Unit 9 (Panhandle Zone)
Idaho Hunting Guide — Moose
Unit 9 lies in Clearwater and Shoshone counties and covers about 201 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 3,771 to 6,974 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put Shiras moose success here as high as 70%. Federal land covers about 79% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Moose Hunting in Unit 9
Unit 9 lies in Clearwater and Shoshone counties and covers about 201 square miles. Named ground inside it runs from 3,771 to 6,974 feet. Idaho Fish and Game's harvest estimates put Shiras moose success here as high as 70%. Federal land covers about 79% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Shiras Moose in Unit 9
Idaho Fish and Game draws an exact line around unit 9 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 Clearwater and Shoshone counties. It runs to about 201 square miles.
How Idaho Fish and Game sets up Shiras moose hunting in unit 9
Idaho Fish and Game hunts Shiras moose here only by controlled hunt, and describes its moose hunt area 9 as all of Unit 9.
The lines of the unit: Getaway Point, Little North Fork and Clearwater River
Idaho Fish and Game draws unit 9 in Clearwater and Shoshone counties on a line that runs along Forest Service Road 201 and Forest Service Road 301, and past Getaway Point, Little North Fork, Clearwater River and Larkins Peak, 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: South Butte, Monumental Buttes and Crag Peak
Named high points inside the unit include South Butte at 6,974 feet, Monumental Buttes at 6,974 feet, Crag Peak at 6,868 feet, Snow Peak at 6,722 feet and North Butte at 6,679 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: Bathtub Meadows, Twin Creek Saddle and Spokane Meadows
Below them sit Bathtub Meadows at 5,816 feet, Twin Creek Saddle at 5,266 feet and Spokane Meadows at 3,771 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Work out which of them you can see from one position before you pick a camp.
Water: Hoodoo Spring, Montana Springs and Jug Spring
The water inside the unit line comes to 4 mapped stream reaches, 7 lakes and 10 stock tanks. Named sources include Hoodoo Spring, Montana Springs and Jug 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 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 9 runs from 3,771 feet to 6,974 feet. Those are the heights of the features GNIS names, which bound the range from inside rather than measure it.
Unit 9 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
The lay of it
- 3,606–6,395 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 4,912 ft ; peaks can run higher.
- 201.4 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
- 10 tanks
- 4 stream segments
- 7 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: South Butte (6,974 ft), Snow Peak (6,722 ft), Surveyors Peak (6,512 ft)
Holding ground: Spokane Meadows (3,771 ft), Hoodoo Spring, Jug Spring
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 9
Moose Success Rates
Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 harvest estimates put Shiras moose success in unit 9 at 70% — 7 animals taken by 10 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) | 5 | 50 | 10.0% | — |
| Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident) | 0 | 17 | 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 9, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:
- Hunt 3030 — residents 50 applicants for 5 tags, 10% drawn; nonresidents 17 applicants for 0 tags, 0% drawn
- Hunt 3031 — residents 18 applicants for 5 tags, 28% drawn; nonresidents 15 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.
Unit Logistics & Expectations
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Idaho unit 9?
What is the Shiras moose success rate in unit 9?
Where do you stay and resupply for a unit 9 hunt?
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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 9 · 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