Every year I see questions about how to hunt the Frank Church. Access, partners, where to go, how to do it. Lots of questions, but seldom any trip reports. I figured I could give back instead of taking for a change. Sorry for being so verbose, but I like to be thorough.
I usually hunt the early season in the Frank, but my daughter was due in September this year so I had to find a different hunt. Being unsuccessful in both of the controlled hunt applications, I was stuck with the pumpkin patch of 39 or late season in the Frank. I chose the latter.
Step 1: Research
When I received the notification that I failed the second draw in August, I got to work figuring out how to attack this. The only late season hunting I’ve done is deer. Mule deer, whitetails, and blacktails, but those aren’t elk. Step 1 was to research both late season hunting and Frank Church Wilderness specific hunting. I have a lot of experience in the Frank, but early season and late season are two very different animals. Access is the main issue, but also the elk migrate down to the Middle Fork. So although I have a lot of experience hunting the southern end (closer to the river), I usually hunt the west side, which is vacant by the time the snow starts (if you can even access it).
I have probably read every forum and article on the internet that mentions hunting the Frank Church Wilderness for any animal. Lots of hiker trip reports (scouring specifically for mentions of elk/elk sign). There isn’t much out there to be honest and I did not cross a single hunting forum post that didn’t have at least one comment saying “don’t do it”. But I read it all and found a few general areas that I thought would be productive.
Funnily enough, it was more difficult finding relevant late season hunting advice. Nearly everything I read focused on getting away from hunting pressure (not a problem in the Frank) or driving roads and glassing country (none of those in the Frank either). The good nuggets I could find were to (obviously) glass for tracks in the snow. This time of year elk are in sanctuary mode, so if you see tracks then they are probably still in that area. I began refining my area search to south faces looking specifically for higher elevation, wooded benches. Water is always an issue in those parts, but I was counting on having snow so it wasn’t as high of a priority.
There is also one final feature that I was looking for that is plentiful in the Frank. It’s my personal secret though - just something I’ve observed about deer and elk in Idaho and quite literally always find them near these special places.
Next up was researching landing strips. I was familiar with a few, but wanted all the publicly available ones mapped so I could judge proximity to all the hunt areas I was looking at. I should mention that I also did the Treeline Academy and was relying heavily on all the mapping tools Mark teaches how to use. I even read the landing strip plans for the final four that I had picked out.
At this point, I felt like I had a good, pointed list of questions for a biologist and had enough information to have a useful conversation with him. I called up Shawn Shruff out of Salmon and after playing phone tag for a few days, had a very fruitful chat. He answered my long list of questions that ranged from thoughts about specific areas to general questions about how elk behave and where to find them that time of year. By the end of the phone call I had my landing strip picked out.
So far, this time frame was about 4 weeks. The rest of my research up until departing was watching YouTube videos on how to hunt late season and any videos I could find that were specific to Idaho, reading elk hunting forums, and e-scouting. Even on the shitter I was e-scouting constantly. I found a cluster of 4 drainages that had exactly what I was looking for in elk features and I wanted to know every inch of them in as much detail as possible before I landed. One of them even had an entire south face that had burned 5 years prior!
Step 2: Training
My go to training method is backpacking. Practice how you play or however the saying goes. But seeing as how I had a baby due, my wife did not let me get away pretty much the entire summer (she nests hard when she’s pregnant). I did get a good scouting trip in the first week of August in a different part of the Frank that I have been eyeing for years. It was unfortunately not at all productive for elk sign. Funnily enough all the elk sign was where I knew the elk were from previous hunts, but I digress.
When it became apparent that I wasn’t going to be getting out nearly as much as I needed to, I took up mountain biking, which was short lived because the air quality in Idaho was absolute dog shit last summer.
Next I tried Mountain Tough, but I just couldn’t stick with it. Funny how our preferences change with age because when I was younger that is exactly what I would have looked for in a workout program.
Finally, reluctantly, I joined a gym/HIIT workout center. I ended up absolutely loving it. I could just shut my brain off and do what I was told for an hour and stayed in great shape. These guys definitely never skipped leg day. I didn’t miss a workout 5 days a week from August 1st until I left.
