Author Topic: Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?  (Read 5717 times)

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Offline bmbtek02

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« on: December 13, 2005, 05:53:59 PM »
I am wanting to brown bear hunt,.........but I am a policeman(in the south) who doesnt make very much money (go figure) and I have never used a outfitter and all I see on the web is 10-15k for a brown bear hunt do these people understand that the common folk would love to hunt also! I know this will sound crazy but does anybody know where a poor man might go and or an option? HELP PLEASE !!!!!!!
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Offline Daveinthebush

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Not Alaska
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2005, 06:23:05 PM »
Well it won't be Alaska unless you have an unmarried daughter that finds a husband up here (I am looking :wink: ). Otherwise you will need a guide and that means $$$$.

Alaska is going to cost you $10-15,000 for a brown bear hunt without your fare up.  If I fill the tank on my truck it is over $100.  Aviation gas is $5.00 or more.  Moving here at least you can take it off of the income tax as a moving expense.
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Offline bmbtek02

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2005, 09:08:07 PM »
Thanks for the info........this is going to sound silly but I am green when it comes to Alaska and guides but where does the cost come from if  the price doesn’t include airfare? And if I were to kill on the first day does it still cost 10-15k.....I mean do they carry you on there backs to where you hunt and do they shoot for you? What could possibly cost this much....License? trophy fees or are they extra?

Hopelessly lost without a bear hunt.........
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Offline Thebear_78

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #3 on: December 14, 2005, 02:51:28 AM »
Its expensive because the law states non residents must have a guide.  SInce they know they have you totally dependant on them.    One good side note, alaska state troopers is always hiring.  Once your a resident it only costs 20 bucks.

Offline bmbtek02

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #4 on: December 14, 2005, 07:29:55 AM »
How is it just $20 is that resident lic fee? what does the guides charge residents? And state troopers are always hiring.....hmmm forgive the stupidity what is cost of living up thar?
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Online Graybeard

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #5 on: December 14, 2005, 11:17:51 AM »
Some things these days are just not meant for common working folks. If you're not rich then doing them is next to impossible. Hunting the big bears and sheep/goats fall into this category.

Alaska is where most of the hunting for big bears takes place. Similar for sheep/goats but Canada is a possibility on them as well as on grizzly. The problem is it don't matter. The supply is limited and the demand is high. Thus the price is like wise high. Just a simple matter of supply and demand. If you want it you'll pay thru the nose for it.

In Alaska some things are just not available to non residents without the use of a guide who must be licensed by the state. Big bears as well as sheep and goats I think all fit into this category. BUT if you are a state resident you don't have to hire a guide, you can do it on your own and the license is dirt cheap.

Now just because you CAN do it don't mean you SHOULD do it alone. Doubt anyone who is very savy on such matters goes hunting for the big bears or sheep/goats by themselves. Might not have a guide but they have someone along for safety reasons.


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Offline Thebear_78

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #6 on: December 14, 2005, 11:35:32 AM »
A resident brown/griz license only costs $20.  As a matter of fact this last summer they opened a couple areas to no license no limit for brown bears.  

As graybeard said hunting anything alone up here isn't always a good idea up here.  It is best to have a small group.  You never know what might happen.  Danger from animals would rank right down near the bottom of things that could happen to you though.  

THe cost of living isn't to bad up here.  Housing costs are the worst of what you could run into.  Almost all jobs pay much better up here than they do down in the lower too.

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Offline Lawdog

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2005, 03:02:12 PM »
Quote
Now just because you CAN do it don't mean you SHOULD do it alone. Doubt anyone who is very savy on such matters goes hunting for the big bears or sheep/goats by themselves. Might not have a guide but they have someone along for safety reasons.


Never a truer word has been spoke.   :yeah:   Believe me you don’t want to be tracking a Brown Bear(wounded or not) in the Alders of coastal Alaska alone.  Even with a guide/friends/relatives that know what they’re doing it can get hairy.   :eek:   Lawdog
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Offline bmbtek02

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #8 on: December 14, 2005, 04:35:25 PM »
thanks for the input I believe it is just outta reach for the common folk!!!
Be polite, be courtious, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet!
Dying ain't hard for men like us.....its livin thats hard when everything you've had been butchered or killed.

Offline pastorp

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brown bear hunt cost
« Reply #9 on: December 15, 2005, 10:30:34 AM »
Bmbtek02, Just to explain a little more.

