Unit 50 (Pioneer Zone)

Idaho Fish and Game's material on unit 50 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its Shiras moose live. 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 Blaine, Butte and Custer counties. It runs to about 1,634 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up Shiras moose hunting in unit 50

Idaho Fish and Game hunts Shiras moose here only by controlled hunt, and describes its moose hunt area 50 as all of Unit 50.

The lines of the unit: Big Lost River, Copper Creek and Cottonwood Creek

Idaho Fish and Game describes unit 50 as those portions of Blaine, Butte, and Custer counties within the Big Lost River drainage north of U.S. 20- 26 and State Highway 33, and the area east of the watershed divide between Copper Creek and Cottonwood Creek (intersecting U.S. 20-26 at milepost 221.2) and north of U.S. 20-26. 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: Mount McCaleb, Pyramid Peak and Smiley Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Mount McCaleb at 11,607 feet, Pyramid Peak at 11,567 feet, Smiley Mountain at 11,474 feet, Big Black Dome at 11,341 feet and Invisible Mountain at 11,315 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: Redbird Gulch, Smelter Canyon and Spring Basin

Below them sit Redbird Gulch at 8,224 feet, Smelter Canyon at 8,082 feet, Spring Basin at 7,997 feet, Horse Wallow at 7,996 feet and Windy Devil at 7,990 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: Cold Spring, Richardson Spring and Poison Spring

The water inside the unit line comes to 53 mapped stream reaches, 12 lakes, 44 stock tanks and 3 springs. Named sources include Cold Spring, Richardson Spring, Poison Spring, Freighter Spring, Howell Spring and Wood Road Spring. 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 50 runs from 5,256 feet to 11,996 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 50 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 50

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 and 2026 rules list one controlled hunt for Shiras moose on unit 50 under its own number.

• Hunt 3054 — 5 tags, 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 50 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 Shelly Mountain, Cabin Mountain and Lime Mountain

Take a position on one of Shelly Mountain (11,223 ft), Cabin Mountain (11,219 ft), Lime Mountain (11,150 ft) and Pahsimeroi Mountains (11,116 ft) and be on it before light. Work the morning with the air falling away from you, then accept that by mid-morning the wind has reversed and the plan has to change with it. Give a basin forty minutes before you decide it is empty. On the rut hunts, late September bulls answer a cow call near water.

Water against feed

There are 53 mapped stream reaches and 44 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 72/39°F, Oct 58/30°F and Nov 41/19°F. By Nov the lows are around 19°F, and the first hard storm after that moves animals off the high ground — a late tag is a bet on that storm arriving. Precipitation runs about 0.7 in. in Sep, 0.8 in. in Oct and 0.5 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

Getting past the roads: US 93 and US 93 / US 20 / US 26

US 93 and US 93 / US 20 / US 26 are the paved frame, which is also where everyone else starts. National Forest Development Road 116 and National Forest Development Road 122 need clearance, and that is usually where the boot tracks thin out. There is little true four-wheel-drive road here, so distance from the gravel is the only thing separating you from the next hunter.