Idaho Moose Elk

Unit 5 (Panhandle Zone)

Idaho Hunting Guide — Moose, Elk

Unit 5 lies in Benewah and Kootenai counties and covers about 713 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 2,123 to 5,216 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put Shiras moose success here as high as 88%. Federal land covers about 1% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

View Draw Odds Idaho Hunting Guide

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Public Land

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2,129–4,491 ft

Sampled elevation

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 5

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Idaho Unit 5 guide around your hunt: three ranked spots with morning, afternoon and evening plays, a day-by-day plan, topo maps with every pin numbered, a camp and access plan, the legal and retrieval rules for this unit, shot discipline, a meat-care and pack-out plan, and a pre-trip checklist. Every coordinate sits on land recorded as public.

Moose guide Elk guide

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Moose Hunting in Unit 5

Where to Find Shiras Moose in Unit 5

What Idaho Fish and Game publishes for unit 5 is a boundary, not a Shiras moose map. 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 Benewah and Kootenai counties. It runs to about 713 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up Shiras moose hunting in unit 5

Idaho Fish and Game hunts Shiras moose here only by controlled hunt, and describes its moose hunt area 5 as all of Unit 5.

The lines of the unit: Spokane River, Alene Lake and Mission Point

Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 5 in Benewah and Kootenai counties on a line that runs along U.S. 95, State Highway 3 and State Highway 6, and past Spokane River, Alene Lake, Mission Point and St. Joe River, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. That is a legal description, not a habitat map. 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: Mica Peak, Cable Peak and Moses Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Mica Peak at 5,216 feet, Cable Peak at 4,942 feet, Moses Mountain at 4,940 feet, Shasta Butte at 4,848 feet and Twin Peaks at 4,680 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: Rock Creek Valley, Peaceful Valley and King Valley

Below them sit Rock Creek Valley at 2,597 feet, Peaceful Valley at 2,590 feet, King Valley at 2,557 feet, Mica Flats at 2,531 feet and Minaloosa Valley at 2,525 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this unit has, and they are what you glass into from above. Work out which of them you can see from one position before you pick a camp.

Water in this unit

The water inside the unit line comes to 351 mapped stream reaches, 33 lakes, 242 stock tanks and 33 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 5 runs from 2,123 feet to 5,216 feet. Those are the heights of the features GNIS names, which bound the range from inside rather than measure it.

Unit 5 terrain and land status

Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up

The lay of it

2,129–4,491 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 2,938 ft ; peaks can run higher.
712.5 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

242 tanks
33 springs
351 stream segments
33 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: Twin Peaks (4,680 ft), Shoeffler Butte (3,350 ft), Negro Brown Hill (2,563 ft)

Holding ground: Windfall Pass (3,570 ft)

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 5

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 5 at 88% 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 5

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 and 2026 rules list 3 controlled hunts for Shiras moose on unit 5 under its own number.

Hunt 3020 — 10 tags, Sep 15–Dec 1
Hunt 3021 — 3 tags, Oct 1–Oct 14
Hunt 3022 — 3 tags, Nov 1–Nov 14

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 5 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 Plummer Butte, Round Mountain and McCartney Butte

Take a position on one of Plummer Butte (4,144 ft), Round Mountain (4,059 ft), McCartney Butte (3,899 ft) and Red Hog (3,797 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 351 mapped stream reaches and 242 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. Check the ground around it before you commit an evening to it.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Season normals here run Sep 73/44°F, Oct 58/36°F and Nov 43/30°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 in. in Sep, 2.5 in. in Oct and 3.6 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

Getting past the roads: Sanders Road and Skyline Drive

ID 97, ID 3 and ID 6 are the paved frame, which is also where everyone else starts. There is little true four-wheel-drive road here, so distance from the gravel is the only thing separating you from the next hunter.

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.

Getting in and staying out: unit 5

Named routes and what they need

Sanders Road — 11.8 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Skyline Drive — 10.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Desmet Road — 5.5 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
ID 97 — 5 mi · Paved (all rigs)
ID 3 — 4.7 mi · Paved (all rigs)
ID 6 — 3.4 mi · Paved (all rigs)

Ratings come from road data, not from a drive this season. Check current conditions with the managing office before you commit a trailer.

Nearest services

Plummer — 2.2 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Worley — 5.2 mi · no services listed
Harrison — 8.1 mi · no services listed
Tensed — 13.2 mi · fuel, groceries
Saint Maries — 13.3 mi · no services listed

Developed camps

Chatcolet Campground
Iron Mountain Campground
8 Mile Camp McCroskey State Park
Campsite 1 Mission Mountain McCroskey State Park
Blackwell Island RV Park — 182 sites · Fee

Season weather and signal

Jan37° / 24° · 3.9" precip
Aug83° / 51° · 0.7" precip
Sep73° / 44° · 1" precip
Oct58° / 36° · 2.5" precip
Nov43° / 30° · 3.6" precip
Dec35° / 23° · 3.5" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 26% of the unit. Plan on being out of contact and tell someone your route.

Idaho rules that decide your day

Summarised from IDFG regulations. They change — read the current regulations and your permit-tag before you hunt.

