Frank Church best airstrip

sbooher3

FNG
Joined
Oct 9, 2014
Messages
48
Frank Church, what is the best airstrip to fly into for a late October mule deer hunt?
 
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sbooher3

FNG
Joined
Oct 9, 2014
Messages
48
Im just looking for a place to start from, I plan to hike to find the animals, Just was hoping for a starting point. Im from Virginia so I have no idea of the area< just that its rugged country.
 
Joined
Oct 23, 2017
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413
Location
Idaho
I'll give another starting location of McCall. Buy forest service maps, look them over, and see where you want to go. Google earth can only tell you so much but forest service maps are invaluable.

In all seriousness though, don't expect a whole lot of handouts if any on hunting forums with how many people are moving into Idaho and how popular Idaho is on the hunting platform. Just because you're looking for airstrips doesn't mean you'll be alone there. You'll have 50 other people in the area by the most popular ones and competing with guides at others.
 

NomadHunter603

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 1, 2019
Messages
226
Location
Milford, NH
You’re not the only one from out of state, I went out there late October of 2019 and will be going back this year. Just pick an air strip and hike. That’s what we did and we saw tons of does, I shot a small 3x2, we saw a couple spikes. We didn’t shoot or see any big bucks. But we’re fairly new at western hunting, that was only our second trip west. There’s definitely nice bucks in there because we ran into a couple guys that got 3 very nice bucks. Just gotta know what you’re looking for. The first time I went west I stressed and spent so much time trying to pin point the best area in Colorado. It’s just not worth it. I mean if you can find info, great. But I usually just try to find an area that has a lot of land and just invest my time with boots on the ground there.


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Joined
Sep 13, 2016
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2,076
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Idaho
I have watched the videos of landing at mile high and would love to take a plane there once just to say I did it.
I rode with my great uncle a few times at MH. He was a guide out of Big Creek and Cold Meadows. I was a youngster at the time and didn’t realize how technical that strip is.
 

sneaky

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Frank Church, what is the best airstrip to fly into for a late October mule deer hunt?
One that doesn't have trees growing up in the middle of the runway

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sbooher3

FNG
Joined
Oct 9, 2014
Messages
48
You’re not the only one from out of state, I went out there late October of 2019 and will be going back this year. Just pick an air strip and hike. That’s what we did and we saw tons of does, I shot a small 3x2, we saw a couple spikes. We didn’t shoot or see any big bucks. But we’re fairly new at western hunting, that was only our second trip west. There’s definitely nice bucks in there because we ran into a couple guys that got 3 very nice bucks. Just gotta know what you’re looking for. The first time I went west I stressed and spent so much time trying to pin point the best area in Colorado. It’s just not worth it. I mean if you can find info, great. But I usually just try to find an area that has a lot of land and just invest my time with boots on the ground there.


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Thank you, this will be my second time out west myself. We went to the sawtooth zone of idaho last year through a outfitter for a drop camp. Only seen one Bull and a few muledeer does. We did experience two small earthquakes at night. That was pretty interesting camped in the bottom of a caynon.
 

BluMtn

WKR
Joined
Nov 24, 2016
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1,018
Location
Washington
There is a video out about a plane accident that happened at Moose Creek airstrip if I remember right. Two single engine planes coming in one right behind the other, first plane lands and second plane comes in long and lands on top of the first plane. Killed the pilot in the first plane. The video shows the whole thing. There are a lot of warnings about flying the back country, all the airstrips back there can cause you and your plane great amounts of damage if you do not know what you are doing. Plus it is a very long walk out if you do screw up.
 

sneaky

"DADDY"
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There was a fatal crash at Upper Loon a few years back as well. Crashed right after takeoff and killed everyone on board. Backcountry flying is inherently dangerous, but an accepted risk.

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