Most guides have $300,000 up to several million dollars invested in equiptment. They carry expensive lability insurance policies. They have worked their way up the ranks to earn their guide licence and have a fair expense invested in their training. They will have a $2000.00 up fuel bill to take you on a hunt. A $500.00 up food bill. Repairs on their airplane or boats or 4-wheelers, etc. They accept complete responsibility for your safety while you are in their care.

addressing the $20.00 Brown bear tag for residents issue. If I want to travel to Admalarity island to hunt myself I take my $90,000.00 cruiser and pull my $15,000.00 skiff and spend $2,000.00 in fuel + food and go hunting. As you can see nothing is cheep in Alaska.

If you are like most young men with a family all this is out of reach for you now. Alaska is not like anyplace in the lower states. The remoteness any difficulty in travel is beyond your comprehension until after you see it first hand. Alaska is nearly 3 times the size of Texas with a population about the size of El Paso. You can fly all day in a small plain and not cross it. You can get weathered in for days or even weeks at a time. You must be prepared for all these possibilities.

You are probably used to buying a tank of gas for your pick-up and maybe throwing in a sleeping bag and tent and your rifle and going deer hunting. In Alaska much of the state have no roads. Travel is really expensive and requires planning. You pay either by paying a guide or moving here and buying your own equiptment to hunt. Hope this helps you understand a little better. Regards, Byron
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Offline Buddy in AK

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #10 on: December 15, 2005, 12:21:44 PM »
I say you should move here, get a job, settle in and enjoy this great state for a few years.  But then, you may end up like a bunch of us and never want to leave...  Warmed up in Fairbanks today :grin: 13 degrees now.

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Offline Sourdough

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #11 on: December 18, 2005, 11:45:18 AM »
There is a proposal in to allow non-residents to hunt Grizzlies in the interior without a guide.  Don't know if it will fly or not.  We'll find out in March when the game board meets.  Our problem, is that since the guide requirement was started less and less people hunt grizzlies.  Now we have an overabundance of them in some areas.  They have started praying on the baby Moose and Caribou in the spring.  Some Caribou and Moose herds are having a zero calf survival rate.  Mostly bears, along with wolves, are the culprets.  

If you can't move here youself have your Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister, Son or Daughter move here. Then they can take you hunting for a lot less than a guide.  Guides have a big political clout in this state, they have large areas locked up where only their clients can hunt.   They are responsiabile for the current situation of non-residents having to have a guide.  They have even attempted recently to extend the non-resident guide requirement to Moose and Caribou.
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Offline armymp71

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brown bear hunt
« Reply #12 on: December 19, 2005, 12:53:55 PM »
I am going next fall, the cost is 5k plus a trophy fee of $3500, this helps break up the cost a bit and in case you don't get a bear you save some money. This outfitter has been 100% for the past 5 years. It is an interior hunt so they are considered Grizzlies, and you can also take a caribou for 1k if that interests you. This will be my second brown bear hunt and I can't wait.

Offline Redhawk1

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Re: brown bear hunt
« Reply #13 on: December 19, 2005, 01:15:44 PM »
Quote from: armymp71
I am going next fall, the cost is 5k plus a trophy fee of $3500, this helps break up the cost a bit and in case you don't get a bear you save some money. This outfitter has been 100% for the past 5 years. It is an interior hunt so they are considered Grizzlies, and you can also take a caribou for 1k if that interests you. This will be my second brown bear hunt and I can't wait.


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Offline Sourdough

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #14 on: December 20, 2005, 07:19:14 PM »
In other words that's $8,500.00 plus air fare, just to shoot a Grizzlie.  No wonder the guides are fighting so hard to keep their areas unaccessiable.  And I understand why they are trying to add Moose and Caribou to the list of required to have a guide to hunt.

As for me, I can drive to Chicken, shoot two Grizzlies, and it will only cost me a tank of gas for my truck, and groceries for the time I'm gone.   No tag required in that area.  Glad I live in Alaska.
Where is old Joe when we really need him?  Alaska Independence    Calling Illegal Immigrants "Undocumented Aliens" is like calling Drug Dealers "Unlicensed Pharmacists"
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A 'Veteran' -- whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve -- is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America,' for an amount of 'up to, and including his life.' That is honor, and there are way too many people in this country today who no longer understand that fact.

