WIDRIG UTFITTERS REVIEW. I just returned from a dall sheep/caribou hunt with Chris Widrig. Runs a very organized outfit in camp both there are a few negatives. I would not go back and hunt sheep with them.
1. The problem is with Chris. He is 60 years old now and trying to run the whole outfit and he still tries to guide too. He philosophy on hunting is like banking hours....8-5...even though it doesn't get dark until 11pm.
2. It was a 10 day hunt he said with 12 days allotted. 2 days are dedicated to flying from Whitehorse to his base camp at either Goz Lake or Bonnet Plume lake. Even though we arrived in that camp around 9am.....we spent the entire day and night there before heading out for a 7 hour horseback ride to spike camp. So now 12 days becomes 8 days of actual hunting!
3. The horses and equipment/camp are all excellent. Very good, tame horses that were a pleasure to ride. The food was pretty good as we cooked regular food (not freeze dried) over a camp fire BUT.....3 days eating caribou meat that his previous hunter had shot got old!
4. VERY FEW SHEEP in his entire area. The density is very low. 7 hours of horseback riding each direction and didn't see any sheep (or any other living creature other than a few ptarmigan and 1 small caribou).
5. Chris was 1 for 3 sheep hunters himself this spring and the 1 he did get was a last minute one on the last day. He does not want to do any extra effort to go after sheep. We had 3 opportunities to go after sheep we saw in mid-day or early afternoon and he refused to make a stalk saying "they will be lower or closer to camp tomorrow!". On 1 occasion, we stalked a ram up high on the mountain and the biggest ram I had ever seen (I have 17 sheep/goat hunts to date) was in my crosshairs....standing on the ridge broadside....and he wouldn't let me shoot. It was 3:30 pm (dark at 11 and only about 1 mile by horseback to camp) and he said it was too late to recover the ram that day because he was In a "bad position". I said..... SO WHAT....we will get him and he refused and we went back to camp as usual by 5 and he was in his tent reading by 7pm.
6. The morning of the last day which we were going to do the 7 hour horseback ride to, we were packing he horses around 7:00 am and I looked up and saw the big ram right down low on the green grassy knol just above camp. He refused to go get him (maybe 1-1/2 hour stalk) saying he had lots of stuff to do and new hunters coming in the next day and he wanted to get back to camp!!!!! I was paying for that day of hunting......we had 16 hours of daylight left and he refused to hunt.
I went home totally empty handed...no sheep and no caribou and only 8 days of hunting time.
The other hunters in camp got some sheep (I think they went like 8 for 12 sheep this year. So low density of sheep and just don't use Chris as a guide. He is too old to be trying to run a complete guiding outfitting business and guiding himself and is certainly not willing to work hard for the trophy. Most guides would push a hunter but in this case.....I was pushing him to make a stalk/kill and he always refused because it was 'geting too late" and he wanted to be back in camp by 5 and in bed by 6 or 7.
I heard about this post concerning Chris Widrig, Widrig Outfitters. I felt that a rebuttal was warranted. I hunted with Widrig Outfitters in 2014. My experience was totally different than Diamond Dave describes. I wasn't on DD's hunt, but I can speak to my hunt and the total dedication and effort Widrig made to make my hunt successful.
1. Our days were anything but 8-5. By 8:00, Chris would have wrangled horses, packed camp, saddled horses, packed the pack horses, ate breakfast and be an hour down the trail. DD seems to support this same time table. He said Widrig was packing the horses at 7:00. Our day on the trail would end between 6:00 to 7:00 pm. Then, we had a couples hours to do horses, make a camp, eat and make for bed.
2. I have a hard time understanding DD's complaint about food. While at base camp, Goz Lake, the food was unbelievable; wild blueberry pancakes, wild cranberry sweet rolls, great meals. More than a man ought to eat. On the trail, we had great "camping meals." Trail food isn't going to be 5-star, but real food was far and away better than Mountain Home. From fried eggs and steak to salad and desserts, we had them all. We too had caribou. It made a great basis to a meal. Again, way better than Mountain Home. What are you going to eat on a 10-day hunt caribou or canned Vienna sausage or tuna fish?
