Unit 39 sits in the middle of one of the largest designated wilderness areas in the contiguous United States. The Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness straddles the Idaho-Montana line and runs approximately 1.34 million acres of drainages, ridgelines, and unbroken forest between the Selway River to the south and the Bitterroot Mountains to the east. There are no roads. No ATV access. No drop camps you can drive to. You either walk in, hire an outfitter with a mule string, or you don't hunt here.

For elk hunters willing to earn it, that fact changes everything.

The Country

The drainage network inside Unit 39 is defined by two rivers: the Selway and the Lochsa. Both run west from the Bitterroot Divide, cutting through some of the deepest, steepest canyon country in the Northern Rockies. The Selway flows through old-growth western red cedar and Douglas fir stands that haven't seen a chainsaw in living memory. Where the canyon walls open into benches and basins, you get the transition from dark timber to open slopes, and that edge is where elk live.

Elevation ranges from around 1,500 feet in the canyon bottoms to just over 9,000 feet along the Bitterroot Divide. In early season, elk are high. As October progresses, they push toward the mid-elevation benches and into the timber. Late season, they're in the drainages trying to beat the snow to lower country, but most of Unit 39 holds serious snowpack by November, and the wilderness boundary keeps vehicles out of the equation entirely.

The Lochsa corridor, accessible from US Highway 12, gives hunters the easiest vehicle access to trailheads on the north end of the unit. Trailheads along the Selway River Road off Highway 93 near Darby, Montana approach from the east. Either way, you're looking at a minimum of six miles of trail before you reach primary elk habitat. Ten to fifteen miles is more realistic if you're targeting the high basins where older bulls spend the early rut.

Why the Elk Here Are Different

Pressure is the single most important variable in elk behavior, and the Selway-Bitterroot has almost none. The combination of wilderness designation, true roadlessness, and the physical difficulty of access means most elk in this unit have never been chased by an ATV, spooked by a side-by-side, or pushed by a grid of hunters working a drainage over a weekend. They have large home ranges and they use them. They bugle when they want to. They feed on their own schedule.

Mature bulls in roaded elk country in Idaho are largely nocturnal by September 10. In the Selway-Bitterroot, you can find 6x6 bulls bugling in daylight well into October. The difference isn't genetic. It's behavioral. Low pressure means elk act like elk.

Idaho Department of Fish and Game harvest reports show Unit 39 elk with significantly lower body counts than units with road access, but the quality distribution is inverted. In roaded units, the harvest skews heavily toward spikes and raghorns. In 39, hunters who connect are far more likely to be punching a tag on a mature bull. The trade is simple: you give up volume and ease, and you get quality and experience.

Have you hunted Unit 39? Post your experience, trail conditions, or camp locations on the Unit 39 page so other hunters can build on real information.

Success Rates: The Honest Picture

General archery elk hunting in the Selway-Bitterroot wilderness zone runs around 8 to 14 percent bull success based on IDFG harvest data, depending on the zone and year. That number is lower than roaded units, but it requires context. A significant portion of hunters who enter this unit are first-timers, casual packrafters, or hunters who underestimate the logistical demands and spend most of their hunt just covering ground. Hunters with previous wilderness experience, good scouting, and the physical conditioning to hunt hard at elevation consistently report better outcomes.

The controlled hunt units overlapping parts of 39, particularly in the rifle seasons, show higher success rates because tags are limited and hunters are more targeted in their effort. For controlled rifle hunts, bull success in the 20 to 30 percent range has been documented in good years, though draw odds for these permits are extremely low.

Any success rate you read for this unit should be weighted against the reality that some percentage of the hunters counted in the denominator weren't realistically set up to kill an elk. Hunters who go in prepared, with ten to fourteen days, horses or a mule, and proven scouting intel, have a fundamentally different trip than someone doing a five-day backpack hunt cold.

License Structure and Draw

Much of Unit 39 is covered by general archery and muzzleloader tags, which any Idaho resident or nonresident can buy over the counter. General archery season typically runs September 1 through September 30. The general elk tag covers the wilderness zone, but boundary lines within Unit 39 matter: some zones require a controlled hunt tag for rifle seasons, and the specific tag numbers shift by zone.

Controlled hunt tags for Unit 39 bull elk are among the most coveted in Idaho. Draw odds for some of the trophy-quality rifle controlled hunts in the Selway-Bitterroot run below two percent for nonresidents in most years. Residents do better but still face multi-year waits for the premium tags. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game posts draw odds by hunt number annually, and hunters serious about this unit should pull the last three years of data and calculate the preference point trajectory before committing.

Check the current season regulations on the IDFG website before purchasing any tag. Zone boundaries and season dates for Unit 39 have been adjusted in recent years as IDFG responds to wolf and post-fire vegetation changes.

Outfitters and Horse Camps

The Selway-Bitterroot is mule and horse country. There are roughly a dozen licensed outfitters operating within the wilderness, most running wall tent camps with mule strings for meat and gear. A full outfitted hunt in this country runs $8,000 to $18,000 depending on the outfitter, the season, and what's included. The premium is real, but so is the infrastructure.

A competent outfitter will have a camp positioned in good elk country by the time you arrive, mules to pack your animal out, and a cook who can keep a hunting party operational at ten miles in from the nearest road. They know the river crossings, the high routes when snow closes the standard trails, and where bulls are likely to be in a given week of the season. For nonresidents hunting this country for the first time, an outfitter isn't a luxury. It's often the difference between a successful hunt and an expensive walk.

