Frank Church

[fishngamereaper]

One thing to add, dont think you need to fly in to have a quality back country hunt in the Frank Church. Ive driven in before, set up a good base camp and day hunted into the Church. Plenty of animals to be had that way as well. You might save some money and try driving in once or twice to get a feel for the country. Plenty of access points out of Elk City, McCall and Stanley.

[kentrek]

Tagging to follow along.

Been dreaming about a 15 day float hunt and fish trip through the area for years.

We had a group of fellas start a float trip from our strip... they were after wolves. Said they filled 10 tags that way the previous season...

any chance they could have been joking ?? i mean i tell people all the time that my honey hole is full of wolfs in hopes theyl stay away..ten wolf tags filled makes me alil jealous...regardless thatd be a great adventure 

[hirshey]

Tagging to follow along.

Been dreaming about a 15 day float hunt and fish trip through the area for years.

We had a group of fellas start a float trip from our strip... they were after wolves. Said they filled 10 tags that way the previous season...

No joking.. they were serious about it. Floated all the way to the confluence... it was gonna be a 12-14 day trip they figured. They had all sorts of howling apparatuses and stuff... They spent serious cash to fly in their raft and gear.. no way were they kidding.
any chance they could have been joking ?? i mean i tell people all the time that my honey hole is full of wolfs in hopes theyl stay away..ten wolf tags filled makes me alil jealous...regardless thatd be a great adventure 

[kentrek]

Tagging to follow along.

Been dreaming about a 15 day float hunt and fish trip through the area for years.

We had a group of fellas start a float trip from our strip... they were after wolves. Said they filled 10 tags that way the previous season...

any chance they could have been joking ?? i mean i tell people all the time that my honey hole is full of wolfs in hopes theyl stay away..ten wolf tags filled makes me alil jealous...regardless thatd be a great adventure 

No joking.. they were serious about it. Floated all the way to the confluence... it was gonna be a 12-14 day trip they figured. They had all sorts of howling apparatuses and stuff... They spent serious cash to fly in their raft and gear.. no way were they kidding.

that is awesome..lol now im even more jealous...

[Alan K]

One thing to add, dont think you need to fly in to have a quality back country hunt in the Frank Church. Ive driven in before, set up a good base camp and day hunted into the Church. Plenty of animals to be had that way as well. You might save some money and try driving in once or twice to get a feel for the country. Plenty of access points out of Elk City, McCall and Stanley.

I too was looking into this hunt for my father and I.  The more I research I do though, the more I realize that yeah it might be some remote country but there is really no shortage of hunters that hunt it.  Looks like in 2011 there were 646 deer hunters that hunted unit 27 (including the unlimited controlled hunt tags).  That's on par with a lot of other units, and 20-25% of a lot of the most heavily hunted units. Then throw in the idea that most of those people fly in to a dozen or so airstrips and hike from there, the areas within 5 miles of each of these airstrips have to get some serious pressure.  Of course all of that said I haven't been there to see it with my own eyes, but that would be my educated assumption.

I do plan to give it a shot before I die, but for now it's taking a back seat to some other hunt plans.  At least flying in is taking a back seat.  Starting to look for some corners to hike/pack into from the edges.

[Bigshooter]

You only need to go straight up about a mile from the landing strips to get away from 99% of the people that fly in.  Most guys never get out of eye sight of the strip.  Except for at loon creek.  There's a lot of guys that hunt way back from that strip.

[hirshey]

One thing to add, dont think you need to fly in to have a quality back country hunt in the Frank Church. Ive driven in before, set up a good base camp and day hunted into the Church. Plenty of animals to be had that way as well. You might save some money and try driving in once or twice to get a feel for the country. Plenty of access points out of Elk City, McCall and Stanley.

