2019 Spring Bear in Frank Church Wilderness, Idaho (Unit 20A)

[Idahoarcheryhunter]

Agreed, the snow here in the past week has been insane, push it out as far as you can imo. I would take the rifle but thats just me... and thats coming from a bowhunter.

 

[JaredMoon]

Agreed...

Thanks for the confirmation of snow, I have some leeway in when I can actually head in so I'll try to keep on eye on cams throughout the wilderness on snow density.

As for the rifle vs bow, I'm pretty confident the chance of success would be higher with a rifle but I think the sweetness of success will be a better with the bow. Either way it will be a pretty amazing trip.

 

[JaredMoon]

I’d recommend...

Thanks for the info. And agreed, I don't want to be trudging through snow particularly if I am bow hunting. As for the rifle, same thing I said previously - it's about sweetness of success. Buuuut that being said Im sure looking back on trip success but hunt failure I will regret not having brought a rifle if I got eyes on a bear 200-400 yards away haha.

 

[ida homer]

Yeah I'd go rifle, I'm sure the adventure alone and any success earned in there will be sweet, regardless of weapon type.

Plus if you do get into some bears, chances are good the age class will be good and I know personally I'd be itching to have my rifle. But to each their own for sure.

 

[JaredMoon]

Yeah I'd go rifle...

I can definitely understand that for sure. As this Michigan winter drags on I'm already 'itching' to get into the backcountry again.

 

[JaredMoon]

So, I'm running into a bit of an issue. I just received my next assignment wherein I have to report to a base on the east cost by 19MAY which is awesome because it is a good assignment but severely restricts my ability to hunt later in the month. Based on what I've heard about the Frank Church being pretty socked in with snow until mid to late May I'm thinking the frank may not be the way to go this year. I think I will be heading towards the Hell's Canyon Wilderness as I can drive then hump in a few miles to set up base camp. Additionally, it looks like OnX shows a few old logging roads that I could maybe travel if the wilderness area doesn't work out.

Any advice as to how I can make the most of this hunt between 4 and 19 May would be extremely welcome. Thank you!

 

[JLS]

I would look at areas you can access along the lower Salmon or out of Pittsburgh Landing. Look for wild onions on the southern exposures.

 

[----]

You could easily hunt out of Shoup that early, if you were still wanting to explore the Frank. Could probably get in to Paradise also.

 

[PapaBear2240]

Anyone have any guidance as to how the hunting will be in unit 20A during October, elk, bear, wolf, mountain lion?

 

[Robinhood21]

I wonder how the hunt went... anybody hear?