I am a current membor of APHA and BW does bring up some interesting points however he is wrong about the state regulating the number of bears a guide can take. In fact the state constitution expressly forbids guides from having exclusive areas or regulates the take of any animals. The supreme court ruling upholding this has been detrimental to quality hunting and game populations state wide. However the US gov't does regulate guides and places a limit on THE NUMBER OF CLIENTS a guide can take - not the number of animals - as animals still belong to the state.
Still, in reguards to BW's concerns, APHA does have a checkered past and has been extremely self-serving in some issues but the current regeim and membership is predominately composed of honest, hard working folks that put the greater good of wildlife and ETHICAL hunting foremost.

and the $$ is still going to them, why not just put the tag into the draw an ear mark only for federal land. that way no special interest group get prefered treatment!!!!!
The APHA has held hunters both res. and non res. hostage for high guiding fees on federal land long enough!!!!!

High Guiding fees ? Yes they are expensive. I couldn't afford my own hunts but the gov't requires guides carry insurance which in my case amounts to over $1000 per client and I have never had a claim or accident. Plus aircraft expense amounting to almost another $1000 per client and I do minimal flying - not the everyday stuff many do. Plus food, tents, cooking and heating, assist guide wages at $3000 to $4500 per hunt, advertising, travel, etc,etc.
Hunting in Alaska is EXPENSIVE and running a quality camp even more so. Nobody is holding anybody hostage. It is supply and demand and the demand is high and nobody can mass produce good hunting.

458win,

Appreciate your thoughtful response on this subject. Surely you know much more than most here, or even in the industry.

But, even if the State only limits the number of actual clients a guide may take each season, the fact that each client can only take one brown bear seems in fact to be a limit on the actual numbers of bear the guide can take. In other words, a limit of eight clients per year equals an eight bear limit. I could be wrong though.

I would appreciate it if you could expand on your statement...

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In fact the state constitution expressly forbids guides from having exclusive areas or regulates the take of any animals. The supreme court ruling upholding this has been detrimental to quality hunting and game populations state wide.

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Are you suggesting that guides be given 'exclusive' hunting rights in certain areas, even to the extent of placing the area off-limits to other hunters, resident or non-resident?

Thanks again! It's good to hear that APHA is on the right track. As I visit their out-dated website, I see the names of several friends/aquaintences there.

don't try and tell me of the operation costs associated with your profession are at any higher of a % than anyothers. I too run my own business. what you forgot to mention is YOUR bottom line.
I still feel no special interest group should get prefered treatment for tags that are being used on public land.

As I mentioned, the state of Alaska now allows guides to operate anywhere with no restrictions on how many guides or number of clients can use an area each season. As you can imagine this has been detrimental to game populations. Easily accessable areas and known good game areas on state land are being overhunted. The U.S. gov't on the other hand saw that guides had to be restricted in order to protect game so kept the old "exclusive guide area" concept in place and came up with a process of rating guides and then granting exclusive guiding concessions to them for ten years. This meant that if a guide intended to stay in business he had to manage his area. In order to assure that this happened the federal process was quite thorough and extensive and judged guides on past proven ability, client satisfaction, impact on refuge, number of proposed clients, safety, training, equipment, knowledge of area and game, etc.
The exclusive guiding concession only applies to guides or outfitters. It regulates commerce and in no way affects the resident or non-resident hunters ability to hunt where ever they choose.

Ballbuster doesn't say where he operates his business from or what it is but I'll bet his profit margin is considerably higher than any Alaskan guide. When someone who runs a car wash, or construction firm, or small store in the lower 48 claims to know all about how much money guides in Alaska make all they tell me is they really don't understand business, and especially business in Bush Alaska, as well as they claim. Running any business is always tougher than it appears from those outside who only see the $$$ coming in but I'll bet he doesn't have to fly EVERY single item he uses, from TP to gasoline, including the buildings he operated from, 350 miles either in or tied to the outside of a small airplane (my airstrip is 800 FEET long) Then build the building himself with out electricity. (Remember the nearest highway is 350 miles and our nearest neighbor is 70 miles away)
Then try to give quality service to successful clients and when anything breaks or goes wrong have to eat a $350 charter flight just to pick up a $20 part that you can't do without.

you are correct I did not say and after your last double post I intend to allow you to guess for yourself:
I spent 9 yrs in school post high @ $70,000-$80,000/yr followed by another $125,000 for membership dues/yr every yr then have the good fortune to be asked to pay $350,000/yr (and more) for insurance and on top of that be required to attend training classes a mim. of 180hrs/yr or loose the right to pursue my proffesion until I do.BB

Phil,

I have no problem with your profit margin. I do have an important question for you though. Do you remember that 505 Bauska you picked up in Wasilla? Well I bought the other one that was chambered for 416 Remington. It would appear from your writing that your rifle was no more ready for the field than mine. I've often thought of dropping you a note about it but never got to it until now.

I finally got mine pretty tweaked with no real help from the seller but ended up selling it because I was just so disgusted with the whole affair.

So you were not the only sucker on that deal!

Regards,

Mark

On state lands there is no limit as to how many guides can operate in any one area. Guides have to choose three areas but every guide in Alaska could choose those same areas.

Mark, Bob Dixon worked wonders on my Bauska and finally corrected it's correctable faults. It still has a .510 dia barrel but shoots both .505 and .510 bullets well enough for any uses it is appropriate for. Too bad about yours. I guess if CZ does come out with their big bores we can try that route although they aren't perfect from the box either.