Unit 48
Elk
Resident licenses
Smoky-Bennett Zone Elk Tag
Availability: General Season
✅ Includes bull elk
A Tag: Archery only — any elk, Units 43 and 48 only: Aug 30-Sep 30.
B Tag: Any weapon — antlerless only, Units 44, 45, and 52 only.
Source: IDFG regulations (2026)
Nonresident licenses
Nonresident Elk Zone Tag
Availability: Draw — see notes
✅ Includes bull elk
Smoky-Bennett Zone general elk tag (units 43, 44, 45, 48, 52).
Nonresident general-season elk tags are not sold over the counter: beginning with the 2026 season IDFG issues them by random draw — first application period Dec 5-15, 2025, second application period Feb 5-15, 2026 — against a statewide nonresident general-season quota of 12,815 elk tags.
Smoky-Bennett Zone nonresident limits — A Tag: 180 nonresident tags (uncapped zone; 26 additional tags allocated to outfitters), archery-only season.
B Tag: 5 nonresident tags (capped zone — 600 total capped tags, of which 593 are resident tags and 2 are allocated to outfitters).
Price: $651.75 nonresident elk tag plus $185.00 nonresident hunting license (Idaho Big Game 2026 Seasons & Rules, Nonresident License, Tag and Permit Fees, prices as of December 1, 2024).
Source: 2026 Nonresident General Tags and Tags Allocated to Outfitters, "Nonresident Elk Tags by Zone" and "Elk Tag Limits for Nonresidents and Outfitters by Zone".
Source: IDFG regulations (2026)
6+ point bulls: 19 of 49 total bulls harvested (2025)
Success rate history
| Year | Hunters | All | Spike | Bull | 6+ pt | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvest | Rate | Harvest | Rate | Harvest | Rate | Harvest | Rate | ||
| 2025 | 497 | 52 | 10.5% | 10 | 2% | 39 | 7.8% | 19 | 3.8% |
| 2024 | 513 | 82 | 16% | 15 | 2.9% | 56 | 10.9% | 26 | 5.1% |
| 2023 | 615 | 57 | 9.3% | 1 | 0.2% | 47 | 7.6% | 9 | 1.5% |
| 2022 | 449 | 60 | 13.4% | 1 | 0.2% | 55 | 12.2% | 29 | 6.5% |
| 2021 | 458 | 91 | 19.9% | 24 | 5.2% | 57 | 12.4% | 20 | 4.4% |
| 2020 | 663 | 86 | 13% | 6 | 0.9% | 53 | 8% | 29 | 4.4% |
| 2019 | 505 | 81 | 16% | 3 | 0.6% | 60 | 11.9% | 25 | 5% |
| 2018 | 611 | 94 | 15.4% | 20 | 3.3% | 56 | 9.2% | 34 | 5.6% |
| 2017 | 579 | 82 | 14.2% | 9 | 1.6% | 45 | 7.8% | 22 | 3.8% |
| 2016 | 714 | 112 | 15.7% | 35 | 4.9% | 60 | 8.4% | 34 | 4.8% |
| 2015 | 619 | 150 | 24.2% | 40 | 6.5% | 86 | 13.9% | 52 | 8.4% |
| 2014 | 262 | 66 | 25.2% | 14 | 5.3% | 39 | 14.9% | 19 | 7.3% |
| 2013 | 250 | 63 | 25.2% | 27 | 10.8% | 29 | 11.6% | 11 | 4.4% |
| 2012 | 380 | 62 | 16.3% | 21 | 5.5% | 32 | 8.4% | 15 | 3.9% |
| 2011 | 292 | 55 | 18.8% | 11 | 3.8% | 39 | 13.4% | 16 | 5.5% |
| 2010 | 266 | 52 | 19.5% | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2009 | 377 | 45 | 11.9% | 15 | 4% | 20 | 5.3% | 7 | 1.9% |
| 2008 | 438 | 38 | 8.7% | 10 | 2.3% | 20 | 4.6% | 9 | 2.1% |
| 2007 | 260 | 28 | 10.8% | 7 | 2.7% | 17 | 6.5% | 14 | 5.4% |
IDFG doesn't publish harvest by residency.
