Alaska: Heli hunting on Brownbears

[CoElkHunter]

Well worth looking into. Although it would be hard to compete with a half warm package of Mountain House freeze dried chili….

Or a good cold mustard sardine burrito under a tarp in a driving rain. But they might charge extra for that. LOL

 

[JimP]

Or a good cold mustard sardine burrito under a tarp in a driving rain. But they might charge extra for that. LOL

You haven't lived until you are 5 miles from the trailhead and your partner says that he had lunch covered. Then he pulls out a package of Fig Newtons and a piss warm can of Pepsi

 

[BRICKBURN]

You haven't lived until you are 5 miles from the trailhead and your partner says that he had lunch covered. Then he pulls out a package of Fig Newtons and a piss warm can of Pepsi

He would not have lived for sure.

 

[Sabre]

Yes, operating costs across the board have gone up. Of course Alaska is going to be more expensive than many easier locations. But pretending that overhead/operating costs are the reason why brown bear/grizzly hunts are so expensive is silly. If that were true, their black bear hunts would also cost almost the same.

They are so expensive because almost everyone wants one, and because outfitters realized they could charge much more and still get enough clients to pay themselves well for less hunts.

That is the reason why grizzly, elk, mule deer, and whitetail hunt prices have gone up so drastically. Although there are supposedly less hunters overall, the hunters that are still hunting are hunting more hours, they are often more educated than in the past, and many more want to travel to get more species. Influenced by endless supply of hunting shows telling them it's the best ever.

I have had many outfitters tell me essentially the same thing, phrased slightly differently from each one. "Why would I take 10 guys for $5,000 each when I can take 5 guys for $10,000 each and make the same money with less work and less animals out of the herd."

It's supply and demand, plain and simple. If all of the wealthy people suddenly decided they didn't need another bull elk tomorrow, you would see prices for elk hunts drop drastically to working person's prices and the outfitter would take more people at a lower price per animal to make the same wages.

 

[CBH Australia]

A sad truth is that one can hunt the same species in Europe and kill just as big a bear for a half the cost of an Alaskan brown bear.

These are free range animals, though admittedly the wilderness factor is not the same. In Europe the hunter will likely have to cope with a lovely claret and chateaubriand at the end of the day rather than a can of Denny Moore lovingly prepared by an ever more fragrant guide. But sometimes the savings are worth the sacrifice.

I can understand everyone’s point of view on this but wondered if more tags allow operators to reduce costs with increased demand when the bear are being culled so the population are there.

To your point on hunting Europe for someone like me who would say 50-100k is definitely Once in a lifetime if were commit and I have watched YouTube. Sitting it out in a tent would be hard. The hike would be hard, and the cold would be horrible.

So for me hunting a big bear and having a bit of comfort I could live with . A big bear, any bear and any country would be better than no bear for me. But for some only an Alaskan Bear will do.

I can understand everyone’s point that but some might be able to budget 100k each year for hunting and many can’t but some will fulfil a lifetime dream of taking that once in a lifetime hunt and bring home their prize whatever that might be.