Step 3: Logistics
My original plan was to just drive into one of my usual spots, but in June during spring bear I got my truck stuck half off a cliff driving in the snow so I was a little uneasy even though I have a ton of mountain/forest road driving experience. I figured if I was going to buy a wench, the best tire chains out there, a tow strap, and whatever else, then I may as well look at flight prices. After my first call I was sold. I got the peace of mind to not have to worry about getting stranded and the convenience of just flying out of Cascade. I called the other flight services out of McCall, but ultimately settled on Smith Air out of Cascade.
So far as gear goes, I had pretty much everything. I have been backpacking and hunting since 2015. I’m a gear head though, so of course I had to go do my research and check out all the new stuff on the market.
Now, I use a hammock pretty much exclusively outside of Alaska, Iceland, and Norway (all the places with no trees). They are way warmer and vastly more comfortable than sleeping on the ground like a heathen. However, the one thing that sucks is that over longer time frames in winter camping it’s pretty much impossible to dry things out. Seeing as how I was going to do this solo with a new baby at home, I knew that motivation was going to be a massive factor in this hunt. Any time I’m away from my son I miss him so freaking much and one mention on the InReach of something wrong at home and I want to get back to my family and help out so badly. I have yet to cave, but I hate that pressure and definitely didn’t need it tacked on to being cold and wet. All that to say I decided I should switch out the hammock for a hot tent.
My tent was a fancy cuben fiber backpacking tent, so I sold it and bought the Argali Rincon and the Peax Torrid. The tent because it was the lightest of all the options I was looking at (and when I drove over to Argali and checked them out they blew my mind how small/compressable and light they were) and the stove because even though it was slightly heavier than some of the other options, it didn’t look nearly as tedious to set up.
Aside from that, the only major items I needed were some puffy pants and some warmer hunting pants. I went with the SG Grummans and the First Lite 308 Lined pants after trying both on at Scheel’s.
One final logistics thing - I know from past hunting trips that if I’m gone too long my wife will inevitably send me that dreaded text asking me to come home, so I gave her our entire disposable income for the month to do whatever she wanted with it - including flying in all sorts of family and friends to help with my new daughter and my hellion of a son.
Go Time
After months of planning, training, and watching all my friends be successful with their elk hunts, it was finally my turn. The next post will be my journal entries for what ended up being a 14 day solo elk hunt in November in the Frank Church Wilderness.
I usually hunt the early season in the Frank, but my daughter was due in September this year so I had to find a different hunt. Being unsuccessful in both of the controlled hunt applications, I was stuck with the pumpkin patch of 39 or late season in the Frank. I chose the latter.
Step 1: Research
When I received the notification that I failed the second draw in August, I got to work figuring out how to attack this. The only late season hunting I’ve done is deer. Mule deer, whitetails, and blacktails, but those aren’t elk. Step 1 was to research both late season hunting and Frank Church Wilderness specific hunting. I have a lot of experience in the Frank, but early season and late season are two very different animals. Access is the main issue, but also the elk migrate down to the Middle Fork. So although I have a lot of experience hunting the southern end (closer to the river), I usually hunt the west side, which is vacant by the time the snow starts (if you can even access it).
I have probably read every forum and article on the internet that mentions hunting the Frank Church Wilderness for any animal. Lots of hiker trip reports (scouring specifically for mentions of elk/elk sign). There isn’t much out there to be honest and I did not cross a single hunting forum post that didn’t have at least one comment saying “don’t do it”. But I read it all and found a few general areas that I thought would be productive.
Funnily enough, it was more difficult finding relevant late season hunting advice. Nearly everything I read focused on getting away from hunting pressure (not a problem in the Frank) or driving roads and glassing country (none of those in the Frank either). The good nuggets I could find were to (obviously) glass for tracks in the snow. This time of year elk are in sanctuary mode, so if you see tracks then they are probably still in that area. I began refining my area search to south faces looking specifically for higher elevation, wooded benches. Water is always an issue in those parts, but I was counting on having snow so it wasn’t as high of a priority.
There is also one final feature that I was looking for that is plentiful in the Frank. It’s my personal secret though - just something I’ve observed about deer and elk in Idaho and quite literally always find them near these special places.
Next up was researching landing strips. I was familiar with a few, but wanted all the publicly available ones mapped so I could judge proximity to all the hunt areas I was looking at. I should mention that I also did the Treeline Academy and was relying heavily on all the mapping tools Mark teaches how to use. I even read the landing strip plans for the final four that I had picked out.
