Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Flight service--it is buyer beware

Me, my family and friends have been flying with 70 North since the first year they started flying from Happy Valley. I consider Mike, Bob and Mark friends. I'm a private pilot myself as well as an A&P mechanic, so I know a little about what it takes to both fly and to operate aircraft from a remote location. I just this week received an insurance quote of 14K for insurance on a Super Cub for personal use so I can't even imagine what their cost are, but I'm sure it is astronomical. Flying hunters for a month or so I'm sure only makes up a fraction of what it takes to make a flying business work from such a remote location.

They have always went what I consider to be above and beyond when both flying us and making sure we were cared for while waiting to be flown in or out.

In the last 12 years I have flown with transporters from all over the state and IMHO 70 North does as good or better job than most of them out there.

I have seen them turn Caribou hunters away in years where the bou were simply not around yet and that is far more than many would do. Most of the other transporters I have used would simply fly you out for a paid camping trip.

They provide transportation, not guide services so if you ask to be taken some place to hunt sheep and fail to kill one,,, well that would hardly be their fault.

Mr Cal,, your complaint would hold much more validity if in every place you post your grievance, you would simply state your beef and not provide links to "your website" one could believe that you are using drama to drive views to your site??

Anyone that has ever done business knows that it is not possible to make each and every customer happy and the one unhappy customer will make more noise than a thousand happy ones.

Mr Cal, it is regrettable that you were less than satisfied with the trip you had with 70 North. I can only say that my experience with them has always been very enjoyable and I look forward to seeing them all each fall.

My Son and I will be again using their service this fall and IMHO, trusting them to fly the one person on this earth I love the most says more than any words I could share here.

As to the reasons they have changed their pricing practices I can only speculate because I have not ask,, but I do know on numerous occasions hunters have had a herd of caribou come near their camp after they called for pick up and lacked the discipline to not kill several more. I'm sure any hunter can see how this would have a ripple effect on others waiting to be flown from the field when they now have to wait for the group needing both extra flights and extra time to butcher more caribou.

As far as unhappy sheep hunters goes,, not everyone that takes a rifle into the mountains are "sheep hunters" I have always seemed to find one or two.













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