Game Hunting in Alaska is by its nature a potentially dangerous and strenuous sport. By making it clear for our Clients what one may expect while Fair Chase Hunting in Alaska’s Wilderness it will prepare you better to partake in a rewarding and a positive experience.

Please read this information thoroughly and please take hunting serious.

You want to be prepared mentally and physically for Sport Hunting in Alaska.

FAIR CHASE HUNTING IN ALASKA

The information below is listed in our Fair Chase Letter which we include in your packet of information which you receive and are required to read and sign. We want to make sure all of our clients are well aware of this information prior to hunting with us.

Sport hunting in Alaska is not like any of your local travel agency’s tours that have a plan laying out all agendas that rarely vary from the described program. The sport hunting experience just doesn’t work that way. You might say fair chase sport hunting has open itinerary-lots of plans, strategies and ideas that are likely to change daily or even hourly. Everything may go as planned …or nothing will!! Surprises, confusion, delays, disruptive weather conditions, disappointments, risks of death or terror, disease, hazards, great joy, and sudden unexplainable changes are likely at any time. However, this is precisely what creates the challenge, the excitement, the memories, and the sense of perseverance, accomplishment and victory! Alaska has less big game per square mile than any of the lower 48 states. There are no guarantees of any kind. You must accept this fact, or don’t go. The success of your hunt should not be solely based on the harvesting of your animal. You will find it different with varying standards, but that is what sport hunters thrive on and is part of why they go, for they understand that the game they bag is only a small part of the overall hunting experience. It is all a part of fair chase and adventure. Fair chase is real hunting! This type of Sport hunting may not be for everyone.

Success rates on some hunts or certain species are higher than others. Book what your time and income can handle without skimping. Sport hunting anywhere is seldom a bargain. Your mental and physical stamina are important and must be considered. Wild animals and horses can be dangerous and so can all terrain vehicles, boats, planes, the weather, mountains, streams, rivers, the Alaskan environment, weapons and your fellow man. Imperfections of man, beast or equipment are a part of the hunting adventure. High standards are admirable, but ailing, inflexible, hard to satisfy or difficult people with a history of problems, hard drinking or complaining who can’t accept these realities should not go. Life is too short for all of us to risk having someone spoiling this potential life-long memory. Leave your tape measure, personal problems and all difficult, finger pointing people behind. The service we provide may not be up to what some expect. No gourmet cooking of meals, instead it will be basic meals supplemented with freeze dried food. Sanitary kitchen conditions which are rustic, spartan in wilderness settings at best and not restaurant fine dining style conditions. If you cannot accept that you should not go on this trip. Alaskan Big Game Hunting is strenuous, and will humble most hunters. If you are not in shape or your basic shooting skills are lacking, please be able to take responsibility for your short comings rather than blame others for failure when it results in lack of success in harvesting your trophies. If you cannot accept your own short comings and if you feel the need to point blame at everyone but yourself for lack of success when you are not mentally or physically prepared for this kind of adventure, please don’t come to just to complain about what you were told to expect. Only then to blame your Guide instead of accepting like a Man, that you were aware that Alaskan hunting is challenging and real Fair Chase style hunting. Hunting for Alaska’s big game trophies may require more than one hunt to harvest your animal. A lot of unexpected physical effort or hardship and walking will be required, even on the simplest type of hunts. In some cases, the arrangement may not be all that you wanted or expected, but the hunt is what it is. Uncontrollable circumstances can occur and are beyond our control. Surprises, confusion, delays, disruptive weather conditions, steep and rough terrain, high water flood conditions, shallow water conditions, braided river systems, major or minor log jams, dead falls, over hanging sweepers, dangerous under water formations in the rivers, streams or waterways you travel on, mechanical, equipment maintenance and breakage problems, and sudden unexplainable changes happen and are likely at any time. When using mechanical equipment on your hunt, preventative maintenance is required often and occasional repairs will need/have to be done. If you choose to utilize any equipment such as, but not limited to airplanes, boats, all-terrain vehicles, or camping gear, you will need to allow the time needed to perform maintenance and repairs on equipment as necessary. The obstacles in Alaska big game hunting which you encounter daily are what distinguish fair chase sport hunting from fenced ranches; game farms, feeder or bait stations and many different types controlled shooting. What one sees as a dream hunt may be a nightmare to another. Alaska Bush Adventures L.L.C. uses various types of camps and methods, depending on the situation. We may discuss several options when you are booking your hunt, yet you and your guide may and will use other methods at any time. Big game animals, weather, hunting success and luck are unpredictable. It is an adventure and experience where success is not measured only by the quantity or quality of game taken. —– Hunting is the pursuit!!!

WHATS INCLUDED IN THE COST OF THE HUNT?

Logistical support and consultation before and after the hunt, including:

Hotel/lodging recommendations for when you arrive in Anchorage and when you returning from the field.

Information on how and where to get your Harvest Tickets for Moose, and to purchase your Big Game Locking Tags, Hunting and Fishing Licenses.

Arrangement of all air charters flights to and from the base camp/point of outfitting in the field.

Recommendations of local Taxidermists and Expediting Shipping Services for your trophies from Anchorage to your home.

Advise how you can become a “Known Shipper” by using Air Cargo/Freight Services to ship your antlers, capes & meat at a fair cost to your final destination.

Great Sport Fishing for Silver Salmon, Dolly Varden (Char), Arctic Grayling, Northern Pike & on rare occasions Burbot can be caught.

