I am looking for any recommendations you may have for outfitters that operate in the Brooks Range.

I am looking to book a 2008 caribou hunt.

Mark Young has given me one lead.


Thanks.

check out midnight sun adventures, phil driver.

i beleive he operates up there. he specializes in grizzly and trophy moose. prices are according.

he has been up there as long as the glaciers.

C-Roy
What side..North or South..The best chance for Bou is the North side.. Hendricks/Chris Cassidy is running Larry Rivers operation now..Check them.. Also John Peterson good bet .. If your after Dall Sheep/ Grizz.. David Morris/Fairbanks.. He's your man..
AK

akrange;

thanks. the other name i was trying to think of was joe hendricks. i think he would give you a good hunt. i have not hunted with him , howver i did sit next to him on a plane and got to know him a bit. i also have not heard anything bad about him in the 10 years that i am aware of him. y.m.m.v.

good luck.

Try Deltana Outfitters. Very large concession in the Brooks Range and a great outfitter.

I would strongly suggest that you steer clear of Deltana. I had a negative experience with them two years ago. There are many better outfits to consider.
Bill

Please tell of your experience with Deltana. They have a good reputation generally. I'm very curious to hear the specifics of your negative report.

Feel free to PM me for all the details. Fundamentally, the guide was lazy and inexpereinced, and I was put in an area without sheep. Never saw a ram in 10 days (of good weather!), and there was no interest in moving me or even spiking out into adjacent drainages. "Let's just sit here and wait for the sheep to come to us." You get the general idea.
Bill
PS - I have heard from several others that Deltana does NOT have a particularly good reputation. I guess it depends on who you ask.
Bill

llamapacker;

i am sorry to hear about your bad trip , from yet another lousy outfitter. feel free to post the accurate account of what happened for all of us to read.

on this forum, there is no stiffling of free speech, thanks god.

it may educate other guys to not make the same mistake.

Llamapacker,
I too am sorry for your experience. Last year was my first sheep hunt, and I had a good time. It was with Mike McCann via Cabelas, in the Brooks Range. My first night in the field, I went to sleep with more than 30 sheep visible (and counting sheep did NOT help me sleep that night). I was introduce to the term "mountain maggots" there were so many of them (mostly ewes and lambs, though).
Don

c roy;

i would have more faith in mark than i would cabela's...

I have had several good sheep hunts, and leave for another in just a few days. There are some real quality outfits if you ask around. Sometimes it is really hard to know until you have been there yourself. Unfortunatley, that is just the simple truth.
My purpose isn't to run anybody's business down. If you feel you can benefit from more details, send me a PM. I think I already covered the main isues. Suffice it to say there are much better operators in Alaska, and other places I'm sure.
Good Hunting,
Bill

Don B
Please tell us more about M.McCann.. Points of interest about his operation.. Mike and I have E-mailed each other.. Did you harvest a Ram..
AK

llamaPacker
If Your tell'in the truth then Your not runn'in anybody down..And we Thank You for it..
AK

+1 on akrange.

llamapacker;

there is not point in bringing up your bad experience if you don't want to give others the opportunity to steer clear of this guy and also to learn from your bad experience. you should be trying to prevent other members of this site and other men in the hunting community to get the word out. afterall, the outfitter ran the hunt and made the decisions that led to your problems.

venting without a lesson to learn is best left for a psycology website, not a hutning website.

Akrange,
I had a great time. The food was good, the assistant guide were good, and the camp was just what I saw on his website. I took a ram on the first day that my guide Adam felt was a good'en. It was broomed on both sides, and it seemed to be the smallest in camp, so I've kicked myself for not looking over the oportunities a little better, but hey, that's hunting. I've scheduled hunts in 2007 and 2008, but not with McCann. I think I just want to try out other operations, and possible bigger rams.
I will tell you, though, that I really wanted a bear tag on that hunt. McCann told me no, that he already had all his bear hunters, even though the state had made bear season earlier than usual last year, thus there was nothing but his NO stopping me. Well, despite several unsuccessful friendly requests to change his mind, I gave up. I'm sure not saying that I have a beef with that, to the contrary, I kinda respect his integrity, but when I got to Bettles (the last airfield before camp) and found out that Bear season was opened early, I was thrilled, and since we were smoked in at Bettles by forest fires for three days, I'd already shot, killed, and mounted that Grizz in my imagination by the time I got to camp, thus I was a little disappointed.
To conclude, I'd go again in a heart beat, I loved my time there, and saw no other hunters while I was afield.
Don
bdonaldjr@bellsouth.net

Don B
Thanks for Your Follow-up on Mike..
AK

All who have sent me a PM have had there questions answered in detail, and many productive discussions have ensued. The main points have been covered, and I will not provide a daily soap opera entry for anyone's entertainment.
I'm off for another Alaska sheep hunt. Let's enjoy the days we have in the field.
Bill

bill;

this web site is a valuable resource for the hunting community. you should not demean it by calling it a soap opera.

since you have done nothing to help the membership here to not fall into the trap that you have, do your crying by p.m. instead of wasting bandwith here.

for the record, i do not find it entertaining when a traveling hunter pays hard earned money and takes it in the ass from a lousy outfitter. you have done all you can to make sure that he gets to do it again and again and again.
thanks..............

Cold zero,

I don't understand your attacks, but I have seen the same thing on the Africa forum several times. Just ask 404 Jeffreys, Sheephunter, and Pierre Van Tonder

I choose to help all those interested by conversing via PM about details that are generally only valuable to a few.

Most probably will never consider this outfitter, or even a sheep hunt for that matter. It is the dredging up of all the details to further the purient interests of a small minority that turns threads into a soap opera. I have no interst in that game. If that offends you, well, too bad. I will stop responding to your e-mails, unless you want to converse through PM. That seems like an "adult" thing to do at this time.

I can tell you that several people are better informed through our PM discussions, and now at least know some particular questions to ask this outfitter that may not be relevant to others. No one likes to spend hard earned money on hunts that don't go well. For some, that may mean taking game, for others it may mean beautiful scenery, good whiskey, etc. We all have our different desires, which leads to asking different questions, and even sometimes, not fully understanding the answers given. I have formed negative opinions of some outfitters, and positive opinions of others. That is all there is to it.

Why is it when someone comes on and says "I had a great trip with XYZ Outfitters", others don't rush in to demand the details of all that went right, etc. Those reports would be just as valuable as the negative reports. In some ways even more so, as the guy who thinks things were great will probably tell numerous details, that to some might indicate an outfit with different skills, tastes, etc., than they may desire. Not everyone will like the same outfitters. It is a fact of life. It probably keeps some of the "bad" ones (according to who?) in business.

My packing is almost done. I'm going hunting...
Bill

Ilamapacker
Last year there was this guy in Sheep camp who for 11 days just built fires... Day after Day..11,000 Dollar Campfire Building Vaction..
Damm was he good at it!! Kurt if you read this..Your the Best..
AK