Western Hunting Journal, Premiere Issue whj001_premiere | Page 62

Brother’s Kyle, Zach, and Chad
Hurst have been enjoying the
backcountry since childhood and
on their first trip to the Middle
Fork they teamed up to pack out
Kyle’s buck.
had stopped. The mountains
and the river were the same
as they have been since first
formed millions of years ago.
As a hunter, the pictograph let
me know that I was in the right
spot.
Just then the drone of an air-
plane making its way down the
river drainage reminded me
that I had a high-powered rifle
on my shoulder topped with
a piece of glass that allowed a
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WESTERN HUNTING JOURNAL
shot of unbelievable range com-
pared to the sinew backed bare-
bow that my companion paint-
ed on the rock wall. Stepping
out of the natural shelter and
looking upriver to a mountain
with a steep grass slope climb-
ing over 4,000 feet from the riv-
er’s edge, I knew this was where
I needed to go to find a mature
mule deer buck.
This region is full of histo-
ry with the gold rush and land
grab as homesteaders made
their way west. Ruins of cabins
and flats cleared of sage with
piled rocks mark where plows
had once toiled the earth. The
Frank Church River of No Re-
turn Wilderness in Central
Idaho is the second largest des-
ignated wilderness area in the
lower 48 states, only surpassed
by Death Valley. Named after
Frank Church, the U.S. Senator
from Idaho who first sponsored
the Wilderness Act of 1964,
and in 1968 sponsored the
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, it
encompasses 2.3 million acres.
Because it wasn’t designated
as a wilderness area until 1980
the region has several grandfa-
thered ranches and air strips
that allow motorized use. This
allows accessing the interior of
the Salmon River Mountains by
bush plane something unique
outside of Alaska and Canada.
Summer months see white-
water rafters floating down the
river. The early fall finds fly fish-
ermen casting to one of the few
remaining pure strains of west-
slope cutthroat trout. As elk
begin to bugle in mid-Septem-
ber until well after the snow is
deep, it is the big game hunter
that frequents the Middle Fork
of the Salmon River. General
season tags for mule deer and
elk begin in September with
the general deer season closing
at the end of October. Elk sea-
son continues until mid-No-
vember and a special draw for
mule deer allows hunting for
both when the bucks are in rut
and the elk are coming out of
the high country onto the open
slopes to feed. The draw is un-
limited, but Idaho laws dictate
that the special permit tag is
only good for the 18-day season
and only for that unit.
Flying into the Middle Fork
isn’t as complicated as Alas-
ka’s bush but it can be just as
dangerous. Since my first hunt,
flying into Idaho’s backcountry
more than 26 years ago there
have been at least three fatal
crashes while transporting
hunters and hikers. The most