Pete
Was that a good outfit? They posted that all moose they killed in 2009 were 63-70" - that was impressive!
I would be very surprised if Les had ever produced more than the occasional moose over 60".
If you want a good idea of the quality or reputation of the outfit, contact Fish and Wildlife Protection (game wardens) in Fairbanks!
The weather rained us out b4 Les could horseback me in to the base camp… He wrote up a new contract to replace the cost of the Sheep hunt for a 5 day spring bear hunt and a 10 day horseback moose hunt to compensate me for the cost of the sheep hunt, which I thought was fair at the time….
I got the bear hunt and had an opportunity for a nice bear. However, I was assigned to different guides each day instead of one guide for the entire hunt. I was guided to one stand each day for a couple of days, then one of Les's guide friend came in to camp and Les had him take a client to the stand I was on so I had to be moved to a ground blind for a couple of days b4 I got back on the first stand. That hunter took a nice bear on the second day of his hunt. ( that to me was not right as I paid to be guided and should not have been interrupted by some other guide friend of Les). I did get an opportunity on a nice bear a day later on that stand. However, we did not harvest it. My arrow wounded the bear, but b4 I could get off another shot, my guide pulled out his 44 an started shooting at the big boar. My guide missed his mark the bear ran off. We tracked the Bear but was unsuccessful in recouping it.. That should not have happened. As far as I was concerned the guide did not allow me to get a second shot b4 pulling out his 44 and scaring the bear away from the bait.
A year later Les brought me back for the Moose hunt, but instead of the 10 day horseback hunt he sent me with an inexperienced guide who never guided for Les before and never even Guided in the area. We were transported by boat to a camp site on the Tananau River. We were in a tent camp and on foot for 5 days back and forth to one open marshy area where we never even saw fresh sign. Since we were on foot our range of travel was severely limited. On the 5th day we were picked up and brought back to camp where I had to end the hunt.
I was not satisfied that Les had did his best to perform his duty on the Moose Hunt per the contract. I wound up suing him in small claims court. During that process I found out that Les was NOT the listed owner on the guiding service License. One of Les's sons is the listed owner of the license and Les was only guiding under the permission of his son.
I did win a settlement for the cost of the 5 days Les shorted me.
I realize this is an old post and that Les has departed this world but I feel my experience should be stated for the record. And anyone in the future should make sure they get references and contact each reference b4 paying any money for a hunt. There are many guides and outfitters in Alaska, some good, some not so good. A prospective client should due research on more than one guide b4 making any decisions. This is especially important as the Alaska Fish and Game are not in the position to help with a dispute of this type. They are more focused on Game law violations. So I was forced to go thru the court system.
