A good friend of mine just returned a few days ago from a long float on the Mulchatna. He witnessed some very questionable hunting practices by what appeared to be an outfitter out of Iliamna. Does any one know if their is an outfitter in Iliamna with up to four Super Cubs ?(One may be Maroon) and a truck/van that says "Alaskan Big Game Hunting" on the side of it used at the airport.

I woudln't be surprised. I saw some of the worst blatant meat waste there, bags of meat left out in the sun crawling with flies. Its sad really. Illiamna is a nice area though.

Thankyou HE WILL CONTINUE LOOKING INTO THIS

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Originally posted by chuck5656:
A good friend of mine just returned a few days ago from a long float on the Mulchatna. He witnessed some very questionable hunting practices by what appeared to be an outfitter out of Iliamna. Does any one know if their is an outfitter in Iliamna with up to four Super Cubs ?(One may be Maroon) and a truck/van that says "Alaskan Big Game Hunting" on the side of it used at the airport.

chuck5656, exactly what were the questionable practices he witnessed? Some things seen by people who have little experience in Alaska, may simply be mistaken about what they are actually seeing. That is not to say the guy may have seen real violations,but till we know what they were, it is hard to make a judgement!

Thebear meat left out in the sun, could have been bear damaged meat, that must brought out anyway. this meat is usually given to the local Indians, and is used to feed their dogs.

I have hunted the Mulchatna basin for many years, sometimes out of Anchorage, sometimes out of Soldatna, or Lake Clark, but mostly out of Illiamna. I have floated the Mulchatna from Half cabin Lake, to Overlook Mountain, at Nick's landing. Hunted south west of Illiamna,about 50 miles to Sow Lake, the name of this lake is not on most maps,and was named by our hunting party back in 1998, but is on the map in the lobby of the Illiamna airport.

Since I have some background in this area, I'd be interested in hearing more details on this particular thread. I've not used this outfitter, and usually fly out with Illiamna Air Taxi owned by the LePort family.

PS: The area around SOW LAKE, is crawling with big Brown Bear,in September, on their way bact to the hills for den-up, from Katmai Ntl Park, in case anyone is interested in them. Let me give this warning, however, these bears have been around people all summer, and are somewhat cheeky, and are not intimadated by people at all, so be carefull of them. They will walk right into your camp in broad daylight, with you standing there, and take what ever they want, and dare you to do anything about it! The last time we were there the bears destroyed food boxes about 100 yds from or tents, and ruined three caribou of ours, and two that belonged to some hunters camped on the other side of a hill, but left their meat with ours on our lake, for pick-up.
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This was meat in game bags that they brought in with all of their gear and just left it sitting against the side of thier cabin. They didn't take any other steps to keep the meat clean or in good condition. I've been around up here long enough to know what is going on. They were out of state hunters after antlers. They took great care of thier capes and skulls, but didn't care much for the meat. They left it all there after they flew out. I had been there for several weeks workign on the roads and airport.

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This was meat in game bags that they brought in with all of their gear and just left it sitting against the side of thier cabin. They didn't take any other steps to keep the meat clean or in good condition.

Thebear_78 Im not saying that all hunters are on top of the heap, some are not! The fact is, however,that the meat may have already been bad before it was flown into Illiamna, and no care would have saved it! It is possibleas well, that the meat was donated to a local who failed to collect it, or as you say simply that the hunters simply didn't want the meat, but is required to bring it out of the field.

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They were out of state hunters after antlers. They took great care of thier capes and skulls, but didn't care much for the meat. They left it all there after they flew out.

Here again, I understand that locals in Alaska are prone to find fault with anyone who isn't from Alaska, and seem to look for things to cuss about. In the 26 years I've been hunting Alaska, on a yearly basis, I've seen far more unethical practices in the field by locals, than from out of staters. So the fact that they were out of state hunters, has little to do with the indictment of them as slobs. A full 90% of the meat I harvest in Alaska is donated to locals, legally, and at least one time, the donated meat was left at the Illiamna hanger and was not picked up, so had to be dumped, and it was prime meat, only three days old, and in perfect condition. We eat what we want in camp, and donate the rest, most times.

On the outfitter thing that started this string, I was in Illiamna airport when a group of Canadian hunters was flown in, and were hot under the collar about their outfitter, who was supposed to fly back, in three days, to drop off fresh water, and pick up meat. These guys were dropped off on a mountain ridge, with a full camp, where there was no water, or firewood, and left with "ONE" bottle of propane,for cooking, and heating, and 2 gallons of water, for four men for 12 days. Then after not returning, with water, or propane, or to pick up meat, was two days over due, when another pilot, from another outfitter, dropped in to fly them out, and they never saw the outfitter again. The guy got their money, and simply forgot them, and had someone else pick them up rather than face them. He's lucky he didn't fly out there, because I have an idea, he would have gotten a grown man's butt kicking! If I had to guess, I say the outfitter in this case is the same A..hole as the one I witnessed, but if so, it is a wounder he is still alive!

Fact of the matter is THEY, the out of state hunters left the meat and did not care for it so they are liable for it. If you got their names or other info just report them to Fish and Game and let them handle it.

I will talk to him as soon as he gets home in a few days from a business trip and get the EXACT details again from him so I am sure it is right. I think the main gist was hunters killing game the same day as flying,directed to the game by the plane, and leaving ASAP