Unit 13 Elk Hunting, Idaho

Unit 13 sits inside the Nezperce National Forest and is steep and broken country, with mean slope pushing 24 degrees and nearly half the ground classed as steep terrain. Elevation runs from below 1,000 feet up past 6,000, and cover shifts as it climbs — lower slopes carry a mix of grass and meadow with sagebrush and some conifer, mid elevations even out between grass, conifer, and sagebrush, and the highest ground turns mostly to timber. It hunts as foot country: the footing is rough enough, and roads scarce enough, that covering it takes real effort, and a hunter should be ready to work steep ground on the way in and the way out.

Only about 28 percent of the unit — roughly 97 square miles of BLM, National Forest, state endowment land, and state Wildlife Management Area ground — is dependably open to public hunting; the rest, about 72 percent, is private and needs written permission to access. That makes legal access, not the terrain itself, the real limiting factor here. The Jones Creek fire burned about 4,400 acres on the unit's south side in 2022, and this fall that ground sits two to four years post-fire, a window when burned country often glasses easily and grows enough new feed to draw elk in to feed morning and evening along the edge of standing timber. Hunters working that ground should check for current fire closures before heading in.

Elk hunting in Unit 13 is entirely by controlled hunt; there is no general season here. That means every hunter chasing elk in this unit is working from a drawn tag with its own dates, weapon, and legal-animal rules rather than an over-the-counter option.

Lower elevations

• Grass and meadow48%
• Sagebrush32%
• Conifer18%
• Other cover2%

Mid elevations

• Grass and meadow38%
• Conifer33%
• Sagebrush29%

Higher elevations

• Conifer43%
• Sagebrush31%
• Grass and meadow25%
• Other cover1%

• BLM10%
• National Forest9%
• Idaho state endowment land8%
• State Wildlife Management Area<1%

• Private72%

Idaho state endowment land is generally open to hunting unless posted closed or leased — check the parcel before planning around it.

Can a resident buy an elk tag for Unit 13 over the counter?

No. Unit 13 has no general elk season, so there is no over-the-counter elk tag available here for residents or nonresidents. The only way to hunt elk in this unit is by drawing the controlled hunt, which is open to a limited number of tags through a random draw.

How do nonresidents get an elk tag that covers Unit 13?

Since Unit 13 has no general season, nonresidents wanting to hunt elk here apply for the controlled hunt through the same random draw process residents use. There is no zone-based A or B tag choice for this unit because the Hells Canyon Elk Zone's general seasons do not extend into Unit 13.

How hard is it to draw the controlled hunt in Unit 13?

The controlled hunt running October 10 through November 3 carries good odds for resident first-choice applicants in the random draw. Odds are never guaranteed and can shift from one draw to the next, so a hunter should treat this as a favorable but not certain draw.

Which elk zone covers Unit 13?

Unit 13 falls within the Hells Canyon Elk Zone, shared with Units 11 and 18. That zone-wide designation matters for how general tags are sold elsewhere in the zone, but Unit 13 itself has no valid general season window.

How much of Unit 13 is public land a hunter can count on?

About 28 percent of the unit, roughly 97 square miles, is generally open to public hunting through BLM, National Forest, state endowment, and Wildlife Management Area ground. The remaining 72 percent is private and requires written permission, so access is the main constraint rather than the terrain itself.