Unit 46, Idaho

Unit 46 is primarily flat to rolling sagebrush desert cut by deep rhyolite and basalt canyon systems, with elevations ranging from approximately 2,400 to 5,800 feet. The western edge is defined by the dramatic Bruneau Canyon and Jarbidge River Canyon — among the deepest sheer-walled canyons in the western United States — while the eastern and central portions transition to open rangeland plateau and irrigated agricultural flats near the Snake River plain. The Bruneau Valley occupies the western corridor and the Jarbidge Mountains extend into Nevada at the unit's southern margin, reaching elevations above 9,900 feet just across the state line.

Unit 46 is managed predominantly by the BLM Boise District and Jarbidge Field Office (70.04% of unit surface); state land adds 4.19%, U.S. Military 6.75%, Bureau of Reclamation 0.37%, NPS 0.25% — totaling approximately 82% non-private. Access is generally good across the open range via an extensive network of gravel and two-track dirt roads passable by ATV and high-clearance vehicles. Key highway corridors include State Highway 51 (Bruneau Highway), U.S. Highway 93 (eastern boundary, Rogerson to Twin Falls), and U.S. Highway 30 (Hagerman corridor). The Rogerson–Three Creek–Jarbidge Road provides the primary southern and western corridor toward the Nevada border. The Bruneau-Jarbidge Rivers Wilderness (approximately 90,000 acres total, with 30,147 acres — about 1.77% — falling inside unit boundaries) prohibits motorized vehicles; foot and horse travel only. No hunting is permitted within Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument (NPS, eastern portion near Hagerman). Approximately 6.75% of the unit falls within the Saylor Creek Air Force Range and is closed to hunting. Private land is concentrated in the north near the Snake River and along the eastern unit boundary. One Access Yes! property (Diamond A Livestock – Little Pilgrim Gulch) provides additional private land entry. The unit contains no National Forest land.

Rangeland dominates the unit at approximately 84 percent of total area, characterized by sagebrush (big and low sagebrush), greasewood, rabbitbrush, bunchgrasses, and low forbs. Irrigated agricultural lands account for approximately 12.5 percent (gravity-flow 6.46%, sprinkler 6.04%), primarily in the north near the Snake River floodplain. Riparian corridors along the Bruneau and Jarbidge Rivers account for approximately 2.6 percent and support cottonwood, willow, and cattail/bulrush marshes. Areas impacted by wildfire — which are significant and recurring in this landscape — revert to near-barren ground or annual grasses before recovering. Higher-elevation canyon edges and the southern Jarbidge foothills transition to mountain-mahogany, antelope bitterbrush, serviceberry, and scattered fir and pine.

Unit 46 supports mule deer as the primary big game species, with a resident population that migrates seasonally between sagebrush winter range on the desert plateau and higher brush and canyon terrain in summer. Pronghorn are present and hunted under controlled-draw tags throughout the unit and adjacent Unit 47. A low-density elk herd (the Bruneau-Diamond A Desert herd, part of an Idaho-Nevada metapopulation) uses the unit primarily as winter range; two subherds — the J-P Desert and Diamond A Desert — converge on wintering grounds near the confluence of the Bruneau and Jarbidge Rivers after spending summers in Nevada's Jarbidge and Copper Mountains. Mountain lions inhabit the canyon country. Gray wolves are present and huntable. California bighorn sheep historically occupied Bruneau Canyon (Hunt Area 46-1), but that hunt recorded zero applicants and zero harvest in 2022 and is effectively suspended pending population recovery. Sage-grouse, chukar, quail, sharp-tailed grouse, and pheasant provide upland bird hunting. Waterfowl use riparian and wetland areas along the Snake and Bruneau Rivers.