3. DD complains about a lack of sheep. Anyone that has hunted much, and he claims 17 sheep/goat hunts, knows that you can spend numerous days without seeing game. However, DD describes seeing five bands of sheep in "8 days of hunting." That doesn't seem that bad to me. Here in Utah where I've hunted deer and elk for 48 years I be elated to see trophy animals five times in eight days. I saw a lot of sheep; at least it seemed like a lot to me. (About 80 ewes and lambs, 12 or so immature rams and 11 legal rams.
4. DD also complains about not seeing caribou. My experience in Widrig's area had sheep and caribou in different places. I made the choice to harvest a sheep before I worried about sheep. Did DD really want to spend his hunting days looking for caribou rather than caribou? During my hunt, I saw one caribou along a valley trail while hunting sheep. After harvesting a ram, we turned attention to caribou and then I saw many caribou.
5. DD attacks Widrig's character. He accuses him of being lazy, too old and an inept guide unwilling to work for his hunter. That is so far from the truth it makes me angry. Internet character assassination is way too easy. None of us were on the hunt with DD and Widrig, but I can draw from my experience and to those of other hunters I communicated with when I was looking for a guide. DD even points out that Widrig helped a hunter harvest a ram the last hour the last day. Chris made camp, wrangled horses, climbed mountains, skinned my ram, fleshed the hide, carried a 125-pound pack, sat under a ledge with me waiting for wind, rain and fog to subside. That doesn't describe a guide that is lazy and uninterested. I tried to help some. I unsaddled horses, cooked a bit, fetched water. It doesn't sound like DD did much to help; probably just sat and waited to be tended.
6. Those of you that have hunted the McKenzie Mountains, are probably wondering where that grassy knoll near camp is. Man I never saw any. I saw steep mountains, boulders, wind, rain, snow ans scree.
DD points out that not every hunter harvested a ram; probably true. That's hunting. I returned from elk hunts in Idaho and Wyomimg empty handed. Antelope hunts in Utah and Wyoming; no antelope. I've hunted within 10 minutes of my house where I know every facet of the land without harvesting a deer, elk, coyote, pheasant or even a stupid rabbit. That's hunting. I guarantee you that very few places have 80% harvest rate and that includes hunters that pass on shooting opportunities or out-and-out miss the shot. In 2014, 12 of 13 hunters harvested rams. The one hunter that didn't harvest passed on three 37-inch rams waiting for a 40-incher.
7. I'm sorry DD didn't get a ram. I'm sure that would disappointing. But at the same time, I think he is missing the complete picture. A hunt in the Yukon is far more than meat and a head on the wall. It's floats on a lake near the Arctic Circle, it's black spruce and alder, it's grizzly scat on the trail, it's a sow and cubs in a willow patch, it's starting a fire in a rain storm, it's fording rivers, it's a wolf, it's a weathered moose antler, it's picking and eating wild berries, it's walking where no man has walked before, it's northern lights, it's sheep ribs smoked over the camp fire, it's strangers who become comrades. It's a shame that DD went home "totally empty handed." He missed out on far more than a sheep
Don't be mislead by DD's post. It doesn't give an accurate depiction of the type of guide, outfitter and person Chris Widrig is. If I get to hunt sheep or moose in the future, I won't shop around. I'll be in the Yukon with Chris and his crew.
Grant Hansen
o in the evening. We climbed every day and glassed. When I was unable to continue Chris would place me in a good glassing area and continue on to search more area for a ram. This went on for 8 days. We covered many miles and climbed numerous mountains. We saw between 40 and 45 ewes and lambs and 8 rams. I did not kill a ram but it certainly was not for lack of effort on Chris's or my part. Anyone who has hunted sheep knows the challenge that they have in front of them. The food, equipment, and services have been spoken to in the above posts and all were very good. Chris is a professional in every form. I am returning in 2018 with Chris as my guide, we have some unfinished business to attend to. I am 65 years old so DD and I are about the same age and I would not spend the money, or go through the effort to stay in shape unless I had the confidence in Chris to get it done
