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.

Yes, I oftentimes receive those kind of questions myself, from prospective clients. Most of the time the question is why my prices are by-and-large lower than most of my competitors. Basically speaking, I don't operate a lodge-type camp and I don't have employees, other than myself and two pilots. Those factors alone cut operation(s) cost by a substantial margin.

Interesting, no employees? How do you get the moose out after it is shot? What does the client do if you are spending a couple of days packing out meat? What specific areas do you hunt? I wouldnt mind a guided hunt if the area was a good one and the price was right. It costs me $6,000 in gas to run from from the haul road to the Koyukuk in my jet boat.

All moose meat and the antlers and cape are carried on our backs, just as we did it back in the old days. In most of my area, meat must remain naturally attached to the bone (quarters and ribs) and that's a regulatory requirement. Generally speaking, it takes me and a hunter one full day to move one bull moose a distance of one mile. Generally speaking, that's about as far as anyone can or even should pack a bull moose in Alaska, if they're sincere about salvaging all the meat before salvaging antlers and cape, which is also a regulatory requirement.

Which areas are the hunts in? Early or late season?

Wowsa, wouldnt expect to write a check for a guided hunt then have to carry out the quarters, lol. Maybe this is why you are cheaper:)

Some hunters have the mindset that a hunt must be better if it cost more. P.T Barnum folks...P.T. Barnum!

Alan

Almost 100% of my bookings are repeat clients and that's in reference to all the species, across the board. When a client books a hunt with me, he's doing so for the total experience and the educational aspect. In terms of moose hunts in my region of Alaska, there's neither an "early" season nor a "late" season. The moose season in my guide-use-area(s) is during September.

No early or late seasons? Along the Koyukuk and other areas along the Yukon there are distint early and late seasons. This applies to putting in for moose permits as well. Generally the early season is considered approximately the 1-15th and the late is the 15th to the 25th. Surprised you wouldnt be aware of this as I thought all areas along the Yukon required non residents to have a permit. I know most, if not all areas up there requires residents to have a permit to bring the horns out intact. Surprised any resident would buy a guided hunt without a permit if the horns are going to be cut and the cut piece given to F&G per their regs.

I wouldn't consider the first two weeks of a month versus the last two weeks of an individual month as being "early season" versus "late season". And, although I'm fully aware of certain regulations in the region you hunt, those area-specific regulations are not applicable in the region whereas I have my GUA's.

Maverick

Sounds like you run the type of hunt I'd want. I don't want to show up in a robe and slippers and be pointed around..... and when I shoot one, I'm just as happy if you hold the legs while I skin, gut, cape the head, flesh it out etc...
And I certainly have no qualms at all about a hard pack to where we need to get it.

Just doesn't seem fair to fly in, pull the trigger and leave....

And Mountain house is fine by me... I don't come to eat, I come to hunt....

jeff

Rost:

I sent a PM to you via this site.

Maverick

+1

From a guide's perspective, I'd rather kill the primary animal early in the hunt so we can hunt something else for the remainder of the hunt. Also, by killing the primary animal early, it takes a lot of the stress off so that it's a little easier to "relax" and enjoy the rest of the hunt. But, sometimes big game hunts go right down to the wire. I've seen a lot of hunts - including my own personal hunts - go right down to the last minute of the last day, when the primary animal was eventually killed.

Good posts Maverick.

More of an trout and grouse hunter but if I had coin to blow on an Alaska adventure I would prefer an hunt in the format Maverick provides.

It would be nice to go in and take time enjoying the location and adventure as well as the hunt. Getting there is half the adventure.

Paying inflated prices to hunt is ridiculous. $18,000 is just far too much for the common person for an single species, at least for my pocketbook. Its sad that everything in life is super regulated and all activity in life is dictated by how great of funds one has.

The only way I could afford an hunt is to move to Alaska, become an resident and do an DIY boat or float hunt. Hey, half the fun is getting there.

Yeah, back in "the day", guys like Jack O'Conner used to travel two or three weeks just to get to the "point-of-outfitting", before even beginning to hunt. Those were the days ....

Oldpine- you don't have to be a resident to do that I've been doing it for nearly a decade up there OMO. Its the only way I can afford it. It takes some hard work and lots of research but if your willing to trade sweat equity and your own time it can be done at a very reasonable $. Not to take anything away from the Guides here at all they have to make a living .My biggest gripe right now is with the state for locking me out of sheep goat and brown bear. I can go hunt moose down on the peninsula and have just as much of a chance of having a bad bear encounter as I would if I was there bear hunting, I can backpack or Ice climb to the highest mountain peak in Alaska and its ok but put a gun and a sheep tag in my hand and all of a sudden its a problem, doesn't make sense to me. But hey those are the rules and there is nothing I can do about it so I'm out of the those 3 species in AK.

Or you can do what most of us did, move up here and become a resident:)

Maverick,

You sound like the kind of guide most of us would want to hunt with.

+1

Well when you start pricing things like a Super Cubs to buy and what goes into keeping one in an airworthy state and the farther from the road you go, costs go up. Short seasons and high over head. Then again just because some ask 18 K for a moose hunt dose not mean you have to buy it either. Never mind the add ons to a stock Piper Cub, they install. Those big fat tundra tires are around 5K and that is just for the tires. And of course Piper stopped making Super Cubs almost 30 years ago. Cub Crafters will build you a new one, plan on 250K and then some for one. More if you go Aviat Husky. Nobody ever said big game hunting was a cheap sport, it never was, even hunting my local white tails is not cheap, considering how deer hunting is conducted in CT.

Yes sir, it costs a lot to operate up here. My annual aircharter bill for two operators is 25 grand. When you start adding insurance and food and gear and licensing and permits and fees and gasoline and whatnot, you quickly realize it's a costly business. And, that's before beginning to pay a telephone bill or electricity or office expenses or advertising or whatever.

It didn't bother me a bit when I carried 107# 9 miles from spike back to base camp. Kinda enjoyed it, in fact...