Source: IDFG harvest statistics, 2025.
Deer
Resident licenses
Regular Deer Tag
Availability: General Season
✅ Includes antlered deer opportunity (all deer)
Antlered: Oct 10 - Oct 31.
Antlerless: None.
Source: IDFG regulations (2026)
Nonresident licenses
Nonresident Regular Deer Tag
Availability: Draw — see notes
✅ Includes antlered deer opportunity (all deer)
Unit 48 Regular Deer, nonresident hunt code RD48.
Nonresident general-season deer tags are not sold over the counter: beginning with the 2026 season IDFG issues them by random draw — first application period Dec 5-15, 2025, second application period Feb 5-15, 2026 — against a statewide nonresident general-season quota of 15,500 deer tags.
Unit 48 nonresident limit: 194 tags, plus 5 tags allocated to outfitters.
Price: $351.75 nonresident deer tag plus $185.00 nonresident hunting license (Idaho Big Game 2026 Seasons & Rules, Nonresident License, Tag and Permit Fees, prices as of December 1, 2024).
Source: 2026 Nonresident General Tags and Tags Allocated to Outfitters, "Nonresident Regular Deer Tags by Unit" and "Regular Deer Tag Limits for Nonresidents and Outfitters by Unit".
Source: IDFG regulations (2026)
Idaho's Regular Deer Tag harvest and success-rate figures below combine the mule and white-tailed deer populations into one number — IDFG doesn't publish a single-species breakdown at the unit level.
4+ point deer (all deer): 206 of 664 antlered deer harvested (2025)
Success rate history
| Year | Hunters | All deer | Antlered | 4+ pt | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvest | Rate | Harvest | Rate | Harvest | Rate | ||
| 2025 | 2309 | 686 | 29.7% | 664 | 28.8% | 206 | 8.9% |
| 2024 | 2249 | 690 | 30.7% | 675 | 30% | 304 | 13.5% |
| 2023 | 2193 | 578 | 26.4% | 555 | 25.3% | 244 | 11.1% |
| 2022 | 1953 | 650 | 33.3% | 621 | 31.8% | 261 | 13.4% |
| 2021 | 2071 | 621 | 30% | 579 | 28% | 243 | 11.7% |
| 2020 | 2241 | 592 | 26.4% | 565 | 25.2% | 209 | 9.3% |
| 2019 | 1940 | 439 | 22.6% | 434 | 22.4% | 182 | 9.4% |
| 2018 | 2232 | 496 | 22.2% | 472 | 21.1% | 189 | 8.5% |
| 2017 | 2265 | 386 | 17% | 380 | 16.8% | 167 | 7.4% |
| 2016 | 2231 | 701 | 31.4% | 637 | 28.6% | 299 | 13.4% |
| 2015 | 2596 | 883 | 34% | 790 | 30.4% | 283 | 10.9% |
| 2014 | 1900 | 615 | 32.4% | 541 | 28.5% | 178 | 9.4% |
| 2013 | 1462 | 349 | 23.9% | 325 | 22.2% | 156 | 10.7% |
| 2012 | 1493 | 409 | 27.4% | 368 | 24.6% | 130 | 8.7% |
| 2011 | 1518 | 338 | 22.3% | 299 | 19.7% | 127 | 8.4% |
| 2010 | 1373 | 314 | 22.9% | 282 | 20.5% | 116 | 8.4% |
| 2009 | 1623 | 287 | 17.7% | 259 | 16% | 113 | 7% |
| 2008 | 1592 | 380 | 23.9% | 337 | 21.2% | 112 | 7% |
| 2007 | 1502 | 383 | 25.5% | 337 | 22.4% | 122 | 8.1% |
IDFG doesn't publish harvest by residency.
Source: IDFG harvest statistics, 2025.