Idaho Mule Deer Moose Elk

Unit 66A (Diamond Creek Zone)

Idaho Hunting Guide — Mule Deer, Moose, Elk

Unit 66A lies in Bonneville and Caribou counties and covers about 268 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 5,688 to 9,755 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put deer success here as high as 18%. Federal land covers about 67% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

View Draw Odds Idaho Hunting Guide

🏔️

67%

Public Land

⛰️

5,700–8,199 ft

Sampled elevation

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 66A

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Idaho Unit 66A 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.

Mule Deer guide Moose guide Elk guide

Free accounts get one report a year with the top spot unlocked. ProHunt Pro includes unlimited reports, all three spots, the full camp plan, and GPX/KML downloads for onX and Google Earth. Prefer to see one first? Open the builder and pick any unit.

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 66A

Where to Find Mule Deer in Unit 66A

Idaho Fish and Game draws an exact line around unit 66A and says nothing about where the mule deer stand inside it. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Bonneville and Caribou counties. It runs to about 268 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up mule deer hunting in unit 66A

Idaho Fish and Game keeps a general deer season page for unit 66A, and that page is where this year's dates and weapon rules live.

The lines of the unit: McCoy Creek, Bone-Grays Lake and Grays Lake

Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 66A in Bonneville and Caribou counties on a line that runs along Forest Service Road 087 and State Highway 34, and past McCoy Creek, Bone-Grays Lake and Grays Lake, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. Read it as a frame, not as a hint about animals. What it does give you is the way in: the rivers and highways you cross, and the divides that decide which drainage you end up in.

High ground inside the line: Caribou Range, Caribou Mountain and Black Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Caribou Range at 9,755 feet, Caribou Mountain at 9,755 feet, Black Mountain at 8,953 feet, Bald Mountain at 8,484 feet and Old Baldy Peak at 8,307 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Mule deer bed on broken ground with a view and feed on the brush below it.

Holding ground: Black Canyon, Pat Canyon and Skull Canyon

Below them sit Black Canyon at 6,032 feet, Pat Canyon at 6,024 feet, Skull Canyon at 6,008 feet, Luthi Canyon at 5,930 feet and Hawthorn Hollow at 5,722 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.

Water in this unit

The water inside the unit line comes to 49 mapped stream reaches, 1 lakes, 9 stock tanks and 1 springs. 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 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 66A runs from 5,688 feet to 9,755 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.

Unit 66A terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

5,700–8,199 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 6,797 ft ; peaks can run higher.
267.6 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

9 tanks
1 springs
49 stream segments
1 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: Black Mountain (8,953 ft), Bald Mountain (8,484 ft), Old Baldy Peak (8,307 ft), Tincup Mountain (8,196 ft)

Holding ground: Morgan Meadow (7,402 ft), Della Basin (6,854 ft), Anderson Gulch (6,276 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 Mule Deer in Unit 66A

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put deer success in unit 66A at 18% 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: glass the broken edges at first light, then sit still and keep glassing the same ground.

The 2026 controlled hunts in unit 66A

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 rules list one controlled hunt for mule deer on unit 66A under its own number.

Hunt 1052 — antlered deer, 5 tags, Oct 10–Nov 30. Motorized Hunting Rule Applies

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 66A 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 deer 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 Caribou Mountain, Black Mountain and Bald Mountain

Take a position on one of Caribou Mountain (9,755 ft), Black Mountain (8,953 ft), Bald Mountain (8,484 ft) and Old Baldy Peak (8,307 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. Glass the edges first, then the shaded timber, then the edges again as the light goes. On the rut hunts, late-season hunts put bucks with doe groups and moving in daylight.

Water against feed

There are 49 mapped stream reaches and 9 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 71/35°F, Oct 57/27°F and Nov 41/18°F. By Nov the lows are around 18°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 1.6 in. in Sep, 1.9 in. in Oct and 1.8 in. in Nov, and the graded gravel in this unit turns greasy wet.

