That outfitter bought another Beaver about 2 months ago......
My thoughts on the matter are admittedly biased so I will stick to things I know to be true or told to be true based on boots on the ground observations; several hours flying around the unit; and from talking to dozens of moose hunters every year in the airport, at the lodge, and through messages on social media sites like this. So I have a pretty extensive feel for what's going on in that area. None of this is speculation, it's all first hand accounts (to the moderator folks, message me if you believe otherwise instead of locking and I'll gladly edit). I am simply a hunter looking to do wilderness trips in Alaska and I would like to keep my trips safe and have a reasonable distance from other hunters effecting my hunt, I do not have any stake in either company's success. In addition, I don't want to see someone book a hunt that costs them $15K and not get what they're expecting. Something like that would literally shatter me. The refuge law is that there must be a drop off (camp) separation of 1.5 miles. That's an important fact of the matter. And the refuge approves all spots and does not designate spots to outfitters. Each party has multiple of the same locations approved for use. So no one is breaking the law, it all comes down to personally-defined ethics at this point. When one party accidently breaks that rule, they each have the agreed courtesy of contacting the other to move their group before contacting the Troopers.
I've only hunted out of Bethel since 2018. I've only used Papa Bear out of Bethel. At that time I thought it was crowded. I had another group dropped near me by Renfro on day three and they walked within 400 yards of my camp. I was tagged out so I fired a shot into the bank behind me so they would see my camp and so I wouldn't get shot at later. That year PB took 22 groups (the same as the previous 15 years or so) and Renfro was taking around 60. As long as refuge and state laws are followed, they can each take as many hunters as they choose. Again, I emphasize that no laws are being broken. This year it was stated that Renfro was taking about 120 groups. PB once again decided to stay around 20-25 (23). The final number based on cancellations and their commitment to catering to last minute local clients. Roughly the same number as before and the same number planned for the next several years. I don't know if that 120 number is correct, but it has to be damn close based on what I've seen. I haven't been in Phili's during the season and not seen a handful of groups. Every time I fly in/out of Bethel in September I talk to everyone wearing camo. There are typically 0-2 PB groups and 5+ Renfro groups per flight. Two jets a day for a month. I have an inbox full of people saying they spent years trying to book with PB and finally just called Renfro and were immediately on the schedule. So the numbers must be close. It's not apples to apples because Renfro does some wheeled stuff. Even if it's 50/50 wheels and floats, that's an insane amount of hunters in that small area.
PB takes two groups a day so they can avoid delays and can spread people out in the field to give their clients a wilderness trip. Twice I've been at the lodge between Sept 11-15th and they didn't even have clients scheduled to fly that day - they are designated catch up days for if there is weather. The owner of PB is a hunter himself. The reason he is a pilot and lives in AK is because he craves his own wilderness experiences. So he has chosen to take no more than 20-25 groups so he can give his clients the type of hunt he would want even though his schedule and fleet would allow for him to easily double or triple that number. The amount of money he leaves on the table by choosing that route in favor of hunter experience is substantial. I know PB has reached out to Renfro the last several years to sit down and coordinate drop off points to avoid conflict and confusion and give clients the best trip possible and all those calls and messages have gone unanswered.
At one point this season, there was a PB client that had 2 groups placed around them within 1.5 miles in a triangulated pattern. Each had a boat so they were all hunting the same stuff. They basically all met up and talked and worked it out best they could, but it's a safety issue at that point not knowing where people are. It was all lawful, so you can be your own judge on the ethics of 1. dropping your clients on another operator's group 2. later dropping your own clients on top of each other as well. I hope those guys chime in. The working class bowhunter guys have a podcast from last year you can go listen to where basically the same thing happened where they were covered in moose and shot a bull the first day and another group was dropped on them the next day that blew everything up. They were eventually moved to another location. I can give at least a dozen other stories from people I've talked to. All technically legal. I was standing there and heard the whole conversation when Renfro called PB 1/3 through the season this year claiming because PB was raising his hunter numbers through the roof PB took all "his" spots and he was going to run out of spots for his hunters. At the time PB had 12 groups in the field and just of the camps that could be easily counted from the air, Renfro had 35 on the ground. With 10 more days to keep dropping folks 3 beavers at a time, 2-3 times a day. Those are just in lake drop areas.
There will be several people chime in with experiences where they never saw or heard another person. They are likely all true. There are numerous lakes out there where there simply isn't another place to land another Beaver for miles. But there are only so many of them and there are also parts of the unit where the land is a continuous checkerboard of places to land and stack as many folks in as you choose. Booking agents, social media folks. and return clients likely have a story of a remote experience because I'm sure there is a level or prioritization. It has really spiraled out of control the last year or two so people's experience will vary based on when they went. And again, it's very specific to lake areas. Anecdotal accounts of hunting wheeled spots are irrelevant.
I'm to the point where it's starting to negatively effect my hunt and I'm getting dozens of reports of other hunters spending $15-$20k only to have to deal with this nonsense of hunting around others. It's starting to really piss me off so it's time so say something and that's why I'm speaking up. In defense of both PB clients and Renfro clients that don't know any better (I had 2 Renfro groups complaining to me in the airport this year about being crowded by guys from the same hangar). I'm very pro-capitalism, but at some point there is a line and I think what's happening is absolute unethical garbage. Justin at PB would probably actually be pissed if/when he sees this post, but I'm defending the people looking to hunt the area and not him. He's so humble don't be surprised if he sees this and it's gone after he asks me to remove it. He will continue to excel with the personal morals he has in place and the limited number of groups he's decided to book; no matter how much BS he has to deal with, he's the type of guy that wouldn't say sh!t if his mouth was full of it.
I will personally be contacting the refuge and asking some questions on how this is all acceptable. Ideally both companies would sit down with the refuge prior to the season and put together a map, as proposed numerous times by Papa Bear. I simply don't understand why Wade is so against it. It's a shame that it's gotten to the point it has.