DIY hunters do succeed here, but the investment is higher. A solid horse camp requires the animals, the gear, and the experience to manage both in wilderness conditions. Many hunters who go DIY use packrafts to access drainages that would otherwise require multiple days of trail hiking. Packrafting the Selway is a commitment; the river is Class III to IV in sections and conditions vary significantly by season.

Know a reliable outfitter working the Selway drainage? Recommendations help other hunters plan. Leave a note on the Unit 39 unit page or browse other Idaho units if you're weighing options.

Predators and Wolf Management

The Northern Rockies wolf reintroduction of 1995 hit this drainage as hard as anywhere in Idaho. The Selway-Bitterroot was identified as core habitat in the original recovery plan, and pack densities here have remained higher than in most of Idaho's other wilderness areas.

The practical effect on elk hunting is real but often overstated in online discussion. Wolf predation does reduce elk numbers, and it changes elk behavior: wilderness elk in high-wolf zones are more mobile, more alert, and less likely to hold in the same basin for days at a stretch. Bugling bulls will go silent faster when packs are active. Hunters in this unit in recent years report hearing wolves as often as elk in some drainages.

IDFG manages wolf harvest through regulated seasons, and zone 39 is included in the broader Selway-Lochsa wolf management area. Current population estimates and harvest data are published by IDFG. Hunters holding elk tags can apply for wolf tags as well, and incidental wolf encounters are not uncommon during archery season.

Mountain lions are present throughout the unit in sustainable numbers. Lion predation on elk is a documented mortality source here, though lions take far more deer than elk across most of Idaho's wilderness. The predator-prey dynamic in Unit 39 is genuinely complex, and IDFG uses this drainage as a long-term study area for understanding wilderness ecosystem dynamics.

Full Species Card

All huntable species in Unit 39:

  • Rocky Mountain Elk: Core species; general archery tag available over the counter, some rifle zones require a controlled hunt tag.
  • Mule Deer: Present throughout, especially on mid-elevation benches and along burn edges.
  • Black Bear: High density; spring and fall hunts both available with a general tag.
  • Rocky Mountain Moose: Extremely rare draw; a small population uses the Selway riparian zones. One of the hardest tags in Idaho to draw.
  • Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep: The rocky terrain along the Bitterroot Divide holds sheep, but the tag is among the hardest draws in the state. Most applicants wait fifteen or more years.
  • Mountain Goat: High cliff zones along the Divide. Draw odds are near zero in most years and the wait is measured in decades.
  • Mountain Lion: Active throughout the unit. Hound hunting is the primary method, and permit requirements apply.
  • Gray Wolf: Regulated season in place. Pack activity is high in the core wilderness and hunters frequently encounter sign.

History of the Land

The Nez Perce people used this country for thousands of years. The Selway-Bitterroot was part of their seasonal migration corridor between the Camas Prairie and the bison grounds east of the divide. The Lolo Trail, which follows the Lochsa drainage and crosses into Montana, was traveled by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1805 with Nez Perce guidance. Without that guidance, the Corps of Discovery almost certainly would not have made it through the Bitterroot passes before winter closed them.

The Forest Service began managing this area in the early twentieth century, and the region's roadlessness wasn't always intentional. Proposals to build roads through the Selway drainage were debated for decades. The Wilderness Act of 1964 settled the question, designating the Selway-Bitterroot as part of the original National Wilderness Preservation System. It remains one of the five largest wilderness areas in the lower 48 states.

The timber industry operated on the edges of this country well into the 1970s, and logging roads on the unit boundaries, particularly along the Lochsa, still provide the primary hunter access to trailheads. The clear-cut and regrowth areas along these corridors provide elk browse that interior wilderness does not, and early-season hunters often target the boundary transition zones before pushing deeper.

Fire is the dominant natural disturbance process in this ecosystem. The 2000 Wilderness fire complex burned significant acreage in the Selway drainage, and subsequent burns have continued to shape vegetation patterns. Post-fire areas in various stages of recovery are consistently the highest-quality elk habitat in the unit. IDFG monitors burn recovery and adjusts season recommendations accordingly.

Conservation Funding

Elk hunting in Idaho is funded through the Pittman-Robertson Act, the federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition that channels money to state wildlife agencies. IDFG uses these funds for habitat work, population surveys, and predator-prey research throughout Unit 39. Hunters buying Idaho licenses also contribute directly to IDFG's operational budget. The wilderness designation means no commercial resource extraction funds land management here: hunting licenses and federal appropriations to the Forest Service are the primary maintenance mechanisms for both the wildlife and the trail infrastructure.

The trails in this unit vary from well-maintained Forest Service routes on primary corridors to unmaintained social trails in the deep drainages. Volunteer trail crews, many of them hunter-backed organizations like the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers chapters in Idaho, do significant trail clearing work. If you're planning a hunt here, consider the condition you're leaving the trail in, and check with the Moose Creek Ranger District for current trail status before your trip.

Unit 39 is better understood by the hunters who've been in it than by any report. If you've hunted this country, post your intel on the Unit 39 unit page: trail conditions, water sources, where you found elk, where you didn't. Browse all Idaho units to compare or plan adjacent hunts. For current regulations, controlled hunt applications, and draw odds, go directly to idfg.idaho.gov. What's on this page is a starting point. What you know from being out there is what other hunters need.