Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Why are Yukon Moose Hunts so expensive?

Is it just because they have the lagest racked Bulls?
Buckfever1

No...

Dennis

Good question...

cause everyone keeps paying the asking price!!!! :))

What's expensive? 14k 17k?

Very Short season in which to pay expenses.....probably only guides a couple moose hunts a year.

In Africa, a guide works for several months where a moose guide may have a month at most and often less

Would also think the expense of getting LARGE carcasses out of the bush would add to the cost.

Alan

The predominate reason why the price-range for guided moose hunts in Alaska are so expensive, is because hunters (clients) are willing to pay the exorbitant price.

My wilderness hunts are merely half the price of what other guides offer and I take but two moose hunters each year and I certainly don't have any problem paying my expenses, including aircharter fees.

The main reason why prices are as expensive as they are, is because the industry has steadily raised prices because the market is willing to pay whatever price.

My wheelers, trailers and equipment to hunt as a local around 30K plus investment or more so when you factor in those costs it gets expensive. Lack of access drives costs up greatly.

Tresspass fees are becoming the norm any more. Any accessible areas have lots of competition for limited moose.

Price cost per hour for a Beaver on floats times and you will soon understand costs. (2 hrs in equals 8 hrs total time). Most air taxis will not take you to a primo spot, reserved for high volume clients.

A buddy of mine and I were just talking about this a week or so ago. He found that it was more economical to go to Africa and do a plains game hunt(7 head), rather than go to AK for a moose or bear hunt.

Either trip will be a once in a lifetime kind of hunt for my buddy, and I really can't blame him for trying to get the most bang for his buck. Took him 8 years to save up for it!

18k isn't a whole lot of money for some people. Probably is an average vacation for them. I don't blame guides for charging it. It's not cheap to operate a good camp in a remote location.

I know that in my operation it costs a small fortune each year to conduct business and do hunts in remote locations here in Alaska. However, I am still able to keep my price(s) affordable for the "average" hunter. In other words, I'm not looking to get rich or to have clients my invest in a "Trump-like" retirement plan".

But, all things being equal in light of doing business in the United States, those guides/outfitters who charge exorbitant price for hunts is but one of the perks of living in a capitalist country that has a free society, because companies can and do charge whatever they want and the market will pay for it, if it's something valuable.

I don't blame them either, Calvin. Especially if they can fill their season with booked hunts. The couple of guides that I knew up there were very hard working guys.

I can't imagine having $18,000 to blow on a vacation! Would be nice though!

Another thing to consider when thinking about going on an Alaska hunt or waiting till a future date when it might be more affordable in a personal/familial sense, is that if the State has it's way with the proposed prospectus plan (state land outfitter concession idea) the price of hunts is going to go up, significantly. I would estimate that over the course of a couple years or so after implementation of a prospectus regulation, hunt prices will rise 30-50% above what they are now.

Maverick,

What area do you operate in?

18k will get you hunting out of one of Shockeys camps, or a really good area in AK.

For moose, I have a drawing permit area and an over-the-counter tag area. In that way, if a client doesn't want to play the odds of obtaining a tag and wants to hunt in the immediate future, he can hunt the over-the-counter area. As previously mentioned, I only take two moose hunters each year. With that said and in theory, I usually have one moose hunter in the drawing permit area and one moose hunter in the OTC area each year. My hunts are all-inclusive from Anchorage, including aircharter to/from the field. I do all the guiding, myself.

The closest thing to a Yukon Moose hunt for me is watching "Rackman". Might be as close as I'll ever get...

You have a website?

Ask for background of the costs the guides have to incur for their area from more than one outfit to get informed. Also supply and demand, free market system, you get what you pay, etc. are the common sense factors to this luxury.