Idaho moose hunt

[CHO]

Hello all. I am fairly new at hunting and new to this forum. I am wanting to start putting in for Idaho moose hunts. I just have no idea what unit to put in for so I'm starting to do some research before that time comes. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.


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[TreeWalking]

Resident or non-resident? Looks like from your profile you are a resident so the good news is that every unit awarding moose tags will awards tags to residents. That is not the case for non-residents where often the 10% cap is not even met. Was not in 2016. That makes the odds difficult to calculate for a non-resident.

You can look at F&G website and see the odds that you would have drawn a tag in each of the bull moose units. Note that some hunts are cow moose. Of course, odds change year to year but if you look at a few more years before 2016 then will see some trends.

Next, decide if you just want to hunt moose or want a tag that most hunters fill with a bull or looking to hunt one of the biggest bulls in ID.

If only want to hunt moose then isolate 3-5 units that have had the best odds for a bull tag and pick the one most convenient to where you.

If want to hunt and have high odds fill the tag then go look at the Harvest Reports for moose at F&G. Look for hunts that had close to 100% harvest. Pick one of those units which is most convenient to where you live.

If you want to only hunt for a big moose then can look at the Harvest Reports and look at Average Antler Spread. Any unit where the average is around 40" or better has some large bulls killed since some hunters shoot yearling or young bulls where antler spread is usually under 30" so takes some big bulls to help raise the average up to 40".

Good luck on your research and with your application getting drawn.

 

[CHO]

Resident or non-resident? Looks like from your profile you are a resident so the good news is that every unit awarding moose tags will awards tags to residents. That is not the case for non-residents where often the 10% cap is not even met. Was not in 2016. That makes the odds difficult to calculate for a non-resident.

You can look at F&G website and see the odds that you would have drawn a tag in each of the bull moose units. Note that some hunts are cow moose. Of course, odds change year to year but if you look at a few more years before 2016 then will see some trends.

Next, decide if you just want to hunt moose or want a tag that most hunters fill with a bull or looking to hunt one of the biggest bulls in ID.

If only want to hunt moose then isolate 3-5 units that have had the best odds for a bull tag and pick the one most convenient to where you.

If want to hunt and have high odds fill the tag then go look at the Harvest Reports for moose at F&G. Look for hunts that had close to 100% harvest. Pick one of those units which is most convenient to where you live.

If you want to only hunt for a big moose then can look at the Harvest Reports and look at Average Antler Spread. Any unit where the average is around 40" or better has some large bulls killed since some hunters shoot yearling or young bulls where antler spread is usually under 30" so takes some big bulls to help raise the average up to 40".

Good luck on your research and with your application getting drawn.

Thank you so much for your help!


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[Idaho CTD]

SE Idaho is usually better for visibility but quite often the moose have narrow paddles and longer tines, which don't score as good. The moose in northern Idaho seem to have wider paddles and shorter tines, which score the best. That is just a generalization of what I've seen and from the people I've talked to about it. I shot a 47 5/8" bull in Unit 76 in 1994 and a lady in WY just across the ID line and north of me shot a 55" bull in the same year. If you want to hunt bulls I wouldn't even start hunting until about September 25th. That's about when the rut starts and the bulls will come out of the wood work. I hunted early for 10 days and saw 1 small bull. When the rut started I saw 5 bulls in 2 days.

I would practice calling if you get drawn. I would have hunted longer and tried for a even bigger bull had I known how to call back then. I know the tag numbers have dropped in 76 since the time I drew (there were 60 bull tags back then) but I've seen some big bulls in quite a few units on that side of the state.

 

[CHO]

SE Idaho is usually better for visibility but quite often the moose have narrow paddles and longer tines, which don't score as good. The moose in northern Idaho seem to have wider paddles and shorter tines, which score the best. That is just a generalization of what I've seen and from the people I've talked to about it. I shot a 47 5/8" bull in Unit 76 in 1994 and a lady in WY just across the ID line and north of me shot a 55" bull in the same year. If you want to hunt bulls I wouldn't even start hunting until about September 25th. That's about when the rut starts and the bulls will come out of the wood work. I hunted early for 10 days and saw 1 small bull. When the rut started I saw 5 bulls in 2 days.

I would practice calling if you get drawn. I would have hunted longer and tried for a even bigger bull had I known how to call back then. I know the tag numbers have dropped in 76 since the time I drew (there were 60 bull tags back then) but I've seen some big bulls in quite a few units on that side of the state.

Awesome thank you for the valuable information. 47 5/8" that's a great bull! You should post a picture of it if you have one. Yea if i get lucky and draw it I will definitely practice calling. They have such a weird call. Thanks again!


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