Unit 52A
Elk
Resident licenses
Big Desert Zone Elk Tag
Availability: General Season
✅ Includes bull elk
A Tag: Archery only — any elk (Units 52A, 68); Short range weapons only — any elk (Unit 53); Archery only — any elk (Unit 68A).
Source: IDFG regulations (2026)
Nonresident licenses
Nonresident Elk Zone Tag
Availability: Draw — see notes
✅ Includes bull elk
Big Desert Zone general elk tag (units 52A, 53, 68, 68A).
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.
Big Desert Zone nonresident limits — A Tag: 57 nonresident tags (uncapped zone; 0 additional tags allocated to outfitters), archery-only and short-range-weapon-only seasons.
B Tag: 3 nonresident tags (capped zone — 350 total capped tags, of which 347 are resident tags and 0 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: 28 of 45 total bulls harvested (2025)
Success rate history
| Year | Hunters | All | Spike | Bull | 6+ pt | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvest | Rate | Harvest | Rate | Harvest | Rate | Harvest | Rate | ||
| 2025 | 472 | 136 | 28.8% | 3 | 0.6% | 42 | 8.9% | 28 | 5.9% |
| 2024 | 350 | 87 | 24.9% | 0 | 0% | 31 | 8.9% | 27 | 7.7% |
| 2023 | 280 | 82 | 29.3% | 7 | 2.5% | 26 | 9.3% | 16 | 5.7% |
| 2022 | 353 | 102 | 28.9% | 1 | 0.3% | 21 | 5.9% | 10 | 2.8% |
| 2021 | 354 | 57 | 16.1% | 1 | 0.3% | 13 | 3.7% | 9 | 2.5% |
| 2020 | 517 | 134 | 25.9% | 4 | 0.8% | 10 | 1.9% | 3 | 0.6% |
| 2019 | 537 | 134 | 25% | 3 | 0.6% | 20 | 3.7% | 16 | 3% |
| 2018 | 119 | 15 | 12.6% | 0 | 0% | 11 | 9.2% | 7 | 5.9% |
| 2017 | 103 | 17 | 16.5% | 4 | 3.9% | 12 | 11.7% | 7 | 6.8% |
| 2016 | 107 | 14 | 13.1% | 5 | 4.7% | 9 | 8.4% | 9 | 8.4% |
| 2015 | 114 | 13 | 11.4% | 0 | 0% | 11 | 9.6% | 7 | 6.1% |
| 2014 | 107 | 22 | 20.6% | 3 | 2.8% | 17 | 15.9% | 10 | 9.3% |
| 2013 | 104 | 15 | 14.4% | 1 | 1% | 14 | 13.5% | 12 | 11.5% |
| 2012 | 81 | 11 | 13.6% | 0 | 0% | 7 | 8.6% | 6 | 7.4% |
| 2011 | 60 | 5 | 8.3% | 0 | 0% | 3 | 5% | 2 | 3.3% |
| 2010 | 91 | 12 | 13.2% | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2009 | 81 | 9 | 11.1% | 1 | 1.2% | 8 | 9.9% | 5 | 6.2% |
| 2008 | 53 | 18 | 34% | 0 | 0% | 16 | 30.2% | 14 | 26.4% |
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: Oct 10 - Oct 31 (Youth hunt only).
Source: IDFG regulations (2026)
Nonresident licenses
Nonresident Regular Deer Tag
Availability: Draw — see notes
✅ Includes antlered deer opportunity (all deer)
Unit 52A Regular Deer, nonresident hunt code RD52A.
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 52A nonresident limit: 114 tags, plus 0 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): 75 of 174 antlered deer harvested (2025)
Success rate history
| Year | Hunters | All deer | Antlered | 4+ pt | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvest | Rate | Harvest | Rate | Harvest | Rate | ||
| 2025 | 1353 | 207 | 15.3% | 174 | 12.9% | 75 | 5.5% |
| 2024 | 1110 | 244 | 22% | 192 | 17.3% | 81 | 7.3% |
| 2023 | 1170 | 169 | 14.4% | 150 | 12.8% | 45 | 3.8% |
| 2022 | 1099 | 200 | 18.2% | 166 | 15.1% | 75 | 6.8% |
| 2021 | 1240 | 234 | 18.9% | 194 | 15.6% | 58 | 4.7% |
| 2020 | 1125 | 189 | 16.8% | 151 | 13.4% | 69 | 6.1% |
| 2019 | 1222 | 244 | 20% | 187 | 15.3% | 75 | 6.1% |
| 2018 | 1206 | 158 | 13.1% | 128 | 10.6% | 52 | 4.3% |
| 2017 | 1380 | 200 | 14.5% | 163 | 11.8% | 73 | 5.3% |
| 2016 | 847 | 172 | 20.3% | 172 | 20.3% | 50 | 5.9% |
| 2015 | 994 | 196 | 19.7% | 168 | 16.9% | 47 | 4.7% |
| 2014 | 905 | 109 | 12% | 102 | 11.3% | 39 | 4.3% |
| 2013 | 970 | 189 | 19.5% | 160 | 16.5% | 73 | 7.5% |
| 2012 | 691 | 151 | 21.9% | 134 | 19.4% | 60 | 8.7% |
| 2011 | 758 | 96 | 12.7% | 80 | 10.6% | 33 | 4.4% |
| 2010 | 737 | 173 | 23.5% | 153 | 20.8% | 48 | 6.5% |
| 2009 | 975 | 116 | 11.9% | 94 | 9.6% | 58 | 5.9% |
| 2008 | 647 | 129 | 19.9% | 98 | 15.1% | 49 | 7.6% |
| 2007 | 749 | 168 | 22.4% | 136 | 18.2% | 68 | 9.1% |
IDFG doesn't publish harvest by residency.
Source: IDFG harvest statistics, 2025.