Flying in. Planes, options and costs

[Backwoods]

First thing is the expense to get up north from where you live. I'm 23hr from Dease Lake and own a pick up, so theres 12-1300 in fuel to get there and back. Depending on who you fly with, how far you fly and how many trips out it takes, the flying bill can be huge. For two guys a Cessna 180 would get you in I think. You wanna land on a lake and hike in, land in a valley and hike? Bush plane and float plane would be a factor to price maybe. If you do like us, you shoot two huge moose at the lake when hanging for a day before the plane and causing two extra flights out with the meat and antlers, oooops the bill just got bigger. Now, you need to buy a Kimber MA, Swaro scope, good spotter, lots of Kuiu stuff etc. Dude, you just blew $10,000. Now go and enjoy, it's like crack, very addicting!! Can't wait till August!

Yup this is all so true hahaha!!

[cuervosail]

As others have said, options are very limited when flying out of Dease Lake. I've been doing some investigating this past week. In previous year's threads, Ootsa Air was mentioned as an option. When I e-mailed, I got a one line reply saying I need to contact Keith at BC/Yukon Air. From my understanding, it's the company that operates a Beaver out of Dease Lake and outfitter's needs come first. Others have mentioned this one various threads on here. A friend of mine flew with them last year and was required to make changes to hunt plan when he was told he wasn't going to get dropped off at the lake where he wanted to ... no doubt because outfitter's client was in there. I also contacted Alpine Lakes Air this week. They got back to me right away with rates(2016) out of Tatogga Lake. A Cessna 206 and a 185 fly out of there, except during the last week of June when a Turbo Otter is at Tatogga. To Coldfish Lake, ALA's 2016 rate sheet shows $650 (one-way) with 850 lbs payload. The rate sheet also says ...
"weight limitations are firm (no exceptions); antlers must fit inside the aircraft (no external loads except canoes); we prefer all meat deboned and put into containers provided by us; and all meat hauls have to be accompanied by a hunter."

[Salmon Belly]

I've flown Alpine out of Tatogga in the 206 -- great experience, reliable on-time and friendly. Always be prepared for weather delays or changes of plan no matter where or who you're flying with.

SB

[Cordillera]

There is also Tsatia out of telegraph creek. Usually a beaver.

And Tsatia has an islander on wheels out of dease lake. There are a few wheel strips around.

For a moose hunt (ie September) if you are careful three guys can pack a very comfortable camp, including a wall tent and a canoe, and fit in a beaver. That is your most cost effective option. The Cessna is perfect for two hunters and gear. Some people overpack and can't get all their gear in a beaver.

For the return trip two moose means one extra flight.

There are some moose lakes that are not a long distance from dease lake. And there are some that are a very long ways away.

[two-feet]

My buddy and i flew out of dease 2015 season, one trip in and one trip out with the beaver. $10/mile, 40 mile minimum. So around $800. Pay load of around 1200 lbs. so we allowed around 300 lbs of gear all in so we could fly out with a moose. We had an inflatable kayak that weighed around 90 lbs, this meant we each had aprox 100lbs of gear. Food and beer did not count as it was disposed of in the bush. Doing fire wood with an axe and bow saw keeps you warm twice ha ha. And we had to share the lake we were on.

[Steelpulse]

Also looking into flying out of Whitehorse or Atlin for a hunt this year

[srupp]

Pilot out of Atlin...awesome..exceptional pilot..good guy..highly recomend ed.
Srupp

[two-feet]

My buddy and i flew out of dease 2015 season, one trip in and one trip out with the beaver. $10/mile, 40 mile minimum. So around $800. Pay load of around 1200 lbs. so we allowed around 300 lbs of gear all in so we could fly out with a moose. We had an inflatable kayak that weighed around 90 lbs, this meant we each had aprox 100lbs of gear. Food and beer did not count as it was disposed of in the bush. Doing fire wood with an axe and bow saw keeps you warm twice ha ha. And we had to share the lake we were on.

I should have said $800 per leg, so $1600 all in

[Livinlarge]

Well looks like I'll be be needing more specific info for flyin options since we got drawn for 6-29 dalls!

[tuffcityhunter]

I was really hoping for that tag this year, congrats and I hope you have a great trip.
For some reason i seem to recall that you cant fly into 6-29 only walk in for the west side of the road.
Am I correct?