I recently returned from a guided Alaskan Grizzly/Brown Bear hunt and there were some events that at the very least were not professional and likely not ethical (at least in my opinion). I'll outline the events of my experience with Stephan Lake Lodge below. Is there anything I should do, agencies I should contact, reports I should file or is this just one of those experiences that you can't do anything about?
On day one of the hunt another guide with the same outfitter (Stephan Lake Lodge) went through the valley we were hunting with his two Pursuit Channel clients (doing a hunting show - maybe I should also contact the Pursuit channel?) and setup their tent on the ridge which was in what my guide said was the kill zone for the valley (he predicted grizzlies to walk from left to right and exit on the direction of that ridge). They were setting up their tent (three of them milling around on the ridge) at the same time we set out to stalk the only grizzly bear we saw on the side of the creek we could hunt in our seven days at the site. After we left camp on the stalk, we never spotted that Bear again. It will be interesting when the episode comes out to see what footage from that site appears in the show.
On day eight of the hunt the guide takes me to a creek and after sitting for at least an hour he comes over to me and says he doesn't see a scenario where we could shoot a Bear if it did appear since he thought the Bear would likely end up in the creek which was raging. Why would we go to a location we couldn't hunt - a wasted day.
On day nine of the hunt we were overlooking a creek and we see a Bear chasing something in the creek (barely visible) and shortly later (minute to two minutes) a Brown Bear walks across the creek broadside in front of us giving us ample time to shoot (we were setup, gun loaded, Bear in the sights) - what was likely only a few seconds seemed like an eternity since the guide had told me not to shoot unless he said I could, he never said I could shoot. He told me that he couldn't tell if it was a two year old bear or if it was older and that is the reason he didn't let me shoot. Shouldn't a registered guide be able to make that determination? Might not have been a trophy to others, but it would have been to me.
The Pursuit channel hunters and the other guide ruined my chances for likely the first two or three days spreading their scent in the valley and I don't believe my guide had any intent on letting me shoot a Bear on either creek we sat on (he was concerned he would make a mistake and get a ticket from the Troopers and he didn't believe that hunting on a creek gave him enough time to judge the Bears).
Is this a bad experience that I just need to live with or is there something I should or could do? I don't believe I had a reasonable chance of success with this outfitter or the guides in camp and they posted and are currently posting that they have 100% success (bookyourhunt) which is not true as you can see above.
On day one of the hunt another guide with the same outfitter (Stephan Lake Lodge) went through the valley we were hunting with his two Pursuit Channel clients (doing a hunting show - maybe I should also contact the Pursuit channel?) and setup their tent on the ridge which was in what my guide said was the kill zone for the valley (he predicted grizzlies to walk from left to right and exit on the direction of that ridge). They were setting up their tent (three of them milling around on the ridge) at the same time we set out to stalk the only grizzly bear we saw on the side of the creek we could hunt in our seven days at the site. After we left camp on the stalk, we never spotted that Bear again. It will be interesting when the episode comes out to see what footage from that site appears in the show.
On day eight of the hunt the guide takes me to a creek and after sitting for at least an hour he comes over to me and says he doesn't see a scenario where we could shoot a Bear if it did appear since he thought the Bear would likely end up in the creek which was raging. Why would we go to a location we couldn't hunt - a wasted day.
On day nine of the hunt we were overlooking a creek and we see a Bear chasing something in the creek (barely visible) and shortly later (minute to two minutes) a Brown Bear walks across the creek broadside in front of us giving us ample time to shoot (we were setup, gun loaded, Bear in the sights) - what was likely only a few seconds seemed like an eternity since the guide had told me not to shoot unless he said I could, he never said I could shoot. He told me that he couldn't tell if it was a two year old bear or if it was older and that is the reason he didn't let me shoot. Shouldn't a registered guide be able to make that determination? Might not have been a trophy to others, but it would have been to me.
The Pursuit channel hunters and the other guide ruined my chances for likely the first two or three days spreading their scent in the valley and I don't believe my guide had any intent on letting me shoot a Bear on either creek we sat on (he was concerned he would make a mistake and get a ticket from the Troopers and he didn't believe that hunting on a creek gave him enough time to judge the Bears).
Is this a bad experience that I just need to live with or is there something I should or could do? I don't believe I had a reasonable chance of success with this outfitter or the guides in camp and they posted and are currently posting that they have 100% success (bookyourhunt) which is not true as you can see above.
