Tok Air Service

[AKBorn]

Hmmmm - that's reason enough for me never to use Tok Air, I don't have issue with prices rising a little, I have a HUGE issue with dropping a few thousand on a deposit, only to have the total hunt cost increase AFTER I locked in my deposit (which is most operations also locks in the price).

 

[Trial153]

Wonder what the justification is for 40% increase in cost?

 

[BillB]

Not sure if Gary at Mt Hayes is operating any longer.

I was going to pm you Vern as I see your from Delta Junction- I tried unsuccessfully to reach Gary over the summer- was wondering if he was no longer in bussines

 

[VernAK]

I just used him last year, did he just stop doing transports?


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I'll check today ....if I remember....but will get back to you.

 

[Trial153]

I tried most of those listed on here to get me into the 40mile area and fell short in one way or another. Although I do have sould connection to moose hunt. For super cub in the that area ..Zak was all I could line up and feel like I had a soild reservation that I could be confident in. Hope it goes well.

 

[traviswdalton]

Wonder what the justification is for 40% increase in cost?

Supply and demand


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[AK Troutbum]

I'll check today ....if I remember....but will get back to you.

I just spoke with him and you are correct, he decided last winter to shut down operations. He said that it was a really tough decision but he was finely able to enjoy a hunt this year with his wife for the first time in many years. I only flew with him a few times but I feel like he provided a top notch service and was one of the best super cub pilots I've ever flown with. Definitely sorry to see him retire

 

[mshortdog]

No didn’t honor the price we agreed upon and I had already put $3000 down for a deposit. I got email saying increase is $1500 but he felt bad so only increased mine $500. It sours me a little because of our agreement but I understand how insurances go up ect and the cost of everything.
I can’t imagine another 20 years from now nobody will be able to afford to hunt. I am already stretched to the max on a diy hunt. Maybe I will stay home and shoot squirrels.

My guess at this rate they will bleed the additional grand out of you next fall. It should not be you job to forecast their business expenses. Would they understand it you emailed them and said "Hey I will be running low on money in a few years how about a $1,500 decrease on your services?"
Add $500 for successful hunt portion of the bill would be the compromise if I had to use them with no choices.

 

[Nick Muche]

Glad I have a spot with 40 Mile Air... Much cheaper and damn the service is incredible! Great people to work with, looking forward to taking my family this coming fall for moose and caribou. It was really nice getting picked up on our planned "out" date, getting to the main strip and seeing all the others who wanted out early have to wait for us to go first

 

[rustyN]

That's a shitty way to do business. Have been trying to get a bou hunt in that area for a little while, will definitely cross Tok Air off the list of places to call.

 

[ndbuck09]

I did a caribou hunt with Zack in 2018. We had booked in March 2017 for that hunt. In that time his prices went up a grand or so for the caribou fly in but he didn't make us pay anything additional. My crew of 3 of us all got Caribou and were in them everyday so it's a solid service; although we had some guy land on the bar/strip we were at and grill us a bit as we got the vibe he wasn't thrilled we were there. I will say we shot our animals all on Day 2 of supposed to be 7 days and we ended up being in for 9 days total, so we sat for a full 7 days after we had our animals back to the strip. A solo guy booked up can have a real hard time getting to people early with weather and everything, but now with such an expensive fly in, you'd have to honestly expect better service, although there's just no way it could be any different with only one guy flying. I'm still not sure if the sitting on our meat for the full 7 days should just be chocked up to Alaska and the weather or if that amount of time slides into negligible service. Luckily we had citric acid four our meat and worked at keeping it dry and aired out that whole time bc it sure wasn't in the 30-40's very much.

I honestly think he's basically trying to not be quite as busy but still make about the same (probably a bit more) revenue....Seemed like he was decently stressed with the quantity of groups he had going when we were there. Putting myself in his shoes, I could see why you might not want to have to juggle so many groups. With a single pilot, it seems like there's really a ceiling on your revenue stream basically. I will say that at this point, me and my crew can't afford to hunt with Zach anymore with where the prices are at.