Guided Hunts have fully outfitted and well stocked base camps with 120/220 volt generators, on demand hot shower system, amply nutritious meals, non alcoholic cold & hot beverages, Iridium Satellite phone service & a variety of in the field transportation equipment, Professional Licensed Guides, and trophy care while in the field.

Unguided Fully Outfitted Float Hunting trips are supplied with quality camping equipment, cooking & eating utensils, nutritional food & non alcoholic beverages, raft with oars & rowing frame, all rafting & saftey equipment and much more. Request our Supplied Food and Equipment lists for more detailed information.

 

ADDITIONAL COSTS YOU CAN EXPECT

The cost of Non Resident Big Game Tags, Hunting  & Fishing Licenses.

Your personal round trip air charter expense from Anchorage to the point of outfitting in the field (base camp) and back to Anchorage.

Hotel Rooms in Anchorage before & after the hun.

Ground transportation around town while in Anchorage

Freight/Shipping expenses to get your Antlers, Capes & Meat from Anchorage, Alaska to your final destination.

Trip Insurance (Highly Recommended) Ripcord Trip  Travel Protection by Redpoint can provide quotes

SECURING YOUR LICENSE AND TAGS

Nonresident and Nonresident Alien hunters hunting for Moose, must get the free Moose Harvest Ticket & purchase the appropriate metal locking big game tag before hunting an Alaskan big game animal. Immediately after the kill, the tag must be affixed & locked on the animal. The tag must remain on the animal until the animal is prepared for storage, exported, or consumed. For animals such as bear, in units where the meat is not required to be salvaged, tags must be locked on the hide. A big game tag may be used for a species of equal or lower value. For example, if you purchase a $1,000 brown bear tag, but do not take a brown bear, and take a moose instead, you may use the bear tag on the moose, since the moose has a lesser tag value.

Upon harvesting your moose you must also notch the day and month on your harvest ticket immediately. Once retuning to town you will need to complete the  required information on the harvest report and with its pre paid postal stamp mail back to the Ak. Department of Fish & Game.

There is no lottery or drawing system for hunting / fishing licenses and big game tags (other than Bison) in game management unit 19 & our guide use areas.

You can purchase your tags & licenses online from the State of Alaska’s Department of Commerce. Clients will need to purchase them in advance of the hunt.                       The website to do so is:   https://www.adfg.alaska.gov.         Harvest Tickets are provided by the State of Alaska Department of Fish and Game at no cost.

NONRESIDENT BIG GAME TAGS & HUINTING LICENSES FEES

(In our Guide Use & Game Management Areas)

Big Game Hunting License – $160

Brown Bear/Grizzly – $1,000

Moose – $800

Black Bear – $450

Wolverine – $350

Wolf – $0

NONRESIDENT ALIEN TAGS

Brown Bear/Grizzly – $1,300

Moose – $1,000

Black Bear – $600

Wolverine – $500

Wolf – $0

In addition to hunting for Big Game, there is exceptional fresh water Sport Fishing.

Nonresident 7-day sport fishing license $70.00

nonresident 14-day sport fishing license $105.00

Big Game Tags are not to be confused with Harvest Tickets which are required when hunting for Moose, Caribou Dall Sheep & Deer. They are free & available at the Alaska Department of Fish & Game.

Big Game Tags must be fastened or attached, & locked on a harvested animal around one of the antlers of a Moose, Caribou or Stika Deer or to the hide of a Bear, Wolf or Wolverine immediately after the kill and must remain there until the animal is prepared for storage, consumed or exported.

HUNTING CAMP ACCOMMODATIONS

Our River Base camps offer our most comfortable accommodations and offer one a great chance for harvesting a Alaskan Yukon Moose,  Brown/Grizzly Bear and Black Bear without having to do the more strenuous type of spike camp hunting. You still need to be in good shape to have a more successful and enjoyable trip. At these camps we have large wall tents for dinning and common use with wood stoves for heat and propane burners for cooking. There are generators for power, hot showers, outhouse toilets and private sleeping quarters with cots. In these camps we have satellite phones for communications with each other and emergency use. The Guides also carry video cameras to capture your hunt and daily activities for you to have forever to remember your Alaskan hunt.

By using 14′ & 16′ Jon boats with outboard motors with jet units we can travel up or down rivers for miles where boats that have an outboard motor with a propeller can not travel. We have 3 different Base Camps on different tributaries of the main river system to hunt from. These Base Camps are spaced apart by approximately 2 hours travel with our jet powered Jon boats.  This allows us to hunt a large area and still be able to return to the comfort these base camps offer us every night. This provides a very productive way to hunt, as other hunters cannot fly along the river and land anywhere we are hunting with our jet boats. Allowing exclusive access to remote areas where mature animals inhabit that cannot be reached any other way. We are the only Guide/Outfitter in this area that operates on these rivers and streams in this fashion. Give us 6 inches of water and a chain saw to cut through old logjams and we can get to places never hunted before. Besides using Jet boats we may access the uplands by Piper Cub planes, Argos or ATV’s. This way we can glass and hunt the higher mountain valleys, alpine meadows and open country for Alaskan Yukon Moose, Barren Ground Caribou, Alaska’s Brown/Grizzly Bears, and Alaskan Black Bears.

 

DO GUIDES RECEIVE GRATUITIES?

Of course, it’s entirely up to you as the Client, whether or not you wish to leave a tip for your Guide. Our Guides work hard to insure you have a successful and enjoyable hunt. Each person values another person’s service differently and a generous tip for a hard working guide is always appreciated and the standard in the hunting industry. While each person must determine what amount to give, a 10-12% of the hunt cost is the Industry standard & will be greatly appreciated.