Unit 70

Red Hill and Indian Mountain serve as useful visual anchors for navigation and glassing across the rolling terrain. Scout Mountain, Slate Mountain, and Wild Mountain provide additional ridge reference points visible from lower country. Elk Meadows and Big Flat offer open glassing areas in the mid-elevation zone.

The numerous canyons—Fort Hall Canyon, Morris Canyon, Mormon Canyon—channel water and game movement and provide natural travel corridors through the foothills. Marsh Valley and Arbon Valley are distinct geographic features that help hunters orient themselves within the broader unit. The landscape doesn't have dramatic peaks, but the ridge and draw systems create natural basins and benches where animals concentrate seasonally.

The unit spans lower elevation country, mostly below 6,500 feet, with scattered peaks pushing toward 8,700 feet. Sagebrush plains and grassland flats dominate the valleys—Arbon Valley, Marsh Valley, and the benches surrounding them are classic high-desert open country. As terrain rises northward and eastward, timber becomes more frequent though never dense, consisting mainly of scattered lodgepole and limber pine with juniper intermixed.

Ridge systems retain more continuous forest while south and west-facing slopes stay predominantly open sage. The transition from valley floor to timbered ridge is gradual rather than dramatic, creating a landscape of rolling benches and draws rather than sharp mountain faces.

Over 1,000 miles of road network creates good overall connectivity throughout the unit, with Forest Service roads reaching into most drainages and valleys. These roads fragment the landscape and make access relatively easy, which means pressure can be distributed but rarely absent. The proximity to Pocatello and surrounding populated areas means weekends draw hunter traffic, particularly along main drainages and near trailheads.

County roads and Forest Service roads allow access to Arbon Valley, Marsh Valley, and the canyon systems, so popular areas fill up quickly. The connected road system favors hunters willing to hike away from vehicle access; the foothills are broken enough that foot traffic disperses pressure into the rolling terrain where few persist.

Unit 70 encompasses the foothills between Interstate 15 near Pocatello and the South Fork Snake River drainage to the east. The unit wraps around the populated areas of Pocatello and Inkom while capturing the open country from Arbon Valley north through Marsh Valley and the surrounding ridges. Bannock Creek and its watershed form the northern boundary, while the South Fork Snake River marks the eastern limit.

The terrain transitions from managed agricultural and private lands near towns into Forest Service country and sagebrush foothills as elevation increases. This is accessible foothill terrain with clear geographic anchors—Interstate 86, Highway 31, and the river provide obvious reference points for hunters orienting themselves.

Water is the limiting factor here. Most streams are seasonal or modest in flow—Indian Creek, Johnny Creek, Kinney Creek, and Michaud Creek are the more reliable waterways, though none are major rivers. Scattered springs including Rock Springs, Wildcat Spring, and Fort Hall Spring provide critical water points, particularly in mid and upper elevations where seeps and springs dot the ridges.

The South Fork Snake River provides abundant water along the eastern boundary, but much of the unit's interior relies on finding these dispersed springs and seasonal creeks. During peak summer and early fall, water availability concentrates animals around known springs and the few perennial streams. Hunters should map spring locations carefully—they determine where to find game in dry periods.

Unit 70 offers deer and elk hunting across terrain that demands understanding seasonal movement patterns. Early season hunters find game at higher elevations where cooler temperatures and green feed keep animals distributed across the timbered benches and open ridges. As heat increases, animals retreat to shaded draws and the few reliable water sources—mapping springs becomes critical.

Rut timing brings elk to more predictable patterns in the canyon systems and ridge transitions. The open valleys and moderate timber require glassing and careful approach; the rolling nature of the terrain means game can see hunters from distance. Hunt the transitional zones where sage flats meet timber, and concentrate on drainages with water.

Elevation changes are modest but meaningful—animals migrate vertically through the season, using the benches and ridge systems as travel corridors between valley winter range and slightly higher summer ground.