Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Calling Eastern Idaho moose hunters

I am planning on applying for a moose tag in Eastern Idaho, looking at unit 63 or in that area. How is public access in this area, and are there any particular areas or units that you would recommend. Any help appreciated.

Tom

Can't speak for 63 other than it's mostly desert, but I've hunted moose in 62. I was about 12 years ago, though, and things have changed. We saw moose every day and both of us got decent bulls. I've known 2 guys in recent years, though, who've hunted in 62 and 62A and didn't see a single moose all season.

Things are in tremendous flux evidently due to wolf movements. Way up in our area, Unit 1, moose populations have plunged in just two seasons due to the arrival of an estimated 125 wolves, according to Idaho F&G.

You might check on the Idaho F&G site and look at the hunter success and harvest data to help you make a decision. Packs of wolves are about the only things that threaten adult moose.

Don't know exactly what unit it was in, but a pard shot this one in eastern Idaho in 2010...



Wasn't an easy hunt. He spent a lot of days looking over moose. He found one bigger than this, but it had busted off one side of his rack. So it appears there's still a few big ones around!

Wow, now that's a spectacular Shiras moose !!! Definitely over 150 B&C. Nice !!!

That is a nice Moose..Eastern Idaho used to be the place to go around Island Park for some big moose..Friends used to go over there all the way from McCall and never were disappointed until the wolf implosion.

The moose around here have been all but gone for the last few years except last year, I saw two nice Moose and one was huge..I think wolf hunting has made a small impact along with the fear of man.

If I was to want a Moose and money was not a problem,the Island Park area would be my choice.

Jayco

Tom in Boise
I lived in Idaho Falls for 20 years (prior to moving to Boise) and hunted the country, there. Here is what I know: Unit 63, most of the public land lies north of the Highway from Sage Junction to Rexburg (Highway 33 I think). Its mostly a mixture of sage and grass unless you are near the Menan Butes which are a mixture of Sage and Shrubs with few Junipers. North and west of the Menan Buttes are large crop circles and quite a bit of private land. The whole area is a very important elk, deer, moose winter range. Used to be thousands winter there. Not what I would picture as prime moose range.
Units 61 and 62 in the Island Park area are long time great moose units. With lots of public access, roads, and wolves. This is all Lodgepole and Fir country with scattered Aspen. Unit 69 South and East of Idaho Falls is another well known area with good public access and few if any wolves. This is a little drier with Aspen, some Lodgepole and Fir. Roads here can be real dicey when nasty weather sets in. Go to the Idaho Hunt Planner for info on success, etc. The BLM office their has maps of all of the above areas.

Tom, I hunted a little further south in 66A and took a very good bull. Wasn't as big as the one pictured here but close. Lots of aspen and fir access was pretty limited even though almost all public land. I found that by contacting the Pocatello F&G office and talking to the resident moose biolgist that he had a great deal of information and was very helpful with best areas where trophy moose were most likely to be found and so forth. Once I drew the permit he even sat down with a F.S. map and pointed out where best to hunt in that area and indicated where moose would be very scarce in that area. Afew days of scouting in that area in mid August pretty much confirmed his advice.

Due to wolves, there aren't near as many moose in the last couple of years. I used to run into moose nearly every trip grouse hunting, and lately I rarely see one. Don't count on an easy hunt. JMO, Dutch.

Thanks for the information. I have now looked a little further south at the 66-1/-2 units, and that looks like a better way to go. This is all dependent on drawing a tag, of course, but it's fun to do the planning now....

TomInBoise, my next door neighbor/hunting partner killed a nice fat cow moose in Unit 65, a couple months ago. Prime meat! He said he saw several nice bulls there plus quite a few cows.

He went just at the last of the season when it had gotten cold and they were down out of the mountains. He used his old Win M70 in .300 H&H Mag. A farmer allowed him to hunt on his land and helped him get the moose out with his ATV.

For what its worth.

L.W.

L.W.