Planning Second Dall Sheep Hunt

[recurveman]

So I am also looking to book a dall sheep hunt. Just getting started seems like a very large task. If you don't mind me asking who did you consider booking with and why did you choose Luke over the other outfitters? PM me if you would like.

 

[Marine4life]

So I am also looking to book a dall sheep hunt. Just getting started seems like a very large task. If you don't mind me asking who did you consider booking with and why did you choose Luke over the other outfitters? PM me if you would like.

If you would like I can send you a spreadsheet that has documentation on my research for Alaska. Pm me with an email if interested.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Birdman1979]

Recurveman, I received a PM from a very reputable member here recommending him after my initial post. I called Luke and asked him questions that were important to me. Average age of rams, success rates, lots about the hunt experience... I want a realistic shot at a really nice ram. He consistently uses the same guides (important to me) and his overall attitude was great, so I asked him for some references of recent sheep hunters. He gave me three guys to contact, who all gave glowing recommendations. Spent about three hours talking on the phone with them. He sent me a video of a bow hunter they got in range last year and a picture of an absolute boomer of a ram they took last year with a rifle. He also had really good reviews on one of the hunt booking forums. That was the extent of my research, weighted heavily by personal recommendations.

 

[recurveman]

That's great info. Thanks,

 

[wind gypsy]

Holy Schnikey, just checked Luke's website, $25,5k. Damn glad I got up there this august, Jonah's is up $6k from when I booked as well.

Should be a great hunt, good luck to ya Birdman!

 

[section8mainiac]

Following along. I would love your spreadsheet if you are willing to share.

Thanks, Matt

 

[OutdoorsMD]

NWT over Alaska if you have the funds...

 

[Marine4life]

Following along. I would love your spreadsheet if you are willing to share.

Thanks, Matt

Matt, PM me your email and I will send it. Rockslide says and excel spreadsheet isn't an authorized attachment.
Mike

 

[recurveman]

NWT over Alaska if you have the funds...

Why would you say NWT over Alaska. Funds aren't my limiting factor. I really want a super quality hunt. Basically I want to be out in the middle of nowhere, hopefully see no people and have the opportunity at a great ram.

 

[DoubleBroomedMountainRifles]

Recurveman I guide in one of the most remote pieces of sheep country in the state of Alaska. We are the only commercial outfit allowed to sell sheep hunts to non residents as we are a sole use federal concession. Even in our area there is a chance you will see resident hunters flying or perhaps even at one of the few landing strips. The chances in the NWT is significantly less you will have resident hunters. That is the ONLY difference. Our areas in the NE Brooks range are very remote, the rams are as good or better than the NWT with lots of caribou and grizzlies as well.

We are about $10K cheaper than some of the high profile NWT area outfitters from the start to the end of your hunt considering commercial airfare costs, bush plane charters and trophies back to the US lower 48. We offer the same remote backpack experience as the NWT but you are still in the US. When shopping for Alaska hunts, there is no way I would ever consider an outfitter who does not have a Federal Concession.....meaning they are the only ones selling hunts on a particular area. State land hunting in Alaska is a crap shoot at best. An unlimited number of outfitters can sell an unlimited number of sheep hunts. It is what is giving Alaska a bad name in sheep hunting in the last decade. Our numbers of registered guides has quadrupled. And this bad name Alaska is given is for the most part from out of state clients who had a bad experience with THIER particular Alaska outfitter and the rest of Alaska guides get put into that category. And in reality that client has no clue what he/she is talking about outside of what they experienced with their particular outfitter.

There are some outfitters that guide on state land that are reputable. I cant paint a broad brush and label all of them bad. In fact a few from this particular thread are well above average guiding on state land. But to also be fair in that statement even the best of the state land guides who don't have a sole concession, who claim they never see another commercial outfit could change from year to year. Another outfitter can move in and set up shop on strips that have been being used by a particular previous outfitter for years and nothing can be said. It is completely legal. It just ends up sucking for the client who has been promised something that turns out to be false. I have seen this happen at least a dozen times in the last decade, with a half of those examples happening in the Alaska Range out of GMU 19c and 20a. No outfitter can dispute this statement if they are an honest person.

I encourage all folks shopping for outfitters to ask these questions so you know what you are getting into.

I also encourage our lawmakers in Alaska to go BACK to state land concessions and currently the Alaska Professional Outfitters Association is pushing that as well. Something will be changing soon whether that is a state land concession or limiting non residents to a drawing which is being proposed next month at our board of game.