After just having returned from an Alberta moose hunt, my hunting partner and myself, along with a local who has just put in for residence in the Yukon are talking about planning a wilderness hunt in 2005.

Our recent trip was somewhat of a delusion; the quantity, quality and distribution of the moose, the location and scenery and most importantly the type of hunting were not what we were hoping for.

I could not go so far as to say that we were mislead or lied to in any direct manner.
More like allowed or encouraged to believe what we preferred our hunt to be like.

What we were expecting, or dreaming about, essentially, was a Yukon wilderness hunt. What we got was a (mostly) road hunt in the industrial forest just out of Edmonton, competing with all the locals.

In fairness, this was a very cheap hunt, and the other aspects of the outfit were very good. The camp was very well run, they were very nice, friendly and obliging people and it was something to look forward to getting back to a warm tent and a hot meal each night.

Now we have had a taste for moose and want more.
A lot more.

We had considered a river float trip, but since weighing the pros and cons, scrapped the idea.
Unless we can get dropped onto a big lake, where we would not have to worry about unfriendly water, travelling from A to B in X days and could set up bear proof pontoons out on the lake.
Otherwise, a pack horse hunt would be nice too.

Now we are talking about a hunt that may be somewhere in the distant future, and for the time being have contacts with a person who put in for (Yukon) residence in August.
He figures he should have it in time to have lived in the Yukon for the necessary 1 year�s residence before being allowed a hunters.

If that goes through without a hitch we may be saved.

Another option we talked about was trying to pick up a cancelled hunt with an outfitter, which should be substantially cheaper, seeing as someone else has already paid half of the amount due. (Although I ask myself; Don�t most outfitters allow you to come back another year?)

Does anyone have any idea as to how we can realize this �dream hunt� in the Yukon, taking big moose trophies, hopefully over 60 inches? We aren�t �trophy� hunters, I wouldn�t have a head scored or entered into any books but we do want a huge rack to take home as a reminder and something to look at in awe when get home.

I never measured the rack I just got in Alberta, although it was a very good one considering the moose populations in the area but it just doesn�t cut it. I have fallow deer on my place with as much antler mass on my place.
What does make up for it was the hunting we finally got to do with our last guide. We hiked into off the roads, and on that particular day did a stalk that lasted for over an hour to get to this moose.
It was beautiful. The wind wasn�t perfect, so we circled, the visibility impaired so we got higher, and it all came together with a shot at around 200m.

What is important more than the rack is the hunt. On this particular hunt, we got neither the great wilderness experience, nor the big moose to look at.

At least on a wilderness pack horse hunt we might get a big moose, or maybe not. But the hunting should be memorable all the same.

Does anyone have suggestions as to how we could go about organizing such a hunt?

I was not surprised by you hunting experience. Once you have been on a few guided hunts you soon realize that you have to read between the lines in their information. You get what you pay for. If you want a wilderness experience you are going to have to pay a high dollar. If someone tells me they are going on a $5000 moose hunt then I know it is just a day trip affair out of some motel or camp someone has set up in a not too great of an area. If you want a wilderness moose hunt I would suggest Northern B.C., Yukon, or N.W.T. and it will cost you double at least what you pay for a cheap hunt.. Do some research and check references. Look on a map where the area is and what the terrain is like. Phone the local wildlife agency in that area and find out if there is an outfit that does quality wilderness hunts. They will also tell you what the area is like and if it matches the outfitters information.
I get a kick out of all those outfitters advertisements in Magazines with all the big heads they portray, most of them are pictures of locals who shot some animal in the past and the outfitter uses the pictures in an attempt to convince all his clients they will get an animal like is advertised. Ther is one deer outfitter here that has a camp full of some of the finest heads taken in the area displayed every fall for when the clients come to hunt. They sit around the table in the evening getting hyped looking at all the trophies never knowing that the outfitter never took any of these animals through his outfit and most didn't even come from the area he hunts. After the hunters are gone the heads go back to the homes of the hunters in the local area who took them. In selecting an outfitter you have to search through a lot of thornes to find a rose.

Ain't that so!

If you are looking at a "regular" guided hunt in the Yukon, you're looking at US$10,000.

If you go to Northern BC, a 10-day hunt can be had for US$7500. Some folks seem to think that the Alaska-Yukon genes are present in Northern BC too, so you have a chance at a relatively big moose for less money. Haven't checked it out in detail myself...truth is, you're not in the heart of BIG moose country, but some 60"-ers apparently get shot there every year (outfitters claim).

