Moose Hunt Idaho Unit 67-1 Where?

[meathunter]

17 year old daughter was drawn for a cow moose in Idaho's unit 67-1 by Swan Valley/Pallisades. She sure would like to harvest a nice moose for our freezer.

Has anyone hunted area and could give us an idea where to start scouting?

 

[Ikeepitcold]

I've hunted Swan Valley for years for Elk. I saw the biggest bull moose I've ever seen in the area.ive gone a few years when we first started to hunt there and didn't seen a single Elk but always saw Moose.

Are you familiar with the area?

 

[meathunter]

Trying to get familiar with the area, only live about 30 miles away. Did some scouting last weekend around North Pine Creek drainage and saw a few tracks. Looking for other places to try. Driven along the Heise road along the Snake.

That's good for us that you always saw moose. Whereabouts did you see the moose if you want to give us a place to start? Thx

 

[Ikeepitcold]

The best area we saw the most moose was on Bear Creek rd off of Swan Valley Hwy. it's the road the crosses over the Dam. It's a long loop that will split on the back side of the mountain you want to stay to the left. That road will turn from Bear Creek into Jensen Creek Rd then into McCoy Creek rd. driving that loop there should be no way you won't see moose. There is some low lands with tons of water and a massive amount of areas to glass. The next spot is when coming from Idaho Falls into Swan Valley there is a bridge you will cross. Just before the bridge there are two roads off to the right, you want to take the second road NF-058. This road runs along the river, keep close attention to the area rite from the bridge till about a few miles up river. The last place is a pretty rough hike if you are up for that. Take Sheep Creek also off of Swan Valley Hwy, drive up the road and you will find a trail head on the right. I can't remember the name of the trail. Take that trail and glass as you go. There are some Elk wallows and small ponds.

Good luck.

 

[meathunter]

Great I'll give those a try!

 

[Dode]

The Jensen rd and McCoy Creek rd are in unit 66 not 67. I might be mistaken but I think your unit is north of Hwy 31 and west of 26. You might want to double check these areas on a map.

The best area we saw the most moose was on Bear Creek rd off of Swan Valley Hwy. it's the road the crosses over the Dam. It's a long loop that will split on the back side of the mountain you want to stay to the left. That road will turn from Bear Creek into Jensen Creek Rd then into McCoy Creek rd. driving that loop there should be no way you won't see moose. There is some low lands with tons of water and a massive amount of areas to glass. The next spot is when coming from Idaho Falls into Swan Valley there is a bridge you will cross. Just before the bridge there are two roads off to the right, you want to take the second road NF-058. This road runs along the river, keep close attention to the area rite from the bridge till about a few miles up river. The last place is a pretty rough hike if you are up for that. Take Sheep Creek also off of Swan Valley Hwy, drive up the road and you will find a trail head on the right. I can't remember the name of the trail. Take that trail and glass as you go. There are some Elk wallows and small ponds.

Good luck.

 

[Ikeepitcold]

The Jensen rd and McCoy Creek rd are in unit 66 not 67. I might be mistaken but I think your unit is north of Hwy 31 and west of 26. You might want to double check these areas on a map.

Dode
You are correct! I didn't even look up the unit number to be sure before I posted.

Meat hunter please disregard my previous post.

Instead take Sheep Creek road off of Swan Valley Hwy. at the Y in the road go left. There is also some water holes and grass meadows that I have seen moose in. Also the second and third left off of Palasades Rd are also areas to glass.

Good luck and sorry for the mistake.

 

[meathunter]

Yeah you're right after checking the map.

Any other places?

 

[rcrosby]

Meathunter I drew the bull tag last year and spent 17 days in the unit. What is your plan? Are you planning on hiking in? Quads? Horses?

 

[meathunter]

rcrosby we plan on hiking in, might have access to a quad or horses for packing out, if needed.

How did you do? any suggestions for areas to check out?

 

[rcrosby]

My suggestion would be to give it some time and wait until the end of October when the leaves have fallen. I saw a lot of moose including cows early while scouting and then in September I struck out. Went back the last week of October and saw quite a few moose. It was a lot easier to glass and the moose were very active. I shot a nice bull on the 17th day I spent in the area.

I hiked all over that unit. Packed in for 3 days of scouting solo about 11 miles in. Was glassing a bull and about a mile from where I was a guy pulls up on a motorcycle.

Get a travel plan map from the forest service ASAP!!! There aren't a lot of areas you can access by vehicle and have a mile or 2 hike in and see a lot of moose.

Most of the areas I saw a lot of moose were 4 or so miles in and if you have a bike or atv you can save a lot of time, park it and then get on foot and find your moose.

We ended up in some good areas by driving the quads in and then putting 3-4 miles in on a trail or bushwhacking and setting up camp and moving around.

The area really drains to Pine Creek. There is a lot of small drainages in the area and if I went back I would spend 99% of my time there. There is an ATV trail you can take up Pine Creek that a good deal of people use and you can ride all the way up through Piney Pass. There are several mountains there including Piney, Red Moutain etc. that have some good timberline type areas to glass. I didn't see anything off the trail. I didn't really spend a lot of time on the quads other than to get in a little closer to where we wanted to pack in.

A fair amount of people told me they see plenty of moose on the south fork of the Snake that is in the zone but I didn't see a lot in there. Same thing for the Southwest part of the zone. A buddy of mine shot a good bull in the southwest area a couple of years ago.

I sent you a private message with my contact info if you have more questions. Good luck on the moose!

 

[meathunter]

rcrosby thanks a lot. We have scouted twice in that area and agree with your comments. That's the terrain we like to hunt and looks the best. The cow hunt doesn't open until mid Oct, so hopefully later the leaves will have fallen and maybe some snow to see em better.

Just got back from fishing west of Heise and saw a small bull this evening along the South fork, congrats on your bull! you worked for him. We're only about 45 minutes away from the area and I'll be in touch really sounds like you got to know the hunt area well. Got the maps awhile ago! they're really needed for that area with the road access being minimal.