Legal shooting hours

Big game may be taken from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

Motorized retrieval

Idaho has no general off-road retrieval allowance on federal ground; stay on designated routes.

Tagging

Validate the tag by cutting out the month and day, and attach it to the carcass before moving it.

Leaving meat

Wasting edible meat is illegal.

Where you may not shoot

Occupied structures — No shooting from or across a public highway, and no shooting toward an occupied dwelling.

Moose: where to put the shot

Broadside, behind the shoulder and a third up. Moose look slow to react — the first shot has to count.

Shots to refuse

Where it falls decides your next two days. Avoid shots that drop a moose in water or a bog.
A .30-06 class cartridge minimum, with a bullet built for heavy bone.

Plan the carry: roughly 350– 500 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — four or more large coolers, or a processor. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

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Moose Success Rates

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 5 at 88% — 14 animals taken by 16 hunters. On a sample that small the percentage moves several points with one animal, so read the hunter count beside 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)	10	103	10.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	0	15	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 Engine

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 first drawing for Shiras moose in unit 5, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 3020 — residents 103 applicants for 10 tags, 10% drawn; nonresidents 15 applicants for 0 tags, 0% drawn
Hunt 3021 — residents 19 applicants for 3 tags, 16% drawn; nonresidents 1 applicants for 0 tags, 0% drawn
Hunt 3022 — residents 9 applicants for 3 tags, 33% drawn; nonresidents 5 applicants for 0 tags, 0% 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.

Elk Hunting in Unit 5

Unit 5 lies in Benewah and Kootenai counties and covers about 713 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 2,123 to 5,216 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 19%. Federal land covers about 1% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Elk in Unit 5

What Idaho Fish and Game publishes for unit 5 is a boundary, not a elk map. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Benewah and Kootenai counties. It runs to about 713 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up elk hunting in unit 5

Idaho Fish and Game runs its general elk seasons by elk management zone rather than unit by unit, and puts unit 5 in the Panhandle Zone, so the zone's tag rules are the ones that apply here.

The lines of the unit: Spokane River, Alene Lake and Mission Point

Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 5 in Benewah and Kootenai counties on a line that runs along U.S. 95, State Highway 3 and State Highway 6, and past Spokane River, Alene Lake, Mission Point and St. Joe River, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. It tells you the shape of the unit and nothing about its inhabitants. Its value is practical — those are the features you will navigate by, and the ridges that separate one day's country from another's.

High ground inside the line: Charles Butte, Blossom Mountain and Peterson Point

Named high points inside the unit include Charles Butte at 4,453 feet, Blossom Mountain at 4,385 feet, Peterson Point at 4,156 feet, Plummer Butte at 4,144 feet and Round Mountain at 4,059 feet. None carries a public-land flag we trust, so settle the ownership question before you plan to stand on one. Elk want timber to bed in and open ground to feed on, within a short walk of each other.

Holding ground: Parker Pass, Hn'a'yqhn Bend and Stickney Gulch

Below them sit Parker Pass at 2,502 feet, Hn'a'yqhn Bend at 2,421 feet, Stickney Gulch at 2,130 feet, Hungry Hollow at 2,123 feet and Windfall Pass at 3,570 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 in this unit

Reading the land status

Unit 5 terrain and land status

Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up

The lay of it

2,129–4,491 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 2,938 ft ; peaks can run higher.
712.5 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

242 tanks
33 springs
351 stream segments
33 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: Twin Peaks (4,680 ft), Shoeffler Butte (3,350 ft), Negro Brown Hill (2,563 ft)

Holding ground: Windfall Pass (3,570 ft)

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 Elk in Unit 5

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put elk success in unit 5 at 19% across all manners of take. A number that low means most hunters here go home empty, and the ones who don't put the days in first. The plan: find the feed, find the timber it backs onto, then watch the seam between them at the edges of the day.

The 2026 controlled hunts in unit 5

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 rules list one controlled hunt for elk on unit 5 under its own number.

Hunt 2150 — youth only, antlerless elk, 25 tags, Aug 30–Sep 30 and Oct 10–Dec 1

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 5 tag

Idaho Fish and Game's first application period for deer, elk and pronghorn runs May 1 to June 5, with results in early July, and a second period runs August 5 to 15 for what is left. A hunter drawn for a limited antlered-only elk hunt sits out the next year's first period for that kind of hunt; unlimited and extra hunts are exempt. Two to four hunters may apply together for the same hunt. Idaho's draw is random, with no preference or bonus points to build.

Glassing from Liberty Butte, John Point and Worley Mountain

Take a position on one of Liberty Butte (3,680 ft), John Point (3,658 ft), Worley Mountain (3,533 ft) and Lotus Point (3,514 ft) and be on it before light. Cold air slides downhill in the dark, so keep your scent out of the bowl you mean to watch; expect the thermals to turn uphill an hour after the sun reaches the slope. A tripod is worth more here than another hour of walking. On the rut hunts, September bugling works where you can get above a drainage and let the thermals carry sound downhill.