Offline Buddy in AK

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« Reply #15 on: December 21, 2005, 07:13:28 AM »
SOURDOUGH.....Shhhhh...  :shock:
Don't give away too many secrets

Buddy

Offline armymp71

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costly hunts
« Reply #16 on: December 27, 2005, 04:00:07 AM »
Well, I doubt anyone would argue that they work hard for the money. I have paid several thousand for a black bear hunt which would seem crazy to some, but he put me on some of the biggest black bears I have ever seen in Alaska, and the hunt was very enjoyable. I am considering booking him again even though I have eight bear rugs already and two full mounts.

Offline bmbtek02

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #17 on: January 18, 2006, 04:43:58 AM »
Thanks for all the input, just as I figured it was political and some knucklehead was paddin there pockets. Unfortunately it is getting worse, just like gas prices soaring for no reason other than "threats" I understand completely about having equipment and supplies but to corner the market and jack th prices like they have is just WRONG! I really wish we could have a say and put a stop to this!
Be polite, be courtious, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet!
Dying ain't hard for men like us.....its livin thats hard when everything you've had been butchered or killed.

Offline bmbtek02

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #18 on: January 18, 2006, 04:47:37 AM »
Thanks for all the input, just as I figured it was political and some knucklehead was paddin there pockets. Unfortunately it is getting worse, just like gas prices soaring for no reason other than "threats" I understand completely about having equipment and supplies but to corner the market and jack th prices like they have is just WRONG! I really wish we could have a say and put a stop to this!
Be polite, be courtious, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet!
Dying ain't hard for men like us.....its livin thats hard when everything you've had been butchered or killed.

Offline Sourdough

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #19 on: January 20, 2006, 10:21:31 AM »
When the law requiring quides got passed, they (the guides) sited the deaths of some really dumb non residents.  These guys were hunting Dall Sheep and Goats.  They went out alone, not familer with the area, not familer with the weather, not familer with climbing mountains and crossing shale slopes.  They fell to their deaths due to them not being up to the conditions.  Also people had a bad habit of wounding Brown Bears and getting eatten.  There was a rash of those just before the law was passed.  The guides saw a way to get more business and jumped on it.  Now the idea in most guides heads is profits, they are looking at how much they can make from each customer.  And to answer an earlier question,  If you shoot your animal the first hour and leave the same day, the guide will still charge you the full amount just like you stayed the whole time.  That's one of the reason's they make you pay up front.  Also if you don't pass out lavish tips, don't expect the same treatment if you ever come back.  This last fall I talked with a couple of fellows, one from California, the other from Virginia.  They were repeat customers, and could not understand why the guide had sent them off to a differant area than the first time.  Also instead of being on horse back like the first hunt they were walking, or riding ATVs.  The first fellow went home empty handed, the second one shot a small bull moose just so he could say he shot something.  Far differant hunt than their first hunt.  Afterwards I overherd the assistant guides complaining, "No tips from those b______s, just like the first time".  And they did one of the worst jobs of butchering an animal that I have ever seen.  Hair all over everything.  Then they cut out the antlers claiming they did not know the client wanted to do a European mount.  Their cuts were crooked and on the wrong angles for easy mounting.
Where is old Joe when we really need him?  Alaska Independence    Calling Illegal Immigrants "Undocumented Aliens" is like calling Drug Dealers "Unlicensed Pharmacists"
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Offline Sourdough

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #20 on: January 20, 2006, 10:25:27 AM »
When the law requiring quides got passed, they (the guides) sited the deaths of some really dumb non residents.  These guys were hunting Dall Sheep and Goats.  They went out alone, not familer with the area, not familer with the weather, not familer with climbing mountains and crossing shale slopes.  They fell to their deaths due to them not being up to the conditions.  Also people had a bad habit of wounding Brown Bears and getting eatten.  There was a rash of those just before the law was passed.  The guides saw a way to get more business and jumped on it.  Now the idea in most guides heads is profits, they are looking at how much they can make from each customer.  And to answer an earlier question,  If you shoot your animal the first hour and leave the same day, the guide will still charge you the full amount just like you stayed the whole time.  That's one of the reason's they make you pay up front.  Also if you don't pass out lavish tips, don't expect the same treatment if you ever come back.  This last fall I talked with a couple of fellows, one from California, the other from Virginia.  They were repeat customers, and could not understand why the guide had sent them off to a differant area than the first time.  Also instead of being on horse back like the first hunt they were walking, or riding ATVs.  The first fellow went home empty handed, the second one shot a small bull moose just so he could say he shot something.  Far differant hunt than their first hunt.  Afterwards I overherd the assistant guides complaining, "No tips from those b______s, just like the first time".  And they did one of the worst jobs of butchering an animal that I have ever seen.  Hair all over everything.  Then they cut out the antlers claiming they did not know the client wanted to do a European mount.  Their cuts were crooked and on the wrong angles for easy mounting.
Where is old Joe when we really need him?  Alaska Independence    Calling Illegal Immigrants "Undocumented Aliens" is like calling Drug Dealers "Unlicensed Pharmacists"
What Is A Veteran?
A 'Veteran' -- whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve -- is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America,' for an amount of 'up to, and including his life.' That is honor, and there are way too many people in this country today who no longer understand that fact.