At this point, I felt like I had a good, pointed list of questions for a biologist and had enough information to have a useful conversation with him. I called up Shawn Shruff out of Salmon and after playing phone tag for a few days, had a very fruitful chat. He answered my long list of questions that ranged from thoughts about specific areas to general questions about how elk behave and where to find them that time of year. By the end of the phone call I had my landing strip picked out.
So far, this time frame was about 4 weeks. The rest of my research up until departing was watching YouTube videos on how to hunt late season and any videos I could find that were specific to Idaho, reading elk hunting forums, and e-scouting. Even on the shitter I was e-scouting constantly. I found a cluster of 4 drainages that had exactly what I was looking for in elk features and I wanted to know every inch of them in as much detail as possible before I landed. One of them even had an entire south face that had burned 5 years prior!
Step 2: Training
My go to training method is backpacking. Practice how you play or however the saying goes. But seeing as how I had a baby due, my wife did not let me get away pretty much the entire summer (she nests hard when she’s pregnant). I did get a good scouting trip in the first week of August in a different part of the Frank that I have been eyeing for years. It was unfortunately not at all productive for elk sign. Funnily enough all the elk sign was where I knew the elk were from previous hunts, but I digress.
When it became apparent that I wasn’t going to be getting out nearly as much as I needed to, I took up mountain biking, which was short lived because the air quality in Idaho was absolute dog shit last summer.
Next I tried Mountain Tough, but I just couldn’t stick with it. Funny how our preferences change with age because when I was younger that is exactly what I would have looked for in a workout program.
Finally, reluctantly, I joined a gym/HIIT workout center. I ended up absolutely loving it. I could just shut my brain off and do what I was told for an hour and stayed in great shape. These guys definitely never skipped leg day. I didn’t miss a workout 5 days a week from August 1st until I left.
Step 3: Logistics
My original plan was to just drive into one of my usual spots, but in June during spring bear I got my truck stuck half off a cliff driving in the snow so I was a little uneasy even though I have a ton of mountain/forest road driving experience. I figured if I was going to buy a wench, the best tire chains out there, a tow strap, and whatever else, then I may as well look at flight prices. After my first call I was sold. I got the peace of mind to not have to worry about getting stranded and the convenience of just flying out of Cascade. I called the other flight services out of McCall, but ultimately settled on Smith Air out of Cascade.
So far as gear goes, I had pretty much everything. I have been backpacking and hunting since 2015. I’m a gear head though, so of course I had to go do my research and check out all the new stuff on the market.
Now, I use a hammock pretty much exclusively outside of Alaska, Iceland, and Norway (all the places with no trees). They are way warmer and vastly more comfortable than sleeping on the ground like a heathen. However, the one thing that sucks is that over longer time frames in winter camping it’s pretty much impossible to dry things out. Seeing as how I was going to do this solo with a new baby at home, I knew that motivation was going to be a massive factor in this hunt. Any time I’m away from my son I miss him so freaking much and one mention on the InReach of something wrong at home and I want to get back to my family and help out so badly. I have yet to cave, but I hate that pressure and definitely didn’t need it tacked on to being cold and wet. All that to say I decided I should switch out the hammock for a hot tent.
My tent was a fancy cuben fiber backpacking tent, so I sold it and bought the Argali Rincon and the Peax Torrid. The tent because it was the lightest of all the options I was looking at (and when I drove over to Argali and checked them out they blew my mind how small/compressable and light they were) and the stove because even though it was slightly heavier than some of the other options, it didn’t look nearly as tedious to set up.
Aside from that, the only major items I needed were some puffy pants and some warmer hunting pants. I went with the SG Grummans and the First Lite 308 Lined pants after trying both on at Scheel’s.
One final logistics thing - I know from past hunting trips that if I’m gone too long my wife will inevitably send me that dreaded text asking me to come home, so I gave her our entire disposable income for the month to do whatever she wanted with it - including flying in all sorts of family and friends to help with my new daughter and my hellion of a son.
Go Time
After months of planning, training, and watching all my friends be successful with their elk hunts, it was finally my turn. The next post will be my journal entries for what ended up being a 14 day solo elk hunt in November in the Frank Church Wilderness.
I feel the same way. It kicks my ass multiple times a year, but I just can't stay away. It's like a puzzle that's so hard to crack and I can't just put it down and walk away and hunt 39 like a normal potato person