Getting past the roads: ID 34 and National Forest Development Road 087

ID 34 is the paved frame, which is also where everyone else starts. National Forest Development Road 087 and National Forest Development Road 165 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.

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 66A

Named routes and what they need

ID 34 — 17.1 mi · Paved (all rigs)
National Forest Development Road 087 — 12.1 mi · High-clearance
Grays Lake Road — 9.8 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
West Side Road — 2.7 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
National Forest Development Road 165 — 2.7 mi · High-clearance
CR 114 — 2.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)

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

Freedom — 12.7 mi · no services listed
Etna — 13 mi · lodging
Nordic — 13 mi · no services listed
Alpine — 14.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Star Valley Ranch — 16.2 mi · groceries, lodging

Developed camps

CARIBOU MOUNTAIN GUARD STATION · reservable

Season weather and signal

Jan28° / 8° · 2" precip
Aug81° / 43° · 1.2" precip
Sep71° / 35° · 1.6" precip
Oct57° / 27° · 1.9" precip
Nov41° / 18° · 1.8" precip
Dec29° / 9° · 1.7" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 21% 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.

Mule Deer: 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.

Shots to refuse

Nothing behind or overlapping the animal you picked.
Your maximum range is the farthest you have shot a three-shot group into a paper plate from the rest you are carrying.
Pass the shot you are talking yourself into.

Plan the carry: roughly 40– 120 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — two large coolers. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

Pro Members Only

Unlock mule deer tactics for Unit 66A

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Mule Deer Success Rates

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put deer success in unit 66A at 18% — 58 animals taken by 318 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. The figure is IDFG's result for deer in the unit, not for mule deer alone.

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.

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (resident)	5	163	3.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	0	18	0.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident)	3	714	0.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident)	1	58	2.0%	—

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 mule deer in unit 66A, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 1052 — residents 163 applicants for 5 tags, 3% drawn; nonresidents 18 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 2025. Checked against Idaho Fish and Game's hunt planner draw results on 2026-06-09.

Moose Hunting in Unit 66A

Unit 66A lies in Bonneville and Caribou counties and covers about 268 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 5,688 to 9,755 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put Shiras moose success here as high as 100%. Federal land covers about 67% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Shiras Moose in Unit 66A

Idaho Fish and Game's material on unit 66A 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 Bonneville and Caribou counties. It runs to about 268 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up Shiras moose hunting in unit 66A

Idaho Fish and Game hunts Shiras moose here only by controlled hunt, and describes its moose hunt area 66A as all of Unit 66A.

The lines of the unit: McCoy Creek, Bone-Grays Lake and Grays Lake

Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 66A in Bonneville and Caribou counties on a line that runs along Forest Service Road 087 and State Highway 34, and past McCoy Creek, Bone-Grays Lake and Grays Lake, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. Read it as a frame, not as a hint about animals. 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: Tincup Mountain, Bitters Peak and Caribou Range

Named high points inside the unit include Tincup Mountain at 8,196 feet, Bitters Peak at 7,187 feet, Caribou Range at 9,755 feet, Caribou Mountain at 9,755 feet and Black Mountain at 8,953 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: Newswander Canyon, Little Box Canyon and Morgan Meadow

Below them sit Newswander Canyon at 5,700 feet, Little Box Canyon at 5,688 feet, Morgan Meadow at 7,402 feet, Della Basin at 6,854 feet and Clarks Cut at 6,406 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 49 mapped stream reaches, 1 lakes, 9 stock tanks and 1 springs. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

Reading the land status

Unit 66A terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

5,700–8,199 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 6,797 ft ; peaks can run higher.
267.6 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

9 tanks
1 springs
49 stream segments
1 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: Black Mountain (8,953 ft), Bald Mountain (8,484 ft), Old Baldy Peak (8,307 ft), Tincup Mountain (8,196 ft)

Holding ground: Morgan Meadow (7,402 ft), Della Basin (6,854 ft), Anderson Gulch (6,276 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 66A

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 66A 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 66A

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 and 2026 rules list one controlled hunt for Shiras moose on unit 66A under its own number.

