Unit 2 (Panhandle Zone)
Idaho Hunting Guide — Moose, Elk
Unit 2 lies in Bonner and Kootenai counties and covers about 692 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 2,070 to 5,104 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put Shiras moose success here as high as 85%. Federal land covers about 7% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Moose Hunting in Unit 2
Unit 2 lies in Bonner and Kootenai counties and covers about 692 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 2,070 to 5,104 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put Shiras moose success here as high as 85%. Federal land covers about 7% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Shiras Moose in Unit 2
What Idaho Fish and Game publishes for unit 2 is a boundary, not a Shiras moose map. Every place named below sits inside the unit line. Which of them holds animals in your season is for you to find out. The unit lies in Bonner and Kootenai counties. It runs to about 692 square miles.
How Idaho Fish and Game sets up Shiras moose hunting in unit 2
Idaho Fish and Game hunts Shiras moose here only by controlled hunt, and describes its moose hunt area 2 as all of Unit 2.
The lines of the unit: Pend Oreille River, Pend Oreille Lake and Spokane River
Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 2 in Bonner and Kootenai counties on a line that runs along State Highway 54 and U.S. 95, and past Pend Oreille River, Pend Oreille Lake and Spokane River, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. It tells you the shape of the unit and nothing about its inhabitants. 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: Hoodoo Mountain, Rathdrum Mountain and Blacktail Mountain
Named high points inside the unit include Hoodoo Mountain at 5,104 feet, Rathdrum Mountain at 4,986 feet, Blacktail Mountain at 4,948 feet, Butler Mountain at 4,903 feet and Larch Mountain at 4,620 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: Blanchard Valley, Howell Gulch and Eightmile Prairie
Below them sit Blanchard Valley at 2,432 feet, Howell Gulch at 2,385 feet, Eightmile Prairie at 2,379 feet, Youngs Draw at 2,368 feet and Nelson Canyon at 2,364 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.
Water: Rock Spring and Sheep Springs
The water inside the unit line comes to 180 mapped stream reaches, 45 lakes, 105 stock tanks and 1 springs. Named sources include Rock Spring and Sheep Springs. On ground with that many tanks, knowing which two or three hold water in your season is the most useful thing a scouting trip can tell you.
Reading the land status
Our ownership read for this unit is approximate — it comes out as National Forest 60%, Private / Other 32% 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 2 runs from 2,070 feet to 5,104 feet. Those are the heights of the features GNIS names, which bound the range from inside rather than measure it.
Unit 2 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
The lay of it
- 2,058–4,389 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 2,744 ft ; peaks can run higher.
- 692 sq mi inside the boundary.
Who owns the ground
- National Forest — 60%
- State Trust — 8%
- Private / Other — 32%
Roughly 68% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.
Water on the ground
- 105 tanks
- 1 springs
- 180 stream segments
- 45 lakes
Counts from mapping data, so this is how many exist, not how many hold water in a dry year. Sitting water only pays where you find fresh tracks.
Named features inside the unit
Glass from: Blacktail Mountain (4,948 ft), Long Mountain (4,559 ft), Huckleberry Hill (4,475 ft), Little Blacktail Mountain (4,467 ft)
Holding ground: Rock Spring, Sheep Springs
Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.
How to Hunt Shiras Moose in Unit 2
Moose Success Rates
Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 2 at 85% — 29 animals taken by 34 hunters. The hunter count is large enough for the percentage to mean something and small enough that a good or bad year still moves it.
These are the agency's own printed figures for this unit, not a modelled estimate and not a state average. They describe one season, so check Idaho Fish and Game's current harvest estimates before you read a trend into them.
Moose Draw Odds
| Season | Tags | Applicants | Draw % | Pts (n/p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (resident) | 18 | 326 | 6.0% | — |
| Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident) | 0 | 13 | 0.0% | — |
Data from 2026 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number. This agency publishes no point thresholds, so the Pts column stays blank and these are pool odds, not what a point total draws.
Open in Draw Odds EngineIdaho Fish and Game's 2026 first drawing for Shiras moose in unit 2, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:
- Hunt 3010 — residents 326 applicants for 18 tags, 6% drawn; nonresidents 13 applicants for 0 tags, 0% drawn
- Hunt 3012 — residents 56 applicants for 8 tags, 14% drawn; nonresidents 9 applicants for 0 tags, 0% drawn
- Hunt 3011 — residents 38 applicants for 7 tags, 18% drawn; nonresidents 19 applicants for 1 tag, 5% drawn
Idaho draws at random with no point system, so these are what that year happened to look like, not a requirement to build toward. Idaho Fish and Game reuses hunt numbers for different areas between years, so the figures are matched on the area each hunt had in 2026. Checked against Idaho Fish and Game's hunt planner draw results on 2026-06-09.
Unit Logistics & Expectations
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Idaho unit 2?
What is the Shiras moose success rate in unit 2?
Where do you stay and resupply for a unit 2 hunt?
What is the elk success rate in unit 2?
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Upgrade to Pro — $49/yrSources & Verification
Every fact on this page is tied to a primary source below. Last fact-checked 2026-10-24.
- Idaho Big Game 2026 Seasons & Rules — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Game management unit boundary description, Counties the unit lies in, Controlled hunt numbers, tags and season dates · accessed 2026-10-24
- Moose, Bighorn Sheep & Mountain Goat 2025 & 2026 Seasons & Rules — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Controlled hunt application periods and eligibility rules · accessed 2026-10-24
- IDFG Hunt Planner — 2025 general hunt harvest statistics — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Harvest, hunters and percent success for Shiras moose in unit 2 · accessed 2026-10-19
- IDFG Hunt Planner — controlled hunt drawing odds — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Applicants, tags and percent drawn by hunt, year and residency · accessed 2026-06-09
- IDFG GameManagementUnits and ControlledHunts_All feature services — game management units and every species' controlled-hunt areas — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Mapped extent of the unit or hunt area, Which named ground falls inside its line · accessed 2026-10-24
- IDFG Panhandle Zone elk tag limits — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Season structure for the unit · accessed 2026-10-24