds. It is not a published percentage, and nonresident odds differ. Youth-only hunts are shown without a band.
Controlled hunt 66A-1X · Any weapon · October 1 – November 30
This controlled hunt runs long, from the start of October through the end of November, and is built around filling an antlerless white-tailed deer tag rather than chasing horns. It spans the shift from early fall migration through the pre-rut staging period and into the primary rut and on to late-rut winter consolidation, so deer movement and grouping change considerably over the course of the season. Access is very limited by design, and by November snowfall averaging around 3.3 inches and lows near 24°F start to push deer toward more consistent, lower-elevation use of cover. Only white-tailed deer may be taken, and only antlerless animals are legal under this tag.
Terrain & elevation
- Elevation
- 4,500–9,500 ft, typically around 5,900 ft
- Slope breakdown
- 33% gentle · 46% moderate · 20% steep · 1% rugged
- Ground you can count on
- ~122 sq mi
- National forests
- Caribou National Forest
Habitat & cover
What grows here, by elevation. Each band adds to 100% on its own — these are shares of that band, not of the unit.
Lower elevations
- Other cover51%
- Sagebrush44%
- Aspen2%
- Grass and meadow2%
- Riparian1%
Mid elevations
- Sagebrush68%
- Aspen21%
- Grass and meadow5%
- Conifer3%
- Other cover3%
Higher elevations
- Conifer40%
- Aspen31%
- Sagebrush27%
- Grass and meadow1%
- Other cover1%
Cover classes from the USGS National Land Cover Database. “Other cover” is the remainder — bare ground, water, agriculture and developed land.
Land & access
About 46% of Unit 77 is public land a hunter can generally count on — National Forest, BLM and Idaho state endowment land.
- National Forest42%
- BLM4%
- Idaho state endowment land<1%
- Private54%
Idaho state endowment land is generally open to hunting unless posted closed or leased — check the parcel before planning around it.
Fall weather
- August — highs around 85°F, lows around 52°F
- September — highs around 74°F, lows around 43°F
- October — highs around 59°F, lows around 34°F, about 0.3 in of snowfall
- November — highs around 44°F, lows around 24°F, about 3.3 in of snowfall
- December — highs around 33°F, lows around 17°F, about 10.4 in of snowfall
Unit 77 deer hunting FAQ
Can a resident buy a deer tag for Unit 77 over the counter?
Yes. Residents purchase the general regular deer tag or the white-tailed deer tag over the counter with no draw or application required. Nonresidents, by contrast, must go through a random draw for one of those same tags.
How do nonresidents get a general tag in Unit 77?
Nonresidents apply through a random draw and must choose either the regular deer tag or the white-tailed deer tag at the time they apply. The specific tag is selected as part of the application, not after the draw results are known.
How hard is it to draw the controlled antlerless hunt in Unit 77?
Controlled hunt 66A-1X, which offers an extra antlerless white-tailed deer tag valid in units 77 and 78, carries a resident first-choice draw band of Good odds. That band describes the resident first-choice draw only and is not a guarantee.
Which deer tags are valid in Unit 77?
The regular deer tag covers either mule deer or white-tailed deer during the general archery and any-weapon seasons, both restricted to antlered deer. The white-tailed deer tag and the controlled antlerless hunt are separate tags with their own restrictions, including an antlerless-only, white-tailed-deer-only controlled hunt.
Which Unit 77 seasons fall during the rut?
Controlled hunt 66A-1X runs long enough to cover the primary rut and the late-rut period. The general archery and any-weapon seasons both close before the rut begins, so neither one overlaps it.
Data sources & methodology
- Idaho Fish and Game — Idaho Big Game 2026 Seasons & Rules — general and controlled season dates, legal animals and the brochure's unit notes
- Idaho Fish and Game — Idaho Hunt Planner — unit boundaries, the national forests and wilderness areas in each unit, and controlled-hunt drawing results behind the odds bands
- Idaho Fish and Game — 2026 Nonresident General Tags and Tags Allocated to Outfitters — which general elk zone tags are capped
- USGS / MRLC — National Land Cover Database — habitat and cover classes by elevation band
- USGS PAD-US — Protected Areas Database of the United States — land ownership and access
- Daymet daily climate, 1991–2020 (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) — fall weather
- National Interagency Fire Center — wildfire perimeters — recent fires, their size and where they burned
Controlled-hunt draw difficulty is a qualitative band from resident first-choice results, not published odds. Land shares are separate, non-overlapping categories. Confirm current dates and rules in the Idaho Big Game Seasons & Rules brochure before you hunt. Unit data last updated September 29, 2026.