Hunt 3074 — 7 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 66A 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 Tincup Mountain, Bitters Peak and Caribou Range

Take a position on one of Tincup Mountain (8,196 ft), Bitters Peak (7,187 ft), Caribou Range (9,755 ft) and Caribou Mountain (9,755 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. 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 49 mapped stream reaches and 9 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

Getting past the roads: ID 34 and National Forest Development Road 087

Getting in and staying out: unit 66A

Named routes and what they need

ID 34 — 17.1 mi · Paved (all rigs)
National Forest Development Road 087 — 12.1 mi · High-clearance
Grays Lake Road — 9.8 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
West Side Road — 2.7 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
National Forest Development Road 165 — 2.7 mi · High-clearance
CR 114 — 2.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)

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

Freedom — 12.7 mi · no services listed
Etna — 13 mi · lodging
Nordic — 13 mi · no services listed
Alpine — 14.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Star Valley Ranch — 16.2 mi · groceries, lodging

Developed camps

CARIBOU MOUNTAIN GUARD STATION · reservable

Season weather and signal

Jan28° / 8° · 2" precip
Aug81° / 43° · 1.2" precip
Sep71° / 35° · 1.6" precip
Oct57° / 27° · 1.9" precip
Nov41° / 18° · 1.8" precip
Dec29° / 9° · 1.7" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 21% 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.

Pro Members Only

Unlock tactics for Unit 66A moose

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Moose Success Rates

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 66A at 100% — 7 animals taken by 7 hunters. On a sample that small the percentage moves several points with one animal, so read the hunter count beside it.

Moose Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (resident)	6	89	7.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	1	42	2.0%	—

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 66A, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 3074 — residents 89 applicants for 6 tags, 7% drawn; nonresidents 42 applicants for 1 tag, 2% 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 66A

Unit 66A lies in Bonneville and Caribou counties and covers about 268 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 5,688 to 9,755 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put elk success here as high as 14%. Federal land covers about 67% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

Where to Find Elk in Unit 66A

Idaho Fish and Game's material on unit 66A stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its elk live. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Bonneville and Caribou counties. It runs to about 268 square miles.

How Idaho Fish and Game sets up elk hunting in unit 66A

Idaho Fish and Game runs its general elk seasons by elk management zone rather than unit by unit, and puts unit 66A in the Diamond Creek Zone, so the zone's tag rules are the ones that apply here.

The lines of the unit: McCoy Creek, Bone-Grays Lake and Grays Lake

High ground inside the line: Bald Mountain, Old Baldy Peak and Tincup Mountain

Named high points inside the unit include Bald Mountain at 8,484 feet, Old Baldy Peak at 8,307 feet, Tincup Mountain at 8,196 feet, Bitters Peak at 7,187 feet and Caribou Range at 9,755 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Elk want timber to bed in and open ground to feed on, within a short walk of each other.

Holding ground: Anderson Gulch, Bear Canyon and Black Canyon

Below them sit Anderson Gulch at 6,276 feet, Bear Canyon at 6,204 feet, Black Canyon at 6,032 feet, Pat Canyon at 6,024 feet and Skull Canyon at 6,008 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Two you can watch from a single knob is worth more than five you have to drive between.

Water in this unit

The water inside the unit line comes to 49 mapped stream reaches, 1 lakes, 9 stock tanks and 1 springs. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

Reading the land status

Unit 66A terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

5,700–8,199 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 6,797 ft ; peaks can run higher.
267.6 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

9 tanks
1 springs
49 stream segments
1 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: Black Mountain (8,953 ft), Bald Mountain (8,484 ft), Old Baldy Peak (8,307 ft), Tincup Mountain (8,196 ft)

Holding ground: Morgan Meadow (7,402 ft), Della Basin (6,854 ft), Anderson Gulch (6,276 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 66A

Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest estimates put elk success in unit 66A at 14% 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 66A

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 rules list one controlled hunt for elk on unit 66A under its own number.