 

[ndbuck09]

The real core of the issue is that there's rich guys who will go pay his prices. If they wouldn't, he'd have to lower or not raise in the first place. I'm not against people being rich but I am against people paying ridiculous prices for things that shouldn't that expensive. Same with trucks now too....

 

[PA Hunter]

The real core of the issue is that there's rich guys who will go pay his prices. If they wouldn't, he'd have to lower or not raise in the first place. I'm not against people being rich but I am against people paying ridiculous prices for things that shouldn't that expensive. Same with trucks now too....

Well I am not rich at all I do some moose hunting in Newfoundland but honestly I hate guided hunts so I wanted to do a diy Alaska hunt. My preferred float hunt guy was booked like 4 years out so I wanted to try this. I’m not extremely upset about the increase just a little bothered. I am not going to let it ruin my hunt and I’m not going to be rude about it but I’m just wondering where will these fast increases end? It would be nice to be a repeat hunter but there is no way with these increases. My school taxes already took many pints of my blood.

 

[PA Hunter]

Glad I have a spot with 40 Mile Air... Much cheaper and damn the service is incredible! Great people to work with, looking forward to taking my family this coming fall for moose and caribou. It was really nice getting picked up on our planned "out" date, getting to the main strip and seeing all the others who wanted out early have to wait for us to go first

I know how hard it is to get with 40 mile with their repeat hunters.

 

[Aeast]

40 mile is about impossible to book a moose hunt with, they have enough repeat customers to fill up every year.

 

[NUGGET]

I’ve met Zack a handful of times. Flown with him only once. I gotta trust someone to do business with them and especially to fly me in to an area. With young kids at home there is no way I’m getting in a plane with that guy. Alaska has a way of shitting on your plans. You try to rush it and it will catch up to you eventually. Besides his weak handshake and not looking one directly in the eye he gets in a big hurry. He puts way too many guys in the field for a one man operation. It’s going to catch up to him. His price increases isn’t to lower the hunters, it’s just all part of the Zack personality.

I’m not sure why there is so much fascination with the 40 mile country, especially if you are a non resident. The moose densities are super low there and the season is short in much of the country. Hell some areas don’t open till sept 8th and lot of the big bulls already have a harem of cows by then. There is a lot better areas to hunt as a non resident IMHO and they are a lot cheaper too. It just takes a little bit of research. I took some non resident friends a couple years back and we saw more moose in a week than you’d see in 5 years hunting the 40 mile country. Cost per person including flying out your moose was 1900. That air taxi now is at 2000 a person including moose take out. What was great too was we were not limited to 50 lbs a person. So plenty of beer went along. Moose hunting is boring so the key to success is beer.

Anyways if you are lucky and eventually get a spot with 40 mile air just remember most the prime spots have been on lock for years. Vern’s spot and Nick’s spot are both great areas. If either stopped hunting it there’s already people to take their place and it’s most likely not going to be you.

 

[Trial153]

The real core of the issue is that there's rich guys who will go pay his prices. If they wouldn't, he'd have to lower or not raise in the first place. I'm not against people being rich but I am against people paying ridiculous prices for things that shouldn't that expensive. Same with trucks now too....

So you must play a lot of cribbage waiting for prices to drop.

I have yet to prices of anything hunting related decreasing in an measurable sense. Sitting on your ass waiting for prices to come down before going to and gaining experiences seems like a good way to waste years in your life.

 

[mtnclimber]

Ive known zack for 20 years and hes a top notch pilot. You get what you pay for.

 

[NUGGET]

I not following the “you get what you pay for” saying on this one. When some damn good pilots like 40 mile air, golden eagle, etc are all around the same price, flying into the same country and you got someone charging twice as much? Riiiiiight. Your feelings would change when you sit an extra 4 days on the strip because he’s behind getting guys out. Plenty of those stories out there regarding him...

 

[Nick Muche]

Not a dig on Zack, as I do not know him. Talked to him very briefly once about 5 years ago at that was all, but when I see all those trucks in his parking lot and know that there is only one plane servicing them all, it makes a guy wonder. I have no issues with him, but plenty of folks I respect do. I wonder how long he can sustain current tempo/operations with just a one man show...