Extreme Expeditions out of Alaska

6mm Remington

Ammo Smith
Feb 27, 2006
5,191
387
Was turned onto these folks by my neighbor, and he knows one of the guides for this operation. He spoke highly of them and I was wondering if anyone here has had any hunts with these folks and what their experience was like? I am trying to get hooked up with a fall 2019 or 2020 hunt for moose, grizzly bear, and wolf. If anyone knows another company that they really liked I could use some help in finding the right folks to book with. Thanks to all.

David
 
Might check with Guy to find who he booked with, David. He spoke very highly of the outfit, though I don't remember precisely who it was.
 
I don't have any first hand knowledge but have heard good reports on that outfit.

Guy hunted with Joey Klutsch. Joey has his own operation, as does his father. Joe was helping out the outfitter Guy booked with. Joey has been guiding since he was 8 or 9 years old. ( not much of an exaggeration) I've known him about 18 years. He is one of the few spooky good hunters I've ever known. Guy of course can fill you in.

Another really good guide and outfitter is Phil Byrd, Arctic North Guides. He is a very good friend of mine, we've helped each other out on several occasions. He will be my first choice.
Has two fantastic areas, one out in western Alaska, near the Mulchatna and the other down the Alaska Peninsula (upper Ugashik lake). I do a lot of fishing in Phils hunt area, lots of really big bears and good moose. Wolves too.

You're doing the right thing, get lots of references, always ask for the names of clients who had a bad trip also.
Take good rain gear. Good luck have a great adventure.



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Thanks guys for the help. Great suggestions. I'll start contacting folks and see what I can learn from conversations with them. I was hoping to be able to afford a moose on the same trip but don't look like I can quite do that and a grizzly is the one that I really want to hunt so I think it will just be for one of those awesome animals. I can get a wolf for pretty cheap so I would try and do that also.
 
Answering via phone.

Booked with Lyle Becker, Alaska Skookum Guides. Joey hired on with him for the hunt. I was very impressed with both of those fellows! I'd hunt with either again.

Joey's business is Aniakchak Guide Service. I can get links for you in a day or two. Or they're buried in my thread about the hunt.

Very excited for you! Should be a great hunt!

Guy
 
Good luck on the hunt.

If you end up doing a 2019 or 2020 trip I would be willing to loan you some gear if I'm not using it at that time. I think 2019 will be a WY elk hunt staying at a friends place where I won't need the AK stuff and 2020 might be a November Sitka Blacktail hunt tentatively. I have not even been on my first AK hunt but I'm in the very early stages of planning for caribou and sitka blacktail. I don't want to get ahead of myself to far because I'm sure the moose trip will teach me a lot I will want to apply to planning those hunts. I hope to do 3 Alaska trips in the next decade so I spent some money on tarps, pack, lots of stuff that is top quality and can sure be used on more trips than I'll get it out on. I figure we don't all need to buy everything if we can share!

I'm going on a hunt with Papa Bear for moose this fall, it's outfitted but not guided. If you are interested in that let me know in October after I get back and I can give you what I learn. It might be a way to do moose on a second trip without paying for a full guided hunt if it turns out good.

I have been listening to podcasts using my phone on Alaska stuff since I spend about 4 hours a day checking cows on our Polaris Ranger during March and April. The radio in our old 94 Ford feed truck gave out last winter so I listened to a lot in there too. There is some information from guys who have done multiple trips that can be found. A new one just started called Alaska DIY that I think will have some valuable information as it gets more episodes. Exo Mountain gear has a few as does Tradquest that I learned from plus others. A search for Alaska and Hunt shows quite a bit. The ones I mentioned are mostly on DIY stuff, but on others outfitters and guides are interviewed and give good info on why clients succeed or fail, what they like to see in a client, other useful info.

I don't know that my budget will ever allow a big bear hunt, but I think that would be an awesome experience. I hope it works out for you.
 
David - here's the link to Lyle Becker's guide service: http://www.alaskaskookumguides.com/

And here's the link to Joey's guide service: http://www.joeyklutsch.com/

They don't normally work together, but there's a lot of mutual respect between them. Both are young guys, in their 30's, with a wealth of information & experience. Both have outstanding gear, and excellent success rates.

Each has a wonderful spotting scope. I think Joey spotted all the bears first, looking through his enormous Swarovski spotting scope. Lyle has a Leica, so if you go with him, he's got the spotting scope covered as well. Where I hunted, up in the arctic, the spotting scopes were really needed. I had 10x Zeiss binos which were great, but they didn't hold a candle to the spotting scopes each of the guides brought.

Guy
 
The Alaska peninsula is great country, but I think I would want to hunt Lyles area in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. That is some wild country.


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mcseal2 - Guy - salmonchaser. Thanks for all the help and advise. Don it looks like Joey hunts grizzlies up near the Arctic Wildlife Refuge so he would be right there with Lyle in roughly the same ountry. I was planning on taking my Leupold spotting scope too Guy or would you just suggest taking my binoculars and then using the guides when a bear was spotted just to save on taking any more gear than necessary.
 
I was happy with just my good binos, but Joey and Lyle were glued to their spotting scopes much of the time, and they spotted critters before I did...

Talk to 'em, but I'd think just the binos would be fine. I got to use their spotting scopes too, time to time. That Swaro was Amazing!

They were glassing out farther than I was, because of the stronger magnification.

Guy
 
I do the vast majority of my glassing in the field from binos on a tripod. When I'm real weight conscious I use my 10X Leica Geovid HD-B binos with an adapter plate and strap mount for my tripod head. A lot of the time I'll pack the extra weight of 15x Swaros and glass with them off the tripod. I love the field of view and image that provides.

Since I pack the 15's a lot I seldom use my spotter for locating game but rather just for evaluating game I have found with my binos. For this I love my Kowa Prominar 55 spotter. With it's adapter plate, protective case, and lens covers it's just 33oz. It's amazing glass that beats the Swaro STM65 it replaced in every way except field of view. It does have a bit smaller field of view and a bit touchier eye relief, but it's amazingly good glass in a compact lightweight package.

I use it on a Promaster 525 tripod with an Outdoorsmans pan head. I also have a rifle rest adapter from Outdoorsmans that makes the tripod an excellent shooting platform up to standing height. The tripod, rest, and head are 47oz. That's my set-up that you could borrow if it helps. The universal bino mount to go with it is about another 5oz I think. One leg of that tripod can be unscrewed and used as a trekking pole. It's not the lightest tripod on the market but I feel like it's versatility is worth an extra 3 or so ounces.
 
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