23 Idaho Spring Bear, Bush Plane or Stay to the roads?

VenaticOppidan

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Oct 10, 2019
Messages
154
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
Hey all,

Back in 21', my hunting partner and I did our first Idaho spring bear hunt, end of may for about 4 days over Memorial Day weekend in Unit 33, did some On X scouting, talked to some biologists, and picked an area we thought had desirable terrain features. Flew in, got a rental truck, got to the trail head and packed in about 2 miles in, and glassed a few different drainages in that area for the next 3 days. No Bears, plenty of Bear Like Objects (BLO's).

We learned a lot on our first true backpack trip, with no base camp to call home. One, don't take near as much stuff lol. Packs are heavy. Two, be more mobile. Up and move to increase chances of success.

We are now planning on going again in 2023, and are researching different units and trying to get a game plan together. One of the things we have discussed is taking a bush plane into some more remote regions, which would go against rule number 2, but the idea is being flown into an area with good terrain and essentially be hunting the area within a 2-3 mile radius of the drop off. This would limit us as far as how much terrain we can cover, but would the lack of pressure and the access possibly enhance our potential success? Has anybody had any experience taking a transport in for spring bear, self guided, no horses or atv's?

The other option is to go back to 23 and another unit, and plan on doing truck camping, spiking out if needed, and being very mobile and hitting multiple different drainages and areas if we aren't having any sightings after a morning and/or evening.

So what does the brain trust think? Bush planes an interesting angle, or am i overcomplicating things? We know success levels aren't very high, but we want to set ourselves up the best we can to have more than just a nice camping trip.

Appreciate any thoughts.
 
Joined
Sep 13, 2016
Messages
2,046
Location
Idaho
Hey all,

Back in 21', my hunting partner and I did our first Idaho spring bear hunt, end of may for about 4 days over Memorial Day weekend in Unit 33, did some On X scouting, talked to some biologists, and picked an area we thought had desirable terrain features. Flew in, got a rental truck, got to the trail head and packed in about 2 miles in, and glassed a few different drainages in that area for the next 3 days. No Bears, plenty of Bear Like Objects (BLO's).

We learned a lot on our first true backpack trip, with no base camp to call home. One, don't take near as much stuff lol. Packs are heavy. Two, be more mobile. Up and move to increase chances of success.

We are now planning on going again in 2023, and are researching different units and trying to get a game plan together. One of the things we have discussed is taking a bush plane into some more remote regions, which would go against rule number 2, but the idea is being flown into an area with good terrain and essentially be hunting the area within a 2-3 mile radius of the drop off. This would limit us as far as how much terrain we can cover, but would the lack of pressure and the access possibly enhance our potential success? Has anybody had any experience taking a transport in for spring bear, self guided, no horses or atv's?

The other option is to go back to 23 and another unit, and plan on doing truck camping, spiking out if needed, and being very mobile and hitting multiple different drainages and areas if we aren't having any sightings after a morning and/or evening.

So what does the brain trust think? Bush planes an interesting angle, or am i overcomplicating things? We know success levels aren't very high, but we want to set ourselves up the best we can to have more than just a nice camping trip.

Appreciate any thoughts.
Although remote, don't think that you will be alone or that a group isn't already in front of you. There are quite a few guys that charter a plane, as well as privateers that fly in. Getting away from folks at the airstrips can be tough. The country is challenging to say the least . I would encourage everyone to fly in once though, it's an incredible experience. I just wouldn't do it to hunt. I'll send you a message and give you my thoughts.
 
OP
VenaticOppidan

VenaticOppidan

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Oct 10, 2019
Messages
154
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
Although remote, don't think that you will be alone or that a group isn't already in front of you. There are quite a few guys that charter a plane, as well as privateers that fly in. Getting away from folks at the airstrips can be tough. The country is challenging to say the least . I would encourage everyone to fly in once though, it's an incredible experience. I just wouldn't do it to hunt. I'll send you a message and give you my thoughts.
appreciate the input, the country definitely looks rough, and valid points with private pilots and other guys with the same idea's. I'm sure a lot of people don't stretch their legs too far from the strips.
 

TheTone

WKR
Joined
Mar 4, 2012
Messages
1,577
Although remote, don't think that you will be alone or that a group isn't already in front of you. There are quite a few guys that charter a plane, as well as privateers that fly in. Getting away from folks at the airstrips can be tough. The country is challenging to say the least . I would encourage everyone to fly in once though, it's an incredible experience. I just wouldn't do it to hunt. I'll send you a message and give you my thoughts.
This is really good advice and opinion. The reason a lot of people don’t venture too far from many back country airstrips is because it’s typically steep and nasty getting away from them.

Myself I would probably be a truck camper or 1-2 night spike outs and stay fairly mobile
 
Joined
Feb 25, 2022
Messages
56
Location
Freeman, Missouri
I can't offer any experience as i habe not yet hunted bear in the spring but I also am planning a 2023 spring bear trip in Idaho. I plan to base camp from the truck and have been using gohunt and other apps to put together a series of possible hunting locations. Trying to keep a string of locations at different elevations and varying terrain types in case snow is an issue. I'm planning for the 2nd or 3rd week of May so I hope to not be limited too much by snow but also catch the very beginning of boars cruzing for sows. I'd be willing to PM some tips and planning strategies that I'm using going into this hunt if you are interested.
 
OP
VenaticOppidan

VenaticOppidan

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Oct 10, 2019
Messages
154
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
I can't offer any experience as i habe not yet hunted bear in the spring but I also am planning a 2023 spring bear trip in Idaho. I plan to base camp from the truck and have been using gohunt and other apps to put together a series of possible hunting locations. Trying to keep a string of locations at different elevations and varying terrain types in case snow is an issue. I'm planning for the 2nd or 3rd week of May so I hope to not be limited too much by snow but also catch the very beginning of boars cruzing for sows. I'd be willing to PM some tips and planning strategies that I'm using going into this hunt if you are interested.
Appreciate it. We are probably on similar trajectories, i use go hunt and on x a metric ton. That’s pretty much how we formulate most of our hunts. Happy to make a new net friend and talk over trip details. We have the same idea going 5/19-5/26, chasing the melt up and getting out of dodge as Memorial Day weekend starts to unwind
 
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