joelbiltz,
My brother and I hunted with Bob Efford in 2000. I don't know if you are hunting in the the same camp. I'll try to describe my hunt from memory. We drove to Peter Strides Pond and were picked up by Bob and flown into the main camp. After unpacking we were told we were flying into another camp that turned out to be a 2 room plywood cabin that was in an area that belonged to another outfitter and was not hunted. I was told that the gov't eventually closed that area for some reason. The camp was primitive but pretty comfortable and dry. It rained really hard the first 3 days of the hunt. We had tags for moose and bear only. Needless to say we saw lots of nice caribou. We each killed a moose and we saw a few bears but couldn't get close enough to close the deal. The guides although very competent didn't want to be in the remote camp, no showers, no toilet, no cook and as a result were very anxious for us to kill the 1st bulls we found so they could get back to the creature comforts. It was the last week of the season and they had been in camp for quite awhile but that shouldn't have made a difference. Because we took the 1st bulls we saw we wound up taking very small bulls. They also seemed to take delight in trying to walk our butts off. I had been on a few guided elk hunts prior to this hunt but niether of us had experience with this type of situation before. We could have and should have been more forceful. Efford flew our meat out to the butcher mid week so it would be ready for our trip home. When we got to the butcher on the way back to the ferry the butchering was not started and the first thing they said when we walked in was " the backstraps and tenderloins were missing when the moose were delivered." A few hours later we picked up 2 butchered moose. They were wrapped like the packages you see at the supermarket, styrofoam trays and Saran wrap and not even chilled. We had coolers filled with blood and had to stop to drain them several times. We wound up losing most of the meat even though we used ice wrapped in trash bags to keep the meat as cold as possible. At that time we were told this was the only butcher available. If you are driving I would consider taking the quarters out whole and taking them to your local processor at home. We had really windy weather at the end of the hunt and they brought in a chopper to get us back to our vehicle. We had a successful hunt as far as taking moose and the accomodations and food were good. It was a learning experience for me that I've used to insure there are no misconceptions between outfitter, guide , and myself on hunts that I've been on since then. Hope this helps.
Lou