Offline wyocarp

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Re: Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #21 on: February 02, 2006, 07:37:14 AM »
Quote from: bmbtek02
I am wanting to brown bear hunt,.........but I am a policeman(in the south) who doesnt make very much money (go figure) and I have never used a outfitter and all I see on the web is 10-15k for a brown bear hunt do these people understand that the common folk would love to hunt also! I know this will sound crazy but does anybody know where a poor man might go and or an option? HELP PLEASE !!!!!!!


Hold tight for another year might be a good option.  Things might open up for some Grizzly hunting in Alaska and also around Yellowstone.

Offline bmbtek02

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #22 on: April 21, 2006, 04:44:21 AM »
Well if I pat 8500 to 15000 for a bear hunt I have a tip for them dont try and get rich off one client. Its a shame people have no honnor any more. I thought sprotsman were to help each other were all on the same team I thought!
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Offline Dusty Miller

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #23 on: April 21, 2006, 09:25:12 AM »
I buy California lottery tickets twice a week and when I hit it big them Alaskan bears had best look for good hide'n place!! :-D
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Offline Blink

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #24 on: April 21, 2006, 03:14:55 PM »
It does suck for the average working stiff and its only gonna get worse, but as what was already mentioned, there arent to many guides becoming millionaires either. The overhead is pretty steep.

I'll be on the taylor in 3 weeks looking for griz and blacks.

Offline AKCAT

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #25 on: April 22, 2006, 09:41:35 AM »
Other than Bruins my other passion is waterfowl hunting and I am a guide and I can't compare my prices but my insurance is pretty steep so I can't imagine what the big game guides are paying, plus planes, boats, outboards, atv's etc.
Just the Tundra tires are thousands of dollars per tire.
The few guides I know spend alot of money in gear every year, no sleeping bag, or tent get's used more than one season plus the other essentials.
Truly thankfull to God that I am a resident because I would be in the same boat as most when it comes to hunting AK.

Offline fknipfer

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #26 on: April 22, 2006, 02:09:12 PM »
You know Canadian hunts are a lot cheaper than Alaskan hunts.  So why don't you go for a grizzly in BC or Alberta.  When something goes beyond market reality don't buy it.  If there is not a customer then prices will become reasonable.  I reserved a hunt in Manitoba this year for myself and my son and three nephews  and we will spend somewhere between 12 and 15,000 dollars for all five of us.  So tell the monopoly guides in Alaska to kiss off.  Anyway thats my opinion.

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Offline Yukon Jack

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #27 on: April 24, 2006, 04:43:57 PM »
Quote from: bmbtek02
Well if I pat 8500 to 15000 for a bear hunt I have a tip for them dont try and get rich off one client. Its a shame people have no honnor any more. I thought sprotsman were to help each other were all on the same team I thought!

Guides aren't getting rich.  Hunting or guiding in Alaska isn't like it is in the lower 48.  Camps, lease payments, state fees, supply fly-ins, equipment costs, etc... are all expensive.  Some guides do very well, but they work hard for it and save their money.  Nobody is getting rich, unless they started out rich.

Offline Thebear_78

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Affordable Brown Bear Hunt?
« Reply #28 on: April 24, 2006, 08:30:32 PM »
The cost of doing business up here is quite a bit higher than other areas.  Even for me as a resident it wouldn't be uncommon to spend 2-3 grand just on fuel and supplys for a 10 day hunt.  Its not uncommon to burn up 60+ gallons of fuel a day in the airboat.  Flying out can also be very expensive and operations where they have to fly in supplies and lots of fuel to run generators and boats or to maintain a year round residence.

Offline RemingtonMagnum

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« Reply #29 on: April 25, 2006, 01:35:55 AM »
I Guess if I am not attacked in my sleep I want get to shoot a bear. Not that it is not something I would pass but enjoy very much. Even a black bear.

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