Post by: 10thmountainarcher on July 26, 2021, 04:18:31 PM
Post by: vandeman17 on July 26, 2021, 04:38:47 PM
Post by: bugs n bones on July 26, 2021, 08:22:19 PM
Post by: WapitiTalk1 on July 26, 2021, 08:31:57 PM
Post by: 10thmountainarcher on July 26, 2021, 08:43:22 PM
Post by: lewy on July 26, 2021, 10:53:30 PM
Ugh. If you’re paying for a hunt, the Church and Selway Bitteroot is the last place you should consider, seriously.
:yeah:
Beautiful rugged country but elk numbers are low now days, we seen more wolves than elk on a recent trip into the frank
Post by: 10thmountainarcher on July 26, 2021, 11:31:27 PM
Post by: X-Force on July 27, 2021, 07:16:43 AM
Post by: buckfvr on July 27, 2021, 07:59:03 AM
Post by: huntnnw on July 27, 2021, 08:25:53 AM
Post by: Karl Blanchard on July 27, 2021, 08:32:34 AM
Post by: fishngamereaper on July 27, 2021, 09:25:34 AM
It's not lacking animals...but the only thing I would pay for in there is a plane ride... outfitters I've crossed paths with where less than welcoming. So I have no recommendations on guides...
Tags are harder to come by now with the reduced deer permits. Try for a couple deer tags ..get an elk tag, maybe two...not everyone needs one..give it a whirl self guided..
If I was paying for a hunt I would lean towards Wyoming.
Post by: Bob33 on July 27, 2021, 11:55:52 AM
Frank Church was born and raised in Boise, Idaho. After high school, he entered Stanford law school, but he soon enlisted in the service. After his military service during World War II, he returned to Stanford. He married Bethine Clark in 1947 and that fall he started law school at Harvard, but he transferred back to Stanford where he received his law degree in 1950 despite his bout with cancer. The Churches returned to Boise where Frank started a private law practice, and he became active politically. He successfully ran for the senate in 1956. During his career as a Senator (1957-1980), Frank Church served on the Foreign Relations Committee, the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, and the Special Committee on Premier Wilderness Champion Aging.
Frank Church had a record as a strong liberal and favored legislation in areas of environmental protection. As floor manager, he played a major role in passage of legislation creating the National Wilderness System in 1964, and in the creation of the River of No Return Wilderness in 1980.
“Through knowing it (River of No Return Wilderness Bill) jeopardized his re-election (in 1980) Church never wavered in his support for protecting the area” according to Representative John Seiberling (D-Ohio) who at the time chaired the Interior subcommittee on public lands. Seiberling also called Church one of the “premier wilderness champions.”
In introducing the legislation naming the largest wilderness in the contiguous United States after Frank Church, Senator James McClure (R-Idaho) said, “I recognize that Frank Church performed with sincerity and skill the very difficult task of getting the River of No Return Wilderness, as well as other wilderness legislation passed through Congress.”
President Reagan signed the legislation in March 1984. In a statement released shortly after, Frank Church said, “In signing the act adding my name to the River of No Return Wilderness, President Reagan does me and my family a great honor. Honored, as I am, the real meaning for me today is to reaffirm our magnificent heritage in preserving some 2.2 million acres of Idaho wilderness for ourselves, and our children, and our children’s children. For this I am eternally grateful…. For the countless thousands who will enter and enjoy the River of No Return Wilderness, it will open their eyes like an Idaho sunrise on a summer morning.”
Frank Church died of cancer April 7, 1984, a few weeks after congress officially changed the name of the Wilderness.
Post by: WAcoyotehunter on July 27, 2021, 03:17:01 PM
Don’t get disheartened by low elk numbers. Good guides will still get you into bulls. Do the dream hunt and enjoy the country!Yes- go hunting. The Frank Church is HARD, but there are elk there and a good guide will know how to hunt them. I have hunted it three times since 2014 and killed a bull each time. Find a guide with good stock and prepare for a physically demanding hunt.
Post by: Brushbuster on July 27, 2021, 04:10:36 PM
https://www.sheppranch.com/rates/
Post by: WapitiTalk1 on July 27, 2021, 07:15:37 PM
Post by: lewy on July 27, 2021, 07:38:24 PM
Post by: actionshooter on July 27, 2021, 08:14:10 PM
Well someone is killing 205 bulls last year.