When dealing with outfitters, anything short of a cross-examination won't cut it. It's pretty easy to spin a yarn, and tell great tales, but you'll almost have to be a P.I. in your approach and try to shoot holes in the picture he paints you. If anything sounds fishy, run! And the fishiness usually starts with a low price, unfortunatly.

I've had a guy from Kazachstan come to my booth once, wanting me to sell his maral hunts. I asked him a few questions about the hunt, and he was rather non-descriptive in his answers. So Ii asked some more, probing, wanting *details* about the hunt. In the end he came up with a scenario of a driven maral hunt, including the local villagers as beaters. This sounded so strange to me, I asked for some references. At first he came with excuses why he didn't have their contact details, then he promised to send me some...I never heard from him again.

But that's all beside the point of your question....are you actually asking how you can arrange for this hunt on a DIY basis? Using your local resident as a Hunter Host sort-of-thing?

Frans

Frans, that's that's more or less what I'm asking.

We have a few contacts in Canada, some of whom have shown enthousiasm to organize a wilderness hunt in the Yukon and other areas.

Something like the Alaskan self guided would be great too but we don't have any friends there to go with.

One of these people, who spent a season guiding in the Yukon as well as some time(not guiding, I think it was rafting of something) sustained that Alaska is not as wild or untouched as the Yukon.

I guess that will vary from which areas of the Yukon you visit and which areas of Alaska you visit.

Essentially, seeing as we don't yet have a copy of the Yukon territories regulations to read from, some local advice would be handy.

I'm assuming you've already seen this:

http://environmentyukon.gov.yk.ca/hunting/hunting.shtml

It's a bit meagre...many provinces/territories publish the whole thing on-line....

Who was it that was doomed to spend his winter in Alberta, was it Yukoner? He seemed to know the regs regarding Hunter Host things.

In Alberta I could only take one of you, and only if I hadn't done so in the two years prior to your hunting here...

Frans

Just another thought for you to think over. You might hire the best outfitter in the best area with the best camp and equipment. Dosen't mean you will get a 60" bull or even see one for that matter. For every guy that gets lucky and gets a 60 or 70 inch bull there are a thousand other guys who don't. Your chances are better when you spend more money in the right area but there are no guarantees. The area you hunted here has Boone and crockett class whitetails in it but I bet you never saw one. I'm just trying to say that big antlered game is very difficult to get no matter where you are. I know guys who have hunted moose for decades in the best areas for trophy's and none of them have gotten a decent moose for that area. It takes a lot of luck to be in the right place at the right time. A lot of foreign hunters have a preconcieved notion that trophy animals are everywhere in north america and all you have to do is hire a guide to take you out and you will get one. As far as wilderness is concerened, IMHO there is none left, at least on this planet. There are places where humans very seldom go but there is NOWHERE on earth that man has not left evidence of his presence.

Express,
Be extremely carefulabout putting up your hard earned money before you check out the refrences.
Ask for both successful and unsuccessful hunters and check everything out. I booked a Caribou hunt that was supposed to have been 100% from the opening of it 13 years earlier. Come to find out one year nothing was killed and the way they come up with 100% kill was some hunters killed 2 Caribou so they divided the total kill by the number of hunters and decided a Caribou had been killed for every hunter. Some outfitters will tell you anything they think you want to hear to get that money. After you pay you have very little recourse if the hunt isn't what they say it is. Believe me I have taken it on the chin a few times.

Hawkeye47

Express,
I share -I think- your feelings re a road side hunt.Over the years I have become better seperating the ads from the good men.It takes a lot of work,reading between the lines,listening to hunters references,etc.Will not divulge all my "tricks" so outfitters get the better of me next time.But its a given that an outfitter will try to sell his hunt-regardless of his ability,expertise,track record,method and area.
You will therefore usually hear what you want to hear when talking to him ,scouting the issue.
2nd point: a hunt is far more than a big trophy.
If the trophy is not gotten in a memorable experience its not worth the effort ,moeny or time.Far better is beautiful country, hard work,
nice "hunt".What we are after is getting both.That takes work.

3: I hunted for sheep in 03 with Chris Widrig in the Yukon.I learned to like him and appreciate his honesty.His main income is the yearly moose hunt.He provides true wilderness environment and experience,no roads.Dont know what he charges for moose.
I am not connected with him.
You cannot go wrong talking with him and learning
then compare.
Tell him I sent you,he will give a smile.Many of his hunters are return customers.A good sign for a decent outfit.
DOnt mind spending some more for a wilderness hunt.Its fare more memorable than a kill-hunt

sheephunter

[ 11-23-2003, 00:00: Message edited by: sheephunter ]

Ok guys, I don't want to come across the wrong way here.

