Surprisingly the below hunt is still open. 'O8 is completely booked with several bookings for '09 but this hunt wit hideal dates is still open for '07. At this point Fred will discount this hunt from $11,500 to $10,000 even. This includes bush flight, trophy and meat haul, transport of trophy to expiditer in Anchorge as well as nine days hunting.

If you need an Alaska/Yukon moose this may be your chance. Good dates, high success rate and a discounted price.

OLD AD:

Fred Sorenson has 2 openings for moose Sept 11-19,'07 at the beginning of the rut. Fred runs about 90%+ success and last year averaged 60". This particular moose hunt is not a butt buster as most of the country can be covered by Polaris Ranger or tract vehicle. The hunt runs $11,500 1x1.

Contact me anytime for further info.

Mark

Mark,

Let me get this straight. 14,500 for Brown Bear and..... 11,500 for Moose......are you kidding or what. Who is paying that much to hunt Moose? 5 Years ago Brownies were 12-13000.......and you could get a Moose hunt anywhere for less than 6000. 10 Years ago I did Moose AND Caribou for 4500. Someone has Moose on the brain!

Woody

It all depends on who you hunt with where. Moose has become a valued big game animal in the last 10 years and everyone wants one that measures 60 inches or better. With the price of fuel and all I don't see the prices coming down.......ever.

Well, for 11500 it better be 100% guaranteed opportunity on a 60"or come back next year no charge! Besides, Moose are not in the same league with Brown Bear so I still can't justify the high cost. This is why we need to bring the trophy fee concept to the States. 60" Moose= 6000+5000 trophy fee if you connect. Otherwise, I will book a 7000 Moose hunt and be satisfied with a 55" and leave the expensive ones for the "gotta have a bigger one than yours" crowd.

Woodrow,
If it helps any, gas is $4.61 per gallon in Dillingham, milk is $7.00, and you can guess the rest. Operating here is expensive like you can't believe.
I'm not a guide, I don't work for or help any guide, but I do live in rural Alaska, so I understand the economics. I'm under the impression that the sport guides in my area make very little after paying expenses.

Woody

The reality is as Scott King said nobody is getting rich. John Peterson our brown bear operator has just jumped his price because he saw other outfits in his game GMU delivering 25-30% success rates on bears and charging much more than he was. John is consistently 75-80% on good bears so his logic in raising his price is pretty clear. I know others that are charging $16000.

On the moose we work with Fred Sorenson in the Alaska range and he consistently averages around 60" with about 90% plus success rate. He puts on a quality trouble free hunt that is conducted from a comfortable camp and is not a butt buster. Also this area has lots of moose where many of the best producing areas of the past are presently experienceing a decline in numbers. People are willing to pay for a quality experience like that. In fact if you start some research you'll find much higher prices.

Mark

Mark,

I think the high prices in Alaska and Western Canada have more to do with supply and demand than fuel prices. I would love to have a good goat but I can make 2 Ibex hunts in Asia for very little more than a goat hunt. No Question about which trophy is the most impressive!!!!

Hawkeye47

I understand that Alaska is expensive to operate in...but it always has been. If anyone has evidence that the cost of hunts in Alaska, whether sheep,bears,moose or caribou has not taken a quantum leap in cost...post it. OK, lets look at it this way...cost to operate over the past 5 years is up 50% BUT the cost of hunting there went up 100%. This may not be exact numbers here but you can see my point. It would be hard to argue that most operators are charging whatever the market will bear (read the post on what Mark wrote about the bear operator...he raised prices based on what others were charging, not on economics of his costs) so when someone raises the price everyone else follows and many of them are catering to a higher percentage of the "well to do" in recent years vs what was in the past. Like I said...lets go with the trophy fee method and everyone wins. More average people get to hunt, weeds out the scum operators, and the good operators still make money based on effort and knowledge of their areas. Hell, the system works pretty damn good in Africa...nobody would argue that now...would they. Anyway, thanks for the input Mark, Scott and M70.

They charge as much as they think people will pay.....

And people will likely pay that amount.......

Pretty much no one can make it on just hunt guideing in Alaska...... Just part of liveing in a capitalist nation............The lowest packer. or dishwasher can and does aspire to financially advance their possition in life.....The US government , State govt. area village and regional corporations all view someone who wants to spend their money for an experience on their land as a revenue source.....In the off chance you haven,t priced owning and maintaning a Super Cub lately , or a Beaver [wow] With wheels, skis and floats.......If you want it cheaper move up here and do it alone........Begrudging the person who will do the work to get you your coveted trophy is un wise.... Mayby people down south don,t remember,but Alaska is the 49th state.. So what they do in a forign nation or on another continent is or no concequence.. Alsaka state law requires you to contract with a legal guide to kill Dall Sheep Mt. goat and Brown bear... And Musk ox .If you want a great big moose come up and shoot one.....But remember YOU have to salvage the meat. A bull moose has about 8 normal loads for someone with normal strength......That means to a freezer somewhere............Helicopters arn,t used in hunting!!!!So you can PAY or you can WORK......

Thanks for your input Gumboot. Unlike others I appreciate everyones opinion on a topic, whether I agree or not.

