Clearwater County Hunting Overview

Clearwater County hunting units

Percentages come from overlaying the IDFG unit polygons on county lines.

Of the 7 units on the county map, Unit 10A takes in the most ground, about 48%. Less than 5% of the county falls in each of Units 12, 11A, 8 and 6, but those slivers still follow their own unit seasons.

Idaho County shares the most units with Clearwater County (4), so a hunt that starts here often ends there.

Unit shares from the IDFG Game Units layer overlaid on Census county polygons (GIS shares of land area, both ways); elk zone of each unit from the IDFG Elk Zones layer; wolf zones from the IDFG Wolf Zones layer; CWD units from the 2026 brochure; bear tables from the 2026 brochure. Checked November 12, 2026.

Clearwater County disease testing and wolf hunting

No unit in Clearwater County is in the CWD Management Zone or on the 2026 mandatory deer testing list.

Wolf zones reaching Clearwater County

Dworshak – Elk City, Lolo, Palouse – Hells Canyon and Panhandle are the wolf zones for Clearwater County, but the season lines below go unit by unit. The wolf rules for 2026-27 add transmitting cameras for trap checks from July 1, 2026; trapping still requires a trapping license and wolf trapper education.

CWD zone, transport and testing rules from the Big Game 2026 Seasons and Rules p. 9; 2026 changes from IDFG, What hunters need to know about CWD requirements for 2026; county units from the IDFG CWD zone rules; wolf rules from the 2026 brochure; wolf zones from the IDFG Wolf Zones layer. Checked November 12, 2026.

2026 controlled hunts around Clearwater County

Grouped by species, then by opening date.

Drawn hunts with ground in or around Clearwater County: 42 in all (8 deer, 9 elk, 23 moose and 2 mountain goat). Tags for these hunts come to 846 this year; a hunt area can cover only part of a unit.

Every controlled hunt is filled by random draw, with deer and elk applications due by June 5 and moose, sheep and goat by April 30. Moose, sheep and goat dates come from the two-year 2025 and 2026 brochure, with the 2026 year applied.

Deer tags drawn around Clearwater County (8)

Clearwater County elk hunt numbers (9)

Moose draws reaching Clearwater County (23)

Clearwater County mountain goat hunt numbers (2)

Hunt numbers, types, units, dates, bags and 2026 tags from the IDFG Hunt Planner hunt pages (each hunt number links its page) matched to the Idaho Big Game 2026 Seasons and Rules and the Moose, Bighorn Sheep and Mountain Goat 2025 and 2026 brochure; counties are whole units, so a hunt area can be smaller. Application periods from the 2026 brochure, the moose, sheep and goat brochure and the spring bear page. Checked November 12, 2026.

Clearwater County forests, BLM and WMAs

Private land in Access Yes! and Large Tracts is open only on program terms.

By the merged GIS count, 52% of Clearwater County (816,866 acres) belongs to an owner that opens it to hunting under Idaho seasons. Sort the owners by size and national forest comes first, 815,591 acres within the county line. For forest roads, fire closures and camping rules, the North Fork Ranger District covers about 664,806 acres of the county.

The Cottonwood Field Office looks after most of the 2,955 BLM acres inside Clearwater County, about 2,955 of them. State trust land managed by the Idaho Department of Lands covers about 237,507 acres here, listed apart from the public total. About 68,132 acres belong to tribes, which control hunting on their own land.

Tribes holding land in Clearwater County

• Nez Perce Reservation68,132 GIS acres · closed

Clearwater County places, card by card

Clearwater County neighbours with open land

• Snow Peak Wildlife Management Area26 miles, IDFG WMA
• North Idaho Timber Group (Large Tracts)31 miles, Large Tracts area

Clearwater County closed sites

• Dworshak State ParkState park, closed

Acres are GIS measures of polygons with water over 2 square km removed, not official acreage: IDFG WMA layer, PAD-US 4.1 (forest, grassland, BLM, refuge, park, endowment, Reclamation, military, DOE and tribal land), IDFG Access Yes! 2026 layer, IDFG Large Tracts layer; refuges counted only when listed in 50 CFR 32.31; tribal rule from 18 U.S.C. 1165; closures from the 2026 brochure; Craters of the Moon from the NPS laws and policies page. Checked November 12, 2026.

Close to Clearwater County

Shortest gazetteer distance decides these four county cards; the buttons lead to statewide references.