10 October 2016, 01:56
JFWRCYukon Griz and Moose Hunt-Bad Hunt
We talked to Midnight Sun Outfitting at the Sheep Show in Reno last Jan and proceeded to book based on reference from one of our clients, one of our guides, and the fact Larry Potterfield was going with them (we stupidly assumed this was good enough). Our main target was grizzly with moose and caribou secondary. We were to be hunting horseback together in the same camp. We started our discussion with Jessie Young and then were passed on to Logan Young, the daughter and son of Alan Young. Our original dates were Sept 1-12...we were later put off to Sept 22 because Logan indicated that the Larry Potterfield group (mid Hunt) would have moose gut piles to hunt griz over. Sounded legit....We explained to Logan we had a problem with the dates as we needed to be back in NM by the Sept 29 as we had our own hunts beginning bigtime Oct 1. Logan indicated he might be able to work on the dates with us. We finally got word from him to come on and be in Dawson on the 18th or 19th and we would get into camp. To his credit, he did indicate there was some risk as due to weather. I saved his last voice mail to remind me of how upbeat he was about our coming and that this would be a great hunt.
Called the base camp about 3 weeks out to reconfirm plans with Logan, got Jesse, asked for Logan to call. Called again 2 weeks out and left a message....no return call, called 4 days out and got Alan Young only to get the indication he was not real happy with our plans but would TRY to make it work.
Finally got to base camp where Alan was none to happy to see us. We asked about our situation and he indicated we were to be split up going to separate camps, no horses and no moose hunting. WE WERE PISSED....told him we were told otherwise and that if this was the case, we wanted Great River Air back in the next day to get us home. He admitted there were communication problems between he and Logan on this hunt. He agreed and that we should discuss starting over as he never liked to book hunts like this....that we should have had Moose or Sheep as primary (bigger $) and then have griz and caribou secondary. We thought this was sounded ok and planned on going back out to the states the following day and start planning better for 2017.
Next morning...he indicated he had talked to Logan and that he, Logan, emphasized we wanted grizzly and that there was an 8ft bear on a moose kill at Elliot Lake and there WERE Horses there. He said you should go and kill the bear. My partner and I agreed we would give it a try....at least one of us would have a crack at a bear. As we were flying in we saw a great bull moose about 2 miles from the lake just begging to be hunted.....but no moose tags for us as promised. Remember these were part of the package deal we were supposed to have gotten. Salt in the wound.
We met the guides and actually visited with Larry Potterfield for a few minutes as he flew though. Our Guides were great but somewhat confused as to how this hunt got set up the way it did.
Saddled up the next morning to head to the moose kill. Great ride. Got set up and glassed the kill site. No activity, no birds no nothing. After sitting it, we decided to go see the site. THERE HAD BEEN NO BEAR ON THIS KILL, NO NOTHING. Still frozen as it was in the shade and nights were hitting 0. Whiskey Jacks had found it but ravens were no where to be found and the site did not even smell. Not even a wolf.
As we sat and discussed our situation one more thing came out to be the final straw. WE FOUND OUT OUR LICENSES WERE NOT COMPLETED CORRECTLY. They showed us as RESIDENTS. These were purchase by the outfitter. Biggest Bottom line, Alan lied to us about the kill site. Now we were really done....."talk about being set up to get the rest of our money".....we were totally deceived on this entire hunt. No horses, no moose, no hunting together. As we rode back to camp we decided that we needed to get positive about all of this. Surly the outfitter would see that we were not happy campers and would try to salvage something for us before we left. We gave him many opportunities....discounted hunt next year, refund.....something. NO DICE.
We gathered info on some of the major issues going on with Midnight Sun from the guides....Alan splitting the business to kids....and terrible communication among them. Talking with locals indicating issues with Midnight Sun as well.
As we pondered this deal, all we could do is look at the few positives. We saw beautiful country, met the challenges of getting in and out of the Yukon, and met some great guides. Stevie and Levi were great.
We would not recommend going with these outfitters to anyone. Not providing what was agreed upon and the lie about the bear on a kill were unbelievable. This outfit is VERY disorganized, they have poor equipment, and no reliable communication. AVOIDANCE is my recommendation. Should have gone with Blackstone......Our Loss
I will show some pics below. We did have some fun as the country was beautiful and we laughed a lot about how bad the whole ordeal was
What else could we do?
Fun at the border
Made it to Dawson
Downtown Dawson
Downtown Dawson
Mike breaking a locals heart.....he told her that he was married.
View from Base Camp
Leaving Base Camp
Sheep on way to Elliot Lake
Horse reading book with Mike
Saddled Up going to supposed Bear on Kill Site
Riding out
Reality sets in....discussing options
Best and only Option....wait to get the hell out of there.
Mike, Levi, and Stevie
Visit by Game and Fish....Alan had called them to let them know about license screwup. They gave us the green light to hunt....too late
Wolf Track by camp