I too was looking into this hunt for my father and I.  The more I research I do though, the more I realize that yeah it might be some remote country but there is really no shortage of hunters that hunt it.  Looks like in 2011 there were 646 deer hunters that hunted unit 27 (including the unlimited controlled hunt tags).  That's on par with a lot of other units, and 20-25% of a lot of the most heavily hunted units. Then throw in the idea that most of those people fly in to a dozen or so airstrips and hike from there, the areas within 5 miles of each of these airstrips have to get some serious pressure.  Of course all of that said I haven't been there to see it with my own eyes, but that would be my educated assumption.

I do plan to give it a shot before I die, but for now it's taking a back seat to some other hunt plans.  At least flying in is taking a back seat.  Starting to look for some corners to hike/pack into from the edges.

Just to give you an idea, there were 9 other camps besides ours at the airstrip we flew into... most had been coming there for 10+ years.. some 25+. There were 4 other parties that set up satellite camps and didn't just do day trips. All said and done, with the smallest camp having 2 people and the largest 9, there were roughly 50 people at our airstrip. Most the longtime campers have certain areas they hunted and we tried to respect their turf... we saw lots of deer and ended up with some respectable animals but no 200 inchers came out of any of the strips as far as we heard. One of our party members had the largest buck yet at rough score mid 170's and we left with 3 days of the season remaining.

[hirshey]

You only need to go straight up about a mile from the landing strips to get away from 99% of the people that fly in.  Most guys never get out of eye sight of the strip.  Except for at loon creek.  There's a lot of guys that hunt way back from that strip.

We were 8 miles from the strip and ran across a boned out animal from a few days prior... the guys even left their disposable razor blades and some trash behind. We brought it back to our airstrip but nobody claimed them.

[Bigshooter]

You only need to go straight up about a mile from the landing strips to get away from 99% of the people that fly in.  Most guys never get out of eye sight of the strip.  Except for at loon creek.  There's a lot of guys that hunt way back from that strip.

We were 8 miles from the strip and ran across a boned out animal from a few days prior... the guys even left their disposable razor blades and some trash behind. We brought it back to our airstrip but nobody claimed them.

That's must be the 1%.  I have never seen anyone that far in off any of the strips I have flown into.  hirshey did you meet an A.J. Detter by chance when you flew in?

[huntnnw]

Definitely a hunt I will do...gotta find a partner that's committed.  The other thing with the hunt numbers is how many of them went in by horse or foot in the unit and not just the airstrips

[BULLBLASTER]

Definitely a hunt I will do...gotta find a partner that's committed.  The other thing with the hunt numbers is how many of them went in by horse or foot in the unit and not just the airstrips

in the next few years ill be in! Lets start planning!

[wazzu99]

Seems to be a lot of intrest in this hunt.  Thanks for all the input.  I'm still researching maps and air strips but I have it narrowed down to a few potentials.  Thanks again.

Wazzu

[coyote_out]

to-do list for sure! tag.

[actionshooter]

One thing to add, dont think you need to fly in to have a quality back country hunt in the Frank Church. Ive driven in before, set up a good base camp and day hunted into the Church. Plenty of animals to be had that way as well. You might save some money and try driving in once or twice to get a feel for the country. Plenty of access points out of Elk City, McCall and Stanley.

  The more I research I do though, the more I realize that yeah it might be some remote country but there is really no shortage of hunters that hunt it.  Looks like in 2011 there were 646 deer hunters that hunted unit 27 (including the unlimited controlled hunt tags).  That's on par with a lot of other units, and 20-25% of a lot of the most heavily hunted units. Then throw in the idea that most of those people fly in to a dozen or so airstrips and hike from there, the areas within 5 miles of each of these airstrips have to get some serious pressure.

BINGO,
 There are no shortage of hunters there.
 I have done it several times and in my experience there is an even split of "strip hunters" and "spike camp hunters".
 Don't expect a hunt in there where you don't see anyone else.

[huntnnw]

there are 30 airstrips... some are private..the key would be getting to a airstrip of least use or able to pay to access a private one