Unit M61-3 (Moose Hunt Area 61-3)

Idaho Hunting Guide — Moose

Hunt Area 61-3 is drawn from unit 61, in Clark and Fremont counties. Named ground inside it runs from 6,184 to 10,254 feet. Idaho Fish and Game bounds it by U.S. Highway 191-20 among others. Idaho Fish and Game publishes no per-unit Shiras moose success figure we can verify for this hunt area. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

View Draw Odds Idaho Hunting Guide

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit M61-3

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Idaho Unit M61-3 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

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.

Moose Hunting in Unit M61-3

Where to Find Shiras Moose in Hunt Area 61-3

What Idaho Fish and Game publishes for hunt area 61-3 is a boundary, not a Shiras moose map. Every place named below sits inside the hunt-area line. Which of them holds animals in your season is for you to find out.

What hunt area 61-3 is

Idaho Fish and Game describes moose hunt area 61-3 as that portion of Unit 61 north of State Highway 87 and that portion east of U.S. Highway 191-20 except that portion enclosed by the Big Springs Loop Road and U.S. Highway 191-20. That makes it a piece of ground drawn for this hunt, not a unit, and the outline on this page is IDFG's own polygon for it rather than a unit outline. The units it is drawn from lie in Clark and Fremont counties.

High ground inside the line: Targhee Peak, Black Mountain and Bald Peak

Named high points inside the hunt area include Targhee Peak at 10,254 feet, Black Mountain at 10,188 feet, Bald Peak at 10,164 feet, Mount Two Top at 8,702 feet and Henrys Lake Mountains at 8,038 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: Trail Canyon, Tygee Creek Basin and Tygee Creek Basin

Below them sit Trail Canyon at 6,382 feet, Tygee Creek Basin at 7,682 feet, Tygee Creek Basin at 7,557 feet, Reas Pass at 6,945 feet and Black Canyon at 6,495 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this hunt area has, and they are what you glass into from above. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.

Water: Howard Spring

Named sources include Howard Spring. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

How high the named ground goes

Named ground inside hunt area 61-3 runs from 6,184 feet to 10,254 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.

Unit M61-3 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Targhee Peak (10,254 ft), Black Mountain (10,188 ft), Bald Peak (10,164 ft), Mount Two Top (8,702 ft)

Holding ground: Tygee Creek Basin (7,682 ft), Reas Pass (6,945 ft), Black Canyon (6,495 ft), Howard 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 Hunt Area 61-3

Idaho Fish and Game's per-unit harvest statistics describe general seasons on game management units, so there is no Shiras moose success figure we can tie to hunt area 61-3 alone, and we won't borrow one from a unit. 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

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 and 2026 rules list one controlled hunt for Shiras moose in hunt area 61-3.

Hunt 3065 — 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 hunt area 61-3

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 Osborne Butte, Targhee Peak and Black Mountain

Take a position on one of Osborne Butte (6,298 ft), Targhee Peak (10,254 ft), Black Mountain (10,188 ft) and Bald Peak (10,164 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 September bulls answer a cow call near water.

The way in: Highway 87 and Highway 191

We have no road inventory for this hunt area, so the only routes we can name are the ones Idaho Fish and Game draws the boundary with: Highway 87 and Highway 191. Those are its edges, not its interior — useful because they are where you leave the pavement, and useless for telling you what the inside is like. Pick the edge nearest the country you mean to hunt and work in from it on foot, rather than driving the perimeter looking for a way through.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Targhee Peak, Black Mountain, Bald Peak and Mount Two Top as places to see from, and Tygee Creek Basin, Reas Pass, Black Canyon and Howard Spring as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the hunt-area line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Take the pair you can reach on one road and treat the rest as a second trip.

What a day here costs you

With 4,070 feet between the lowest and highest ground, the walk back up out of a kill site is the part to plan first. Leave the truck earlier than you want to and you will hunt the best half-hour of the day.

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 Moose tactics for Unit 61-3

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Moose Success Rates

Idaho Fish and Game's per-unit harvest statistics describe general seasons on game management units, and hunt area 61-3 is a controlled-hunt area, not a unit, so there is no figure here we can tie to it. A unit's general-season number would describe different hunters on different ground. Idaho Fish and Game's hunt planner reports controlled-hunt results hunt by hunt, which is the figure to check before you apply.

Moose Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (resident)	5	31	16.0%	—
Controlled — 1st Drawing either sex (nonresident)	0	8	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 hunt area 61-3, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 3065 — residents 31 applicants for 5 tags, 16% drawn; nonresidents 8 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

Planning Notes

💧

Water

1 named water source inside the hunt area in our water layer, including Howard Spring. Which of them run in autumn is something only a scouting trip will tell you.

🛣️

Road Conditions

Idaho Fish and Game's boundary for the hunt area follows State Highway 87 and U.S. Highway 191-20. That is the edge, not a promise of access inside — check a current motor-vehicle-use map before you drive in.

🥾

Terrain Difficulty

Named features inside the hunt area run from 6,184 to 10,254 ft. More than 4,000 feet between them alone, so plan the pack-out before the shot.

📋

Permit Notes

Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt 3065 (2025 and 2026 rules). Moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat applications run April 1 to 30. Idaho's draw is random, with no preference or bonus points.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Idaho hunt area 61-3?

Hunt Area 61-3 is drawn from unit 61, in Clark and Fremont counties. Idaho Fish and Game describes moose hunt area 61-3 as that portion of Unit 61 north of State Highway 87 and that portion east of U.S. Highway 191-20 except that portion enclosed by the Big Springs Loop Road and U.S. Highway 191-20.

What is the Shiras moose success rate in hunt area 61-3?

Idaho Fish and Game's per-unit harvest statistics cover general seasons on game management units, and hunt area 61-3 is a controlled-hunt area, so there is no figure we can tie to it. Idaho Fish and Game's hunt planner reports controlled-hunt results hunt by hunt, and that is the number to check before you apply.

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

Plan Your Hunt with ProHunt Pro

Unlock advanced tactics, the Tag-to-Trail Planner, AI hunt strategy assistant, and personalized camp and trip execution plans.

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Sources & Verification

Every fact on this page is tied to a primary source below. Last fact-checked 2026-10-24.

Moose, Bighorn Sheep & Mountain Goat 2025 & 2026 Seasons & Rules — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Controlled hunt area description for moose hunt area 61-3, The game management units the area is drawn from, Controlled hunt numbers, tags and season dates · accessed 2026-10-24
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