The hunt area is highly variable, ranging from heavily forested, steep, and rugged terrain to high desert juniper-sage communities. Elk do not occur throughout the entire area. This area is primarily a high desert environment with lots of open country available for extended glassing.

This zone is so large, it is hard to find a starting point. It’s easy to end up jumping around from place to place, chasing stories of where people had previously been seeing them.

This is a large unit with various types of terrain. The valley floors are flat with rolling hills mixed with some farm or agricultural areas. Rolling hills lead up to the higher mountains with a little bit of canyon country. Some of the higher altitudes can have steep and rugged terrain.

This zone contains a mixture of both public and private lands. Public lands within the zone are administered by the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, the Klamath National Forest, the Modoc National Forest, the Lassen National Forest, and the Bureau of Land Management.

Although there is private land within the zone, there are extensive tracts of public lands with excellent access. However, please be aware that some National Forest roads may be closed to vehicle access during the hunting season to protect natural resources or because they are impassible.

Generally, these areas are open to hunting provided access is made by non-motorized vehicle. From August 15 through March 31 there are Road Closure Management restrictions on certain USFS roads administered by the Goosenest Ranger District.

Primary roadways in the zone are State Highway 139 and U.S. Highway 395. County Road 536 (Horse Lake Road) bisects the zone between Highway 139 and Highway 395. Many County and BLM roads branch off of these primary roadways providing access to public lands.

The hunt area is highly variable, ranging from heavily forested, steep, and rugged terrain to high desert juniper-sage communities.

The vegetation is highly varied throughout the zone ranging from low sage, sagebrush, bitterbrush, mixed and montane chaparral, aspen, hardwood-conifer, and juniper habitats.

There are numerous designated campgrounds within the zone. Camping outside of designated campgrounds is usually permitted on BLM and USFS lands, however, during fire season special regulations may apply and it will be necessary to obtain a fire permit from the USFS or BLM.

Weather in this region is highly variable. It may be quite warm but early storms are common. Snow during your hunting season would be unusual but heavy rains can occur making some roads impassable.