The Brownlee elk zone is located in western Idaho along the Oregon border and the Brownlee Reservoir. Most of the hunting here is conducted through the use of controlled hunt permits with the exception of the archery hunt. Good populations of elk can be found here but the terrain can be steep and unforgiving. Glassing opportunities are excellent and generally compose the most efficient ways of locating animals. Public access is good, not great, but with the sheer amount of animals, hunters should have little trouble in locating bulls.
This unit borders the Snake River from Weiser to the Oregon border and then north to Brownlee Dam and includes the Hitt Mountains and all of their foothills and breaks. The entire 57-mile-long eastern shore of Brownlee Reservoir is in the unit. The mountains and breaks into the Snake River are steep in some areas. The steepest places are the sides of gulches and canyons. The eastern and southern slopes of the Hitt Mountains are not as steep above the flat and agricultural Shoe Peg Valley near Midvale, and the flat fields on the Snake River Plain west and northwest of Weiser. Physically traversing the terrain can be very difficult at times and conditioning prior to the hunt will be important.