Unit 16 (Elk City Zone)

Idaho Fish and Game draws an exact line around unit 16 and says nothing about where the Shiras moose stand inside it. So the ground below is the unit's own and the read on where to start is ours, labelled as such. The unit lies in Idaho County. It runs to about 388 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up Shiras moose hunting in unit 16

Idaho Fish and Game hunts Shiras moose here only by controlled hunt, and describes its moose hunt area 16 as all of Unit 16.

The lines of the unit: Middle Fork, Clearwater River and Big Fog Mountain

Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 16 in Idaho County on a line that runs along Forest Service Road 319, Forest Service Road 443, Forest Service Road 464 and Forest Service Road 284, and past Middle Fork, Clearwater River, Big Fog Mountain and Fog Mountain, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. Read it as a frame, not as a hint about animals. Those features are what you will check against the map all week, and the divides among them are the ones that matter.

High ground inside the line: Gedney Mountain, Louse Point and Coolwater Ridge

Named high points inside the unit include Gedney Mountain at 7,381 feet, Louse Point at 7,006 feet, Coolwater Ridge at 6,912 feet, Coolwater Mountain at 6,912 feet and Ghost Mountain at 6,848 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Moose want willow, water and shade, and they rarely leave the drainage that has all three.

Holding ground: O'Hara Saddle, Maggie Bend and Jesse Pass

Below them sit O'Hara Saddle at 5,228 feet, Maggie Bend at 1,267 feet, Jesse Pass at 7,242 feet, Remount at 6,485 feet and Canteen Meadows at 6,079 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Reaching the edge of one before light beats reaching its middle at noon.

Water: Selway Falls

The water inside the unit line comes to 80 mapped stream reaches, 12 lakes, 8 stock tanks and 1 springs. Named sources include Selway Falls. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

Reading the land status

Our ownership read for this unit is approximate — it comes out as National Forest 60%, Private / Other 17%, BLM 15% and State Trust 8%, so treat it as a starting point and check a current land-status layer before you plan a route. Named ground inside unit 16 runs from 1,267 feet to 7,381 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 16 at 100% across all manners of take. A number like that comes from few tags and a short season, not from easy hunting. The plan: walk the willow bottoms slowly at first and last light and look for fresh browse before you look for the animal.

The 2025 and 2026 controlled hunts in unit 16

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 and 2026 rules list one controlled hunt for Shiras moose on unit 16 under its own number.

• Hunt 3049 — 1 tag, Aug 30–Nov 23

Dates and tag numbers are IDFG's as printed for that season, and IDFG changes hunt areas between years, so check the current booklet before you apply.

Applying for a unit 16 tag

Idaho Fish and Game takes moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat applications together, and anyone who applies for one of the three may not apply for another big game controlled hunt in the same year's first drawing, apart from the unlimited, extra, black bear and depredation hunts IDFG names. A hunter drawn for moose may not apply for a moose tag again for two years except for leftovers, and IDFG allows one antlered and one antlerless moose per hunter in a lifetime. Two hunters may apply together on one application. Idaho's draw is random, with no preference or bonus points to build.

Glassing from Baldy Mountain, Andys Hump and West Fork Point

Take a position on one of Baldy Mountain (6,608 ft), Andys Hump (6,504 ft), West Fork Point (6,054 ft) and China Point (6,002 ft) and be on it before light. In the dark the air runs downhill. Pick an approach that doesn't send it into the country you want to see, and plan to move once the slope warms. Work the glass in strips and go back over ground you already covered — animals appear in country you looked at ten minutes ago. On the rut hunts, late September bulls answer a cow call near water.

Water against feed

There are 80 mapped stream reaches and 8 tanks inside the unit, so water is rarely the limiting factor. Where water is everywhere, feed is what concentrates animals, so hunt the feed and treat water as a convenience. Sitting water works where you can see fresh tracks going in, and nowhere else.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Season normals here run Sep 78/46°F, Oct 61/38°F and Nov 45/32°F. Warm afternoons compress the hunting into the first and last hour, and make meat care the day's real problem rather than the shot. Precipitation runs about 1.6 in. in Sep, 3.3 in. in Oct and 5.1 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

Getting past the roads: FR 464 and FR 651

US 12 is the paved frame, which is also where everyone else starts. FR 464, FR 651 and FR 1855 need clearance, and that is usually where the boot tracks thin out. There are roughly 11.4 miles of genuine four-wheel-drive road in the unit, and the country past the end of them is the part worth your legs.

What we can't tell you

Some of the ground named above carries no land-status flag we trust, so check ownership on a current layer before you hunt it.