I'm not going to try encourage or discourage anyone, but that is 1 bull taken for every 11,750 acres over the course of 2+ months. I have hunted FC 10 years between 8 and 16 days every trip and love it, and do see bulls but I would go somewhere else if paying a guide. Myself would probably lean toward Bob Marshall but more because I have never been there.
Post by: grade-creek-rd on July 27, 2021, 09:40:55 PM
Here is a movie made in there last year, a deer hunt, but it gives you an idea of the area and the hunt for a DIY style...
https://www.westernhuntingjournal.com/fng-in-the-frank-church/
Grade
Post by: Karl Blanchard on July 28, 2021, 06:58:38 AM
Few minutes go by and out of the bottom come the howls. So I howl back. Then they howl back. I respond again, then silence again. Ive hunted enough canines to know I should be somewhat ready though I'm thinking no way they are coming up here. Well all be damned if they didn't. Unfortunately the timber below was thick and the thermals screwed me and away they went. I got a crack at them as they blew out across the open on the other side but it was a hail Mary at best.
Ive always wanted to see a wolf and even more so want to kill one but not at the expense of a buck of that caliber :'( I tracked them into the drainage as best as I could to see if I could either find that buck dead or maybe find him in there resting but no dice. I day drream that he got away sigh
Post by: fbennett12 on July 29, 2021, 09:48:38 AM
Post by: Bob33 on July 29, 2021, 12:06:08 PM
You don't go to "Church" to kill a big bull...you go there to attend Church. It is an amazing place, deer numbers are good (not necessarily big bucks), elk numbers are enough to make it worth while but it is the experience that draws me to the Frank...been there 15 times in the last 30 years and can't wait to go back.I watched the entire video; it was awesome. Thanks for sharing that.
Here is a movie made in there last year, a deer hunt, but it gives you an idea of the area and the hunt for a DIY style...
https://www.westernhuntingjournal.com/fng-in-the-frank-church/
Grade
Post by: jstone on July 29, 2021, 01:49:38 PM
Post by: fishngamereaper on July 29, 2021, 04:15:23 PM
Also pro tip of the day ..if you fly in make sure your life insurance is current...for some reason that's the only place that's tried to kill me on multiple occasions flying in ...weird, I know. :chuckle:
Post by: idaho guy on July 29, 2021, 05:49:34 PM
Post by: grade-creek-rd on July 29, 2021, 09:32:09 PM
I am missing out on the Frank this year, heading to a whitetail unit for my deer tag and a cow tag for a high desert area, plus tagging along for a backcountry elk hunt (just packing for a buddy...but taking a 6.5 Needmoor for wolf), then off to Montana and some Washington hunts...ironically, with all of those hunts planned, I would trade them all for a late season NR draw deer tag and an elk tag for the Frank. I will be back next year!
Grade
PS. sorry to hijack the thread, but I think the consensus is to go hunt it, a bull is a bonus.
Post by: idaho guy on July 29, 2021, 09:44:44 PM
You fellas are in denial. This area is one of the two ground zero spots in Idaho for Canadian Wolf introduction. I talked to an old salt in Elk City that was there when the idiots released the first few breeding pairs. He said the hippies (his words, not mine), we’re howling and cheering like they had did something good. Again, yes there are still elk there but a minuscule amount to what they were. The folks in elk city can tell you in graphic detail how the wolves come in, close to town and other calving areas, to kill the calves and recovering cows. It’s no joke. I know my buddy and I saw more wolf sign than elk on our hunt. And yes, we covered some area. Hunt there if you wish, good luck. Beautiful country, some of the best.
:yeah: I haven’t been in there for a while but we took our own horses into 17 and the rancher down in the bottom showed us cages where they kept the wolves before release. It was truly ground zero and there was very few elk. I’m going this year but more deer hunt we will probably have 1 elk tag out of 3 hunters. It’s so huge I’m sure there is some good elk areas in there. I would agree that to pay a guide I would do Wyoming wilderness hunt. It’s awesome place though
Post by: highcountry_hunter on August 17, 2021, 05:30:35 PM
We took our own ponies in but met a few outfitters in town and in the wilderness. From our experience I would recommend Mile high and elk springs. They both seemed very knowledgeable, experienced, and had the drive the put their clients on animals.