Makes me glad to be a hunter who was born in Alaska. Wow.

gumboot458,

When I am choosing where i want to spend my money on hunting, what is going on in other countries is very relevant. I spend my hunting dollars where I get trhe most for the dollar.

Hawkeye47

How many of you who will come to Alaska and hunt would be able to do so if you didn,t have a profit margin in what ever area of financial endevor you make a liveing in.................Yall ain,t poor.........Of course no one wants to pay 15 K or more and get swindled . Or even 5$.. But with Alaska being a resource based economy most of us want top dollar for our resources../../.If someone is shopping around ,then have fun go shoot an ibex in stead of a billy goat............I don,t know of a tougher hunt than a billy goat hunt anyway............Most people only get out of something what they put in .Which is why I always encourage people to come up here and do it on their own........There are SO Many complaints every year from client/hunters about how tough the hunt was and how expensive it was.......But that is Alaska.......If you go to SA and hunt gemsbok on a ranch..You will probably have a very comfortable , hopefully successful time..Probably for less than a moose hunt in Ak. You won,t have to live in a mountain tent in gale force winds for a week, eating Top Ramen ,with a smelly guy who makes you walk up mountains in hip boots...You will probably have alot smoother plane ride also..........If anyone wants to bring the cost of moose hunts down .,Lobby the state to allow people to hunt wolves from airplanes.. And put a 150$ bonty on them.....That will greatly help increase moose populations ...........

Woodrow,

I understand what you are saying about the trophy fee system but it has its drawbacks too. First I think in NA what you woud end up with would be a still expensive hunt that would be more expensive if you killed your animal. The operators are not going to sell you an at cost hunt with their profit dependent on your success. An operator in AK may only have 8-9 clients per year because of the short seasons. With a good part of his yearly income coming from those hunts he can't take a chance of a couple people not scoring and it making a significant dent in his income. In Africa with seasons running 6 months or in some cases longer a few failures can be absorbed. Also most safaris are for multiple animals so if you don't get perhaps your main target you still pay for the other animals you shoot.

The trophy fee system also makes a specific budget nearly impossible to come up with. What if in NA they used the system that a lot favor where you pay dependent on the score of the animal. So you in theory have decided you can afford a $10,000 bear which is a good representative but not a monster. If you see a monster do you not shoot because it will cost you another $5000. I personally hate that system. I don't want to think about my budget on a single species hunt once I'm there.

I do agree that prices have gone up quite a bit in the last few years since 9/11. People do have more disposable income and the increase in prices is a reflection of that. Having said that I still don't know any wealthy guides that made their money on hunting.

Mark

I have lived in Alaska for 30 years and have shot my share of moose. My only expense is diesel for my truck and gas for my atv. On most years we would go as a group of three and would quit after two of us shot moose. Never really shot a huge one, biggest was maybe low 50's and 4x3 brow tines.
I am certaintly not a rich man but one of these days I plan on going on a guided moose hunt with the goal being something close to 65. It would be worth 10k to me to do the hunt at todays prices for the total expereince. Others have the ability to pay more and others will not or can not pay it. I respect those that make decisions not to pay and those who can. Cheers.

Snowwolfe, there are lots of places you can reach on your wheeler that hold moose in the 60"+ range. No need to spend $10,000 for a 65" moose rack.

Drop me a pm M70. Would love to find a new area as the area we presently hunt (13C) has so many grizzlies they are pests.
Thanks!

For an area that is suppose to be infested with grizzlies I sure have't had much luck locating any of them. I've been there many times, granted probably not as far as you but if they are that thick finding one shouldn't be a problem. If your willing to spend $10,000 on a guided hunt, would you be willing to spend less than half of that on a float hunt?

Aren't the hunts in Russia around the same price for both the big bears and the moose?


I think the moose and bears in Russia are overall, larger

Really would be interested in an ATV style hunt for a larger moose. I am ready to go and don't mind spending two weeks in the bush to get what I want. If you are in the Anch area drop me a pm if you need a buddy

No doubt Snowwolfe, you can definately get into a bigger moose than 50" with a wheeler. In my experience unit 13 isn't a great unit for big moose, I have hunted it also. Where I hunt in years past we have taken 5 bulls over 55 of which 2 were over 63(one of those was mine) and 2 were over 70 (yes 70" and both were B&C bulls). All were taken with ATV access and a little hard work by average Joes. Dont spend $10k you just need to try a different area.

Oh and I definately agree with M70Nut, I have searched long and hard for griz in 13 to no avail, if they are their in big numbers, they sure do hide well.

This is one of mine that lives in the basement.

Well guys tell me where the moose are and I can tell you where the griz are This past Sept I could of easily shot six different bears in one 8 day hunt in area 13C. And that didnt count the one sow we watched with twins. All the bears were seen within a 10 mile stretch of the same trail.

I've probably shot 7-8 moose over the the last 13 years, smallest was a spike-fork and my biggest taped out right at 60" but was not my best moose. I've killed several that were mid to high 50"s and my best was a heavy palmed, long tined 57"er that had 4 and 5 brow tines and was shot less than a mile from the nearest trail. I had a buddy shot a monster 65" bull in another area i've been hunting and I've taken 1 50" bull 125 yards from camp, this area doesn't have a lot of bulls but the one's that get shot are usually huge.