I realize full well that taking or even seeing a huge mose is anything like a sure thing, no matter where you go.

That is why I am so bent on organizing a great HUNT in an awesome, humbling place, regardless of what the outcome may be.

Can any of you imagine what is must be like to travel half way across the world to the great white north(so you think) only to find that all you will be doing for the next ten days is sitting in a truck listening to music or bullshitting to your "guide"?

Even if we did come away with 50" moose from Alberta, neither of us could have said it was a memorable hunt.

Please, no-one think for a minute that I or my hunting partner in this project believe that we can buy success or organize a 100% success hunt.

We would both rather not spend $10,000 for a hunt.

Being fit, motivated and well experienced (I hope I can say that) we can handle ourselves in the wilderness/bush, call it what you will.

Hence the option of a hunt, minus the outfitter and pro guide makes for a much better hunt prospect for us.
Our chances of success with a big trophy will be considerably lower but the chance of having a truly memorable an genuine experience are, nearly, %100.

Now a more specific question;
Does anyone know anything about "float" camps on lakes?

The idea of setting up a base camp then using the lake to travel and ferry gear to spike camps appeals.

Hi Joe. I've seen float camps for fishing camps on northern lakes, I've never seen them used for hunting. I think in a lot of these places the season would preclude setting up on lakes (they would be frozen). I think for a near self guided hunt for large moose, with a reasonable chance of success, you are looking at the extreme NW corner of Alberta, northern BC, the Yukon, or western NWT. I'm afraid I don't know the rules for the other provinces and territories (it's been a while since I lived in any of them), but Jim (your last guide last trip here) would have a working knowledge of the Yukon's rules. There are posters here from all these places and they can probably give you more current information. As with your experience west of Edmonton, a willingness to work your way into the bush where the animals are at least makes your chances a good deal better. If you don't go where the moose are, you are doomed to road hunters' luck. There are extrememly isolated places in all these locations, and the thing they all share is that it isn't easy to get there. FWIW - Dan

Express,

You may or may not have gathered from some of my frustrated posts on this forum that it is flippin' hard to come to a strange country and do a successfull hunt. I came here in February, and even with some tips of AR members I had a ***** frustrating black bear season. The country is just too large/great/wide to expect to fly in and find the places where the big ones (or even the little ones) congregate.

E.g. NW of Calgary I've been after moose (scouting for future guiding) . I've been in places where rental 4x4's won't get you, unless you bought **very** good insurance. Yet, only by chance I've stumbled upon some places that held moose, even though all the rest of the country around it looked like mule deer/cougar country (dry pines).

I've had rather specific directions from folkes on this forum, like Dan, and still couldn't find the **** place to hunt, heck, there wasn't even a place to park the car without getting stuck or blocking the trail.

I totally understand what you want, but unless you hook up with a dedicated individual, knowing his way around *very* well, and willing to do the guide's /outfitter's thing for you without getting paid, I don't see it happening easily.

No way a few casual remarks from the likes of us is going to bring you the wilderness hunt of a lifetime.

If only for the legal sides of things, that won't allow you to hunt on your own. Some of the Eastern provinces do, but not out West.

Frans

The only way you can hunt in BC without an outfitter is if you were related directly to a BC resident. That is, brother/father/daughter/son/mother. Maybe grandfather/mother...But not uncle or cousin.

If you were a Canadian citizen, any BC resident can sponsor you.

If you want a hunt with no roads, you need to go to an area with no roads And that means either horse pack or fly in...

If you want a big moose, you have ot look at norhtern BC, Yukon, or Alaska.

Check out canadahunter.com . They have been around for about 8 years and are getting a good rep.They offer fly in hunts in a true wilderness setting for well under 10 grand.

YADDA YADDA YADDA

Express,

In order to hunt big game in the Yukon you need to be:
- a resident who has resided there for one year
- a CANADIAN resident who can be sponsered every three years by a Yukon resident (who can only sponser a Canadian every three years)
- or by a licensed outfitter

If you are not a candian resident, you have to go through an outfitter otherwise it is illegal.

I passed this info on to you last winter when you were inquiring about hunting wolves and coyotes. If it were legal I would have made a deal with you.

I would recomend Widrig Outfitters as well. I worked as a guide for him. You will be hard pressed to find a better wilderness hunt. I guided moose hunts in Northern B.C as well. Lots of moose but 60 inchers are rare. Does not even come close to the yukon for BIG moose.

Daryl

EXUSE My first post on this topic (yadda yadda yadda) I am using someone elses computer and I was just testing to see if I could get on. For some reason I can't get the EDIT function to work.

Daryl