Guide
How to pick an elk unit
Updated September 23, 2026
From 2021 to 2025, Montana elk hunters killed an elk at a rate of 20.9% and Idaho elk hunters at 15.6%. The best units run well above those averages, and some of the best are units you cannot simply walk into with a general license. Here is the order to work in, from the tag you can get to the ridge you will glass.
- April 1
- 2026 Montana deadline for elk permits and nonresident combination licenses
- May 1–June 5
- 2026 Idaho controlled hunt application window
- 100+
- hunters a year for a unit to be ranked on this site
1. Start with the license you can get
The license decides which units are open to you, so settle it before you look at a single rate.
In Montana, residents buy the General Elk License over the counter. Most nonresidents cannot: they get a general elk license only by drawing a Big Game or Elk Combination license, with an April 1 deadline, covered in the Montana nonresident guide. A general license is not good for a bull everywhere. The 2026 regulations include a branch-antlered bull on the General Elk License in 114 districts. Elsewhere the general season is antlerless only, spike only, or absent, and in 9 districts the regulations list no General Elk License season at all, only drawn licenses and permits. Elk permits are applied for by April 1, and residents must hold a General Elk License before they apply.
In Idaho, general elk tags are sold by zone, and each unit belongs to one zone, so the tag you hold decides which units you can hunt. Many zones split into an A tag and a B tag with their own seasons and weapon rules; a zone may offer only one. Nonresidents now draw general elk tags instead of buying them first-come, with the first application period in December, as the Idaho nonresident guide explains. The Hells Canyon and Owyhee zones have no general elk season; elk there are controlled hunts only, and controlled hunt applications run May 1 through June 5.
2. Shortlist by the 2021–2025 rate
With the license settled, rank the units you can hunt. These are the top five in each state by pooled 2021–2025 success rate: total elk harvest divided by total elk hunters across the seasons each state surveyed.
See the full ranking: Best elk hunting units in Montana
See the full ranking: Best elk hunting units in Idaho
A unit needs an average of 100 hunters a year to be ranked, which keeps a handful of lucky hunters from topping the list. Montana surveys elk hunters only in even years, so Montana rates pool 2022 and 2024; Idaho's pool all five seasons. If the difference between one season and a pooled rate is new to you, read How to read hunting success rates first.
To build a list wider than the top five, open the Montana planner or the Idaho planner, pick a minimum rate, and turn on "General license includes bull elk" (Montana) or "General tag includes bull elk" (Idaho) if you want a general bull season. Aim for 8 to 12 units. You will cross most of them off.
3. Count the other hunters
A success rate says nothing about how many people were in the woods earning it. The best-units tables carry a Hunters / yr column, and every unit page lists the hunter count for each surveyed year in its success rate history. HD 360 ranks near the top of Montana at 40.3%, and it is also one of the most heavily hunted elk districts in the state. In Idaho, Unit 4 draws one of the largest elk hunter counts of any unit and returns 9.5%.
Neither number is a verdict. A busy unit with a good rate can still be a fine hunt, but plan on company at the trailhead. A unit with a few hundred hunters and a similar rate deserves a harder look.
4. If you want a big bull, read the 6+ pt column
The 6+ pt bulls column on the best-units pages is trophy share: six-point-or-better bulls as a share of every bull killed in the unit, spikes included. It is not a success rate. A unit where the average hunter rarely kills but most bulls taken are mature can outrank, for your purposes, a unit where lots of hunters fill a tag with a raghorn.
On the planners, the "6+ point bull only" rate is the other half of the picture: six-point bulls killed divided by every elk hunter in the unit. Use both. A high trophy share with a very low 6+ rate means few bulls are killed there at all, but most of them are big.
Check what the general season allows before you fall for a trophy number. In Montana, a district whose general season is spike only can still show a high 6+ share, because the harvest counts every hunter in the district, permit holders included.
5. Open the unit page
Each unit has its own page, linked from the planners and the rankings. Three things there do most of the scouting:
- Public land. A shaded overlay marks BLM, Forest Service, and State land from USGS PAD-US. A unit that is mostly private may still post a high rate, but not for someone without permission to hunt it.
- Satellite. Switch the basemap to imagery to see timber, open parks, burns, and roads.
- 3D. Tilt the map to see real elevation: how far the timber sits from the nearest road, and how steep the country is between them.
The same page shows the license rules for residents and nonresidents, the success rate history by year, and where the unit ranks in its state. On Montana pages, a Success by residency table shows the nonresident rate separately.
6. Read the regulations for that unit
The last step is the one that catches people. Montana's rankings count every elk hunter in a district, whatever license they carried, so a top district can be one you cannot hunt on a general license.
HD 455 posts one of the best elk rates in Montana at 49.7%. FWP's 2026 regulations head its elk section "ELK hunting by drawing only": an Elk B license for antlerless elk and two either-sex elk permits, applied for by June 1 and April 1. HD 417 also ranks in the top five at 38.4%, and its General Elk License seasons are for antlerless elk only. HD 411 allows only a spike bull or an antlerless elk on the general license.
In Idaho, Unit 68 posts one of the best elk rates in the state at 31.0%. It sits in the Big Desert Zone, and the zone's A tag season in Units 52A and 68 is archery only.
Read the district or unit section in the current year's regulations, not last year's, and read the restricted-area notes next to it. Seasons, quotas, and weapon rules can change from one year to the next.
Sources
- Montana FWP — 2026 Deer, Elk, and Antelope Regulations (PDF) — resident General Elk License sales (p. 12), the elk permit April 1 deadline and General Elk License prerequisite (p. 16), and the district sections for HD 411 (p. 93), HD 417 (p. 96), and HD 455 (p. 106). Accessed September 2026.
- Idaho Fish and Game — 2026 Big Game Seasons and Rules (PDF) — elk zone tags, the Big Desert Zone A tag archery season, and the controlled-hunt-only Hells Canyon and Owyhee zones. Accessed September 2026.
- Idaho Fish and Game — Controlled Hunt Application Information — the May 1 to June 5 application period. Accessed September 2026.
- Montana FWP — Harvest Reports and IDFG Big Game Harvest Statistics — the hunter and harvest counts behind every rate. Accessed September 2026. See the Data page for the per-unit sources.