Hunt 2104 — antlerless elk, 60 tags, Oct 25–Nov 5. Motorized Hunting Rule Applies

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 66A 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 Black Mountain, Bald Mountain and Old Baldy Peak

Take a position on one of Black Mountain (8,953 ft), Bald Mountain (8,484 ft), Old Baldy Peak (8,307 ft) and Tincup Mountain (8,196 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 49 mapped stream reaches and 9 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: ID 34 and National Forest Development Road 087

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 66A

Named routes and what they need

ID 34 — 17.1 mi · Paved (all rigs)
National Forest Development Road 087 — 12.1 mi · High-clearance
Grays Lake Road — 9.8 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
West Side Road — 2.7 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
National Forest Development Road 165 — 2.7 mi · High-clearance
CR 114 — 2.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)

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

Freedom — 12.7 mi · no services listed
Etna — 13 mi · lodging
Nordic — 13 mi · no services listed
Alpine — 14.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear
Star Valley Ranch — 16.2 mi · groceries, lodging

Developed camps

CARIBOU MOUNTAIN GUARD STATION · reservable

Season weather and signal

Jan28° / 8° · 2" precip
Aug81° / 43° · 1.2" precip
Sep71° / 35° · 1.6" precip
Oct57° / 27° · 1.9" precip
Nov41° / 18° · 1.8" precip
Dec29° / 9° · 1.7" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 21% 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.

Pro Members Only

Unlock Unit 66A tactics

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Elk Success Rates

Rifle14%

Archery18%

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 66A at 14% — 1 animals taken by 7 hunters. On a sample that small the percentage moves several points with one animal, so read the hunter count beside it.

Elk Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (resident)	45	1,003	4.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	5	271	2.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (resident)	12	493	2.0%	—
Controlled — 2nd Drawing either sex (nonresident)	3	136	2.0%	—

Open in Draw Odds Engine

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 first drawing for elk in unit 66A, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 2104 — residents 60 applicants for 54 tags, 90% drawn; nonresidents 11 applicants for 6 tags, 55% drawn

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

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Camp Sites

1 developed campground in or beside the unit, including Caribou Mountain Guard Station.

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Road Conditions

ID 34, National Forest Development Road 087 and Grays Lake Road are the named routes in the unit. Roughly 17 mi paved, 33 mi gravel and 0 mi four-wheel-drive.

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Terrain Difficulty

Named features from 5,688 to 9,755 ft. More than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so plan the pack-out before the shot.

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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 71/35°F, 1.6 in.; Oct 57/27°F, 1.9 in.; Nov 41/18°F, 1.8 in..

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Cell Service

Verizon 21%, AT&T 14%, T-Mobile 7% of the unit area — modelled coverage, not measured. Assume no signal off the paved road.

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Nearest Town

Freedom (13 mi), Etna (13 mi), Nordic (13 mi)

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Idaho unit 66A?

Unit 66A lies in Bonneville and Caribou counties. Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 66A on a line that runs along Forest Service Road 087 and State Highway 34, and past McCoy Creek, Bone-Grays Lake and Grays Lake, written out corner by corner in its unit boundary descriptions. It covers about 268 square miles.

What is the mule deer success rate in unit 66A?

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put deer success in unit 66A at 18% 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 66A hunt?

The nearest services our logistics pipeline finds for unit 66A are at Freedom, about 13 miles from the unit's centre, with Etna at about 13 miles. There are also 1 developed campgrounds in or beside the unit.

What is the Shiras moose success rate in unit 66A?

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 66A at 100% across all manners of take. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

What is the elk success rate in unit 66A?

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put elk success in unit 66A at 14% across all manners of take. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

Free Hunt Planning Tools

🎰 Idaho Draw Odds Unit-level tag success rates 📅 Application Timeline Deadlines for all 9 states 🦌 Rut Forecast Peak rut timing by species 💰 Hunt Cost Calculator Budget your entire hunt

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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
IDFG general deer season page for unit 66A — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Season structure for the unit · 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 deer in unit 66A · 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
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 Diamond Creek Zone elk tag limits — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Season structure for the unit · accessed 2026-10-24