Idaho "Yellow Bush Plane"

[JLH208]

Just wondering if anyone hunting central/southern Idaho in 2016 had an experience with the "yellow bush plane." No need to mention the areas it was seen in, if you saw this plane you will know why I am asking about it. Many locals I talked to had similar sightings as I did. Hoping to hear that he was caught and taken care of. Thanks


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[hflier]

Why so hush hush. What was he doing?


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[Laelkhunter]

Yeah ! What's up ????

 

[JLH208]

Sorry to leave it so vague, I just don't want to start a negative post. However I'd like to hear thoughts on this guys actions. I watched this plane fly extremely low into many canyons I was hunting for two days. While this was annoying I didn't figure it was illegal so let it be. It was when I was stalking a herd of elk in one canyon, this plane flew over and spotted them, turned around for 3 more passes up the canyon getting lower every time. The first pass the elk didn't mind, the second pass they lifted their heads to watch, third pass they began to run. On his 4th pass the plane dropped in dangerously low and and he chased the running elk out of the canyon and into the next. None of which is private so I don't know what his goal was. Besides harassing wildlife in the middle of hunting season, I'm not sure what the plan was... There was another pair of hunters watching this whole scenario that I met up with on the ridge and they had the same thoughts. They called the plane in, I assume to IDFG, but I never ran into that pair again to see what happened with it. I should have gotten a contact number from them. I was then in my local archery shop in October telling hunting stories and this plan came up. Turns out several guys in that area had similar experiences with the plane chasing elk out of a canyon and then leaving. I have a few guesses what the intent was but not one guess justifies anything good. It was illegal, it was obvious, and quite frustrating. My mistake was not using my optics to get a number off the plane, however the hunting pair that called them in got a decent cell phone picture but not clear enough to make the numbers out. I've heard rumor that authorities are aware of this fella but that's about all I've collected. Wouldn't think a bright yellow bush plane would be that hard to track down. Especially being spotted that many times in one area and possibly reported many times. I'm recently new to this forum and was having elk day dreams yesterday and the plane popped into my head, so I figured with all the Idaho guys and gals on here I'd see what I could find out.


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[JLH208]

Hindsight being 20/20 I sure wish I'd have filmed the whole thing!


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[Superkodiak38]

If you have the tail number law enforcement can run it like running a tag on a vehicle

 

[JLH208]

If you have the tail number law enforcement can run it like running a tag on a vehicle

Unfortunately I don't, shortly after the plane left my dad and I were kicking ourselves for not getting the number. I hope somebody that saw him was able to get it!


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[mntnguide]

Talking to fish and game would be a good idea....In this area of western WY...A Yellow super cub type plane is a hired plane for finding wolves and grizzlies and constantly flies LOW up and down drainages etc all summer and through fall. Ive seen him plenty. Seems like bright Yellow was a popular color for the bush plane and isnt really a rare plane to see.

 

[JLH208]

Talking to fish and game would be a good idea....In this area of western WY...A Yellow super cub type plane is a hired plane for finding wolves and grizzlies and constantly flies LOW up and down drainages etc all summer and through fall. Ive seen him plenty. Seems like bright Yellow was a popular color for the bush plane and isnt really a rare plane to see.

I wondered at first if it was some type of survey work and it could be, but the eIk chasing was so odd. Had he stopped when they started running it would be a little more understanding. I will try to contact someone from that area and I will post what I find out. Thanks for the info, I just have never seen such a thing or a plane that low in my 10 years of hunting that area. It is an area with Wolves so it's possible this was a legit operation, I just have some ethics concerns. In the middle of archery season to boot. Thanks again for the input.


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[Pontius]

"Piper Cub Yellow" is as ubiquitous as "Snap-On Red" or "John Deere Green," I'm afraid....

 

[EsteemGrinders]

There is an Ifish member who owns a bush plane just like you describe. I know he travels quite a bit with it. He is quite proud of his plane and has talked about it on IFISH offten. There may even be some picture of it on IFISH if you can recognize the plane that well Another poster said this is a common Color Plane but its it the only one I have seen. Its a very distinct plane in my opinion.

 

[JLH208]

There is an Ifish member who owns a bush plane just like you describe. I know he travels quite a bit with it. He is quite proud of his plane and has talked about it on IFISH offten. There may even be some picture of it on IFISH if you can recognize the plane that well Another poster said this is a common Color Plane but its it the only one I have seen. Its a very distinct plane in my opinion.

Thanks for the feedback! I would agree it's a fairly common color, however I could never find a yellow one at the local air strip when I drove by. Made we wonder if he had a private strip somewhere nearby. I still plan to contact IDFG and see what I can find out from them


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[EsteemGrinders]

POV - Carbon Cub Demonstration Flight (new video) - www.ifish.net This link shows the Plane I am talking about. That said once I saw who owned the Plane I understand the guy to be pretty stand up and can not see him doing this intentionally but would not be surprized to see him in Idaho with it.

 

[hflier]

Well at the very least you are making all aware of this situation and if anyone sees similar behavior in the future they may grab the tail number and get it addressed. I would be furious if they chased the Elk I was on out of the cannon. If it was rifle season I might.... well lets just say I would be damn mad.

 

[JLH208]

Well at the very least you are making all aware of this situation and if anyone sees similar behavior in the future they may grab the tail number and get it addressed. I would be furious if they chased the Elk I was on out of the cannon. If it was rifle season I might.... well lets just say I would be damn mad.

I still had those thoughts with bow in hand haha it was quite aggravating. Not only because the stalk was blown but for the sake of the elk. Lesson learned tho, I now pack a small RiteInTheRain pad and pen for situations like this and many others.


- Jesse

 

[JLH208]

POV - Carbon Cub Demonstration Flight (new video) - www.ifish.net This link shows the Plane I am talking about. That said once I saw who owned the Plane I understand the guy to be pretty stand up and can not see him doing this intentionally but would not be surprized to see him in Idaho with it.

Thanks! I can say with confidence that is not the plane. I do remember it being a little larger and slightly different shape. I appreciate the help tho, I'll keep investigating and update you guys with my findings.


- Jesse

 

[907to406]

He was probably pushing the elk towards an outfitters hunting area would be my guess. I had a similar experience here in Montana a couple years ago while hunting an area surrounded by private/outfitted land. I was all set up with a herd of elk feeding uphill towards me at about 600 yards and had all the time in the world so was going to let them get within 300 yards before shooting. So there I lay prone behind my 300RUM, sun coming up, good bull working towards me thinking to myself "Finally a perfect opportunity, no need to rush things, let him come" when in the faint distance I hear the buzzing of a plane. I look over and across the valley and a super cub is flying high but then drops way down low over another section of public and fly's multiple low circles over it..Huh, that's odd I think to myself, then he points it in my direction. I realize what is about to happen to me and get back in the scope but no shot on the bull. Sure enough the plane buzzes the elk and they scatter, I get up from my position and throw my hands in the air (I was on an open grassy ridge) and he buzzes me about 10 feet above me and hung his middle finger out the window at me as he passed over. I was so enraged and seriously considered putting a 200gr SGK travelling at 3050fps through his engine block or wing. I hauled ass out of there and called FWP and they said they had been having issues with it and knew who it was but couldn't do anything until they actually caught him in the act...The goal of this guy was to keep elk on the private/outfitted land...I get pissed off all over again just thinking about it.

 

[Duramax_Diesel1]

ive had similar experiences in a few different spots in Idaho. not yellow planes or that guy for that matter. just people/guides out scouring the country. it gets a little obvious when they make a few passes over the exact same spot.