Wrangell Outfitters

[Iceman82]

I am planning a sheep hunt with Will Koehler from Wrangell Outfitters in 2022.
Just looking to see if anyone else has hunted with him. Seems like a great outfit and a good guy. Let me know.

 

[buzzy]

Not to be a downer but I’ll be curious if anyone booked in 2021 will be hunting sheep as scheduled. It will be 2 seasons of hunts cancelled as I don’t see Canada opening their borders this summer. Those hunters booked in 20 or 21 with these outfitters should go before anyone else who was booked after them or anyone booking now. It will be a big mess.

 

[USMC-40]

Hey Buzz, Alaska was open last year. To the OP, I hunted that area, but with a different outfitter on a slightly different concession this past August.

Based on what I saw there are plenty of legal rams in the area. There is a fair amount of pressure around the more easily accessible air strips, but if you can get away from those, the sheep are plentiful.

Beautiful area, will try to get there again at some point in my life. Good luck and have fun.

 

[USMC-40]

One last point - the rams in that area were difficult to judge at times (at least for me) due to the wide flaring genetics - the full curl aspect, at least. That being said, I think that type of flaring horn is my favorite! Good optics are a must!

 

[VernAK]

The Koehler family is well respected in this area. Will hasn't had that concession for very many years but the area is great sheep country and he manages the harvest carefully. Will takes very few hunters while the previous concession owner sold numerous hunts. I wouldn't expect to see many other hunters.

Will and siblings were raised in the bush.

If I were young and looking to book a dall sheep hunt, Wrangell Outfitters would be on my very short list.

 

[buzzy]

Uggg, sorry about that as I thought they were located north of the border. Good luck.

 

[buckpro]

I spent a good deal of time talking with Will and even a few referrals, great guy and I can promise you when i go to get my dall, it will be with him. He has a unreal success rate. If i remember right, the only reason the one hunter that didn't get a sheep in the last few years is because the river flooded camp and everything else and they couldn't cross it.

 

[VernAK]

Friends hunting the neighboring concession got flooded out in their hunt also.

 

[mtnbiker208]

hopefully pioneer outfitters is out of business and no longer in the area.
No i am not a fan of Terry.

 

[Wolf13]

No experience but I talked to 3 people who hunted with him whom all had great things to say. Getting close to deciding which outfitter and they are at the top of my list. The one unsuccesful hunt was a family emergency where the hunter had to leave camp after 3 days. Success isn't everything, but you don't want a chance as for many this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

 

[Mojave]

Top things to do instead of sheep hunt Alaska in 2022.

1. Hunt Ibex in Europe or Asia
2. Hunt sheep in Europe or Asia
3. Hunt brown bears in Alaska (residents don't hammer the bears like they do the sheep).

The only way I will ever hunt sheep again in Alaska is as a resident or if I draw a Tok or Chugach tag. The resident pressure is too great.. $4000-6000 more and you can hunt sheep in the NWT or Yukon.

Maybe you will shoot a bigger ram in Alaska. But at least in the Yukon or NWT you have a 90% chance of getting a ram with a good outfitter.

It didn't used to be this way, but so many people (including me, I have lived in Alaska multiple times) have moved to Alaska and are putting pressure on the same sheep.

I used to live in 26A and hunt near Kaktovik, it is a great place to hunt. But even that has a lot of resident pressure.

 

[wind gypsy]

Maybe you will shoot a bigger ram in Alaska. But at least in the Yukon or NWT you have a 90% chance of getting a ram with a good outfitter.

Heck, I thought many of the good outfitters in AK do hit that 90% mark.

That said.. the outfitter I hunted with in '19 is now $10k more than what I booked for. That sure makes Canada look a little better but I haven't looked at their prices recently either.

 

[Mojave]

Mostly they are $20,000 in Alaska and $24-28,000 in Canada.

 

[Mojave]

Resident pressure is really changing things in Alaska.

 

[Mojave]

What used to help it is that bush pilots would only fly residents to bad areas, because a outfitter would pay them to keep residents out of there or use them for their flying and keep residents out.

Enough residents either have planes or enough pilots have realized that 20 residents was worth more than 5 guided dudes.

 

[OMB]

Heck, I thought many of the good outfitters in AK do hit that 90% mark.

That said.. the outfitter I hunted with in '19 is now $7.5k more than what I booked for. That sure makes Canada look a little better but I haven't looked at their prices recently either.

I booked in 2018 for a 2020 (rescheduled for 2022) and going rate was $25-29k in NWT. Just took a look out of curiosity the other other day and it looks like those numbers are more like $32-36k and no openings until 2023/4 at the very earliest.

 

[Mojave]

Wow, I might have to rethink sending people to Canada.

 

[wind gypsy]

Mostly they are $20,000 in Alaska and $24-28,000 in Canada.

AK was 16-18k when i booked in 2017 for '19 (my hunt was $18k). I just looked at the same outfitter and now their rate is $28k! Had to edit my previous post to correct that.

 

[chisana]

Resident pressure is really changing things in Alaska.

booo ******* hooo, those darned AK residents are just ruining it for everyone

 

[Mojave]

booo ******* hooo, those darned AK residents are just ruining it for everyone

I personally don't have a problem with it.

You live in Alaska 365 days a year, we visit.

You should have the lion's share of the hunting. Everyone in Alaska not just the people that walked over 15,000 years ago.

I live in New Mexico currently, every resident in this state bitches about how hard it is to draw a tag. Non-Residents only get 14%. In a lot of states non-residents get 20-30%.

We are doing really well. Thank God no points program to crap the pot.

A friend of mine lives in Kentucky, he has never drawn a Kentucky elk tag though he applies every year. He is frantic about nonresidents from "elk states" drawing tags. But comes to Wyoming or Colorado every year to hunt elk.