Have any of you ever flown in to a remote airstrip for a hunting trip? My hunting partner and I are going on our first trip this year, flying into Idaho for both elk and deer. We are both expirenced hunter and have survival training.

What can you give us advice wise on a trip like this? What you don't want to forget, some things you definately want to bring, ect......

thanks Dave

Don't forget Water purifier.

Ya I have a small one but am going to buy a pump style that can do larger volumes.

I have done a few fly in remote hunts in Alaska. If you have any questins feel free to givw me a shout.I will pm #
Tim

Boots that you know are comfortable and rugged with socks you know fit well with them. I've hunted a wilderness area in ID the last 6 seasons and the terrain is very steep and very jagged. You want serious soles to handle the sharp rocks and really good ankle support for both side hilling and when walking on uneven rocks. One guy in camp broke his leg last year while goat hunting.
On that note have a way to contact your air service in case of emergency.
Have fun!

Not as cool as it sounds. Not being negative, just the straight scoop here. You are talking about what ?? the Salmon river ??.

So you fly into Pistol creek or ?? and there you are, on the river, on an air strip. Now you are looking at a vertical climb with not much on your back. You can climb for a solid day and still be right above the air strip.

Point is, if you don't have horses, your pretty much headed nowhere in the scope of things. It might sound great, and remote and big time, but its really not if your on foot. Not sure if that makes sense at all.

Lots of better places to hunt deer and elk on foot than flying into the salmon river. Its pretty bare down there close to the river. Most of the hunting is up and beyond the actual river corridor.

I've done a couple of fly-in trips in AK, in the Lake Clark/Iliamna area. They dropped us off on a lake (float planes). Both trips were for Caribou.

In those cases they set you down a few days in front of the herds, and hope that you are in line with them. When they set us down half a days walk from the main traveling lanes, it was a brutal time. We had to walk 4-6 hours in the dark to get to them. It was even worse when you got one. So if you are going to be in that situation bring a spike-camp set up in addition to your main camp set up. It will let you stay overnight in the zone.

Bug nets, lots of quality socks, extra camera batteries, the usual.

B RUN thanks for your honesty. Were actually going to an area with another twosome that have hunted the area for many years, harvesting very nice animals most every year(from the mid 20" to the biggest of 36.5" muley). They are speaking a very different tune from what you are saying. That why I'm looking for others who have done this. I know come the end of Oct. I will know frst hand what its all about. That being said, they hike on average 5-10 miles a day sometimes more. I really don't care if I ever loose site of the airstrip. Its all about the ADVENTURE. I will be hunting an area that very few people hunt in a years time. Last year we only knew of 3 other small camps that flew in to this airstrip to hunt that we know of? That is way better than waking up at 0 dark 30 to get to your favorite spot to find out that when the sun comes up you are sitting next to 14 other guys on the same hill.

If your willing you can PM a few spots to check out that you may be referring to as "better spots for hunting on foot." I have hunted Idaho for 8 years with little to talk about(a few deer nothing huge). Yes, I'm looking for a 30"er. I have killed enough small buck to last many lifetimes.

I will PM the specific spot but I'm not posting it here.

Got ya. You are in a better location than I first imagined. Same rules apply however.

My main hunting buddy has been doing the fly in thing at the Allison ranch on the main Salmon for about 9 years now. We know the people who own it. Anyway, in the beginning he was pretty excited about it.. flying in, staying at the ranch, few people around.. he was stoked. I never wanted to go because I have floated all that country, and know people who pack in with outfitters every year out of Big Creek or Pistol creek. Those guys always do O.K because they wind up 20 miles up above the river where the game actually is. The guys who fly in and do it on foot, well, they get skunked a lot or wind up shooting the "run way buck"..

Back on track. So the first few years they didn't get much to talk about outside of their asses kicked from climbing every day. About year 4 they finally figured out that the best bet was to just sit on the porch at the ranch with a spotting scope and find what they are looking for first, then head up that way in the A.M- saved them miles and miles of walking for nothing. Just this last year he was making noise like he was not going back again. Remote or whatever, there is just not much down there unless they get some serious weather to push things downhill. But like you say, they like the Adventure of it all. just seems like we are always showing him some big dead critter and he is wondering why he keeps going into the back country.

I've never been in the country you mention. Would be cool to see it. My mind says there is not a 30 inch mulie in there, but who knows ?? Its not known for those anyway. If your really locked in on wanting a big mule deer with an over the counter tag your best bet is unit 39.. with the 14 guys you mention on every hill side. I have shot a few over 30 inches but all came from down south in units 44, 45, 42 and all draw tags late November. If we don't draw we go whitetail hunting instead, which is a lot of fun. Your more likely to see a big whitetail than anything else, and I have seen a few that came out of that general area. Nice ones.

Good luck, sounds like you have a good plan. Thats one area I have never really seen at all so can't point you at anything in particular.

I had a great tag year before last. Saw a bunch of bucks but nothing special so never fired a shot. It was fun anyway

I did the same hunt you did Rocket Red. Lake Clark Air used two seaters with tundra tires for us though. They put us about 7 miles N of Lake Iliamna (flying from Lake Clark) and right in the middle of a crapload of caribou.
This was 8 years ago when the Mulchatna herd was topping out. My bud and I shot 4 trophies and had excellent ptarmigan hunting and fishing for rainbows and greyling. The only negative was my buddy who I asked to bring a shotgun brought a snake charmer....good thing ptarmigan hold tight. The pilot who picked us up after 6 days asked if we found the birds and fish with a big smile on his face. He said we def. got the "good" spot for those as most other camps were nowhere near any water.
While in a little village tranferring to a 6 seater for the flight back to Lake Clark we ran into two guys coming out 3 days early. Seems they shot two bou 300 yards from their tent and 2 brown bears showed up to eat the carcass. They said they didn't eat (cook) or sleep for two days and came out early. They had a much different trip than us and we were 5 miles from them.
The tundra is a beautiful place. I have very fond memories of that trip.

B-RUN - Do you get the Eastmans Journal? There was an article written about that 36.5in buck taken by a buddy of mine. The article was tittled "Dirt Buck". It's been 3 or so years. I like the Idea about sitting in camp with a cup of coffee looking through the spotting scope. There was a nice whitetail killed from on of those other camps last year. Guy was sitting in his chair at camp and spotted it across the river. Shot it, waded across and floated it back across the river. It was something like a 23-24 I'm told.

Anyways, thanks for all the info

Dave

I don't read any hunting magazines.. its all re-hashed bull [censored]. The same story they wrote in field and stream in 1910 is the same crap some guy is writing now. I read STS on the crapper, and Cabelas sends me more crapper material than I could ever need.

One year we went to one of our spots and I was stunned at all the freaking people that showed up.. plates from 20 different states. Turns out there had been an article in Peterson's " Migration mulies !!" 5 months earlier. It really pissed me off. I don't get all wound up about hunting like I used too. I have not been elk hunting in years and used to live for it. Its probably because I worked my ass off for 20 years looking for the big one and some dork that lives behind me shoots a monster right out of his truck on the road.. 20 miles from home.

Bitter ??? probably