Water against feed

There are 351 mapped stream reaches and 242 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. A tank with no tracks is a tank with no reason to sit on it.

Timing the season: Sep, Oct, Nov

Getting past the roads: Sanders Road and Skyline Drive

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.

Getting in and staying out: unit 5

Named routes and what they need

Sanders Road — 11.8 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Skyline Drive — 10.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Desmet Road — 5.5 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
ID 97 — 5 mi · Paved (all rigs)
ID 3 — 4.7 mi · Paved (all rigs)
ID 6 — 3.4 mi · Paved (all rigs)

Ratings come from road data, not from a drive this season. Check current conditions with the managing office before you commit a trailer.

Nearest services

Plummer — 2.2 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Worley — 5.2 mi · no services listed
Harrison — 8.1 mi · no services listed
Tensed — 13.2 mi · fuel, groceries
Saint Maries — 13.3 mi · no services listed

Developed camps

Chatcolet Campground
Iron Mountain Campground
8 Mile Camp McCroskey State Park
Campsite 1 Mission Mountain McCroskey State Park
Blackwell Island RV Park — 182 sites · Fee

Season weather and signal

Jan37° / 24° · 3.9" precip
Aug83° / 51° · 0.7" precip
Sep73° / 44° · 1" precip
Oct58° / 36° · 2.5" precip
Nov43° / 30° · 3.6" precip
Dec35° / 23° · 3.5" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 26% of the unit. Plan on being out of contact and tell someone your route.

Idaho rules that decide your day

Summarised from IDFG regulations. They change — read the current regulations and your permit-tag before you hunt.

Legal shooting hours

Big game may be taken from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

Motorized retrieval

Idaho has no general off-road retrieval allowance on federal ground; stay on designated routes.

Tagging

Validate the tag by cutting out the month and day, and attach it to the carcass before moving it.

Leaving meat

Wasting edible meat is illegal.

Where you may not shoot

Occupied structures — No shooting from or across a public highway, and no shooting toward an occupied dwelling.

Elk: where to put the shot

Broadside or quartering away, on the back edge of the front leg about a third of the way up the body. That is lungs, and on a quartering-away angle it picks up the far shoulder.

Shots to refuse

No straight-on and no straight-away shots. An elk's chest is deep and the margin is small.
Nothing standing behind or overlapping the animal you picked. A pass-through kills the elk behind it too.
Your maximum range is the farthest you have put three shots in a paper plate off the sticks you are actually carrying. Not the farthest you have ever hit anything.
Scope on 3–4x. A herd fills a 12x field of view and you lose the animal you picked.

Identification:On an antlerless tag, legal means no antler of any kind through the skin. A spike looks exactly like a cow until it turns its head. If you can't see the head, don't shoot.

Plan the carry: roughly 150– 220 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — two to four large coolers, plus bagged ice from town. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

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Elk Success Rates

Rifle19%

Archery17%

Muzzleloader10%

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 5 at 19% — 256 animals taken by 1,335 hunters. That is a lot of hunters in one unit, and the percentage is what it looks like after all of them have been through it.

Elk Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (resident)	24	43	56.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	1	1	100.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident)	2	18	11.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident)	0	1	0.0%	—

Data from 2025 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 Engine

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 first drawing for elk in unit 5, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 2150 — residents 43 applicants for 24 tags, 56% drawn; nonresidents 1 applicants for 1 tag, 100% 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 2025. Checked against Idaho Fish and Game's hunt planner draw results on 2026-06-09.

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

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Camp Sites

10 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit, including Chatcolet Campground, Iron Mountain Campground and 8 Mile Camp McCroskey State Park.

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Road Conditions

Sanders Road, Skyline Drive and Desmet Road are the named routes in the unit. Roughly 21 mi paved, 53 mi gravel and 0 mi four-wheel-drive.

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Terrain Difficulty

Named features from 2,123 to 5,216 ft. Named heights only — the ground between and below them can run lower.

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Hunting Pressure

Our land-status read for this unit is approximate, so treat any pressure estimate from it with suspicion and check a current ownership layer.

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Weather

Season normals: Sep 73/44°F, 1 in.; Oct 58/36°F, 2.5 in.; Nov 43/30°F, 3.6 in..

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Cell Service

Verizon 26%, AT&T 17%, T-Mobile 9% of the unit area — modelled coverage, not measured. Assume no signal off the paved road.

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Nearest Town

Plummer (2 mi), Worley (5 mi), Harrison (8 mi)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Idaho unit 5?

Unit 5 lies in Benewah and Kootenai counties. Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 5 on a line that runs along U.S. 95, State Highway 3 and State Highway 6, and past Spokane River, Alene Lake, Mission Point and St. Joe River, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. It covers about 713 square miles.

What is the Shiras moose success rate in unit 5?

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 5 at 88% across all manners of take. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

Where do you stay and resupply for a unit 5 hunt?

The nearest services our logistics pipeline finds for unit 5 are at Plummer, about 2 miles from the unit's centre, with Worley at about 5 miles. There are also 10 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit.

What is the elk success rate in unit 5?

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 5 at 19% across all manners of take. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

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Sources & 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 5 · 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