From: Worldwide Game & Fish Adventures [[email protected]]
Sent: October 15, 2007 9:56 AM
To: [email protected]
Cc: Joel Gosselin; Agnes + J.P. Gosselin
Subject: FW: Notes to Jason Dyck re Sept
Darwin,
I just received an email from my 2 hunters that hunted with you for moose this past September. After going over the details of their entire experience while hunting with you I have come to the conclusion that not only did you provide me with false information but your lack of professionalism is evident. When discussing with you the hunting opportunities, dates, hunting methods and accommodations, this was to be a truly great opportunity for these two men. I can’t believe that you would allow yourself to “sell “to someone who has worked hard to obtain a hunt of this magnitude a “rip-off” experience! Not picking up guests when KNOWING when they were arriving, bad equipment, lack of food in camp, guides with NO knowledge of the area is unbelievable! They mentioned that that Yak, the pilot in which I know and have flown with before had to drop them off in town because you were not there...............were you too embarrassed knowing what you sold? The Yukon Outfitters Association has a stipulation in it that ALL outfitters have to follow and that is that they must provide all customers with equal opportunity, clean accommodations, FOOD, knowledgeable guides and working equipment. You provide at best the bare minimums to this oath. Reading the email they sent me has bluntly speaking, pissed me off! I have worked in this industry for 17 plus years and have hunted worldwide including the Yukon and have never had a bad feedback from customers nor have I had the unfortunate bad experience that they had with you with all the outfitters I have hunted and fished with. I will in a week from today, forward this email as well as gather more detailed information and discuss this with the Yukon Outfitter Association. Operating Authority committees are not kind nor forgiving to fly-by-night operators and I’m more than positive that there will be repercussions. Being in the outdoor magazine business as well as outdoor television business I’m sure that other readers and viewers would love to know of the “DO NOT HUNT” with list. What I believe would be appropriate in this would be some sort of allowance or return to my clients for the extremely poor, false information and unprofessional treatment they experienced. This is something you really may want to consider, considering the potential outcome. I look forward to hearing from you (one week)
Jason Dyck
Worldwide Game & Fish Adventures
visit us online at www.huntingorfishingtrips.com
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From: Joel Gosselin
Sent: October-15-07 9:54 AM
To: Jason Dyck
Cc: Agnes + J.P. Gosselin; jgosselin
Subject: Notes to Jason Dyck re Sept
Notes to Jason Dyck re Sept. 2007 Yukon Moose Hunt.
Hi Jason:
J.P. and I would like to thank you for assisting us with the preparations for our Yukon moose hunt. We appreciate the time you took to meet with us to review the items we needed for the hunt and especially the time you took coming to the store to buy the right items. Your recommendations for clothing and equipment were ‘bang on’ and made our trip more pleasant.
J.P. and I believe it is also appropriate for us to provide feedback on Yukon Stone Outfitters, to give you an idea of what they provided and what our expectations were. I will number these to facilitate any discussions we have in the future and the items will be to the point. We can elaborate by phone or in person.
1) There was nobody from Yukon Stone (YSO) to pick us up at the airport.
2) One room was booked for us at the High Country Inn for the 6th, even though YSO was made aware of our arrival date of the 4th at least a month earlier by email, as they requested. We incurred extra transportation and tip expenses and anxiety to finally find a room at the 202 Motel, as the High Country and some others were fully booked.
3) When returning from camp to Whitehorse, there was nobody at the floatplane base to pick us up. Yak the Whitehorse Air pilot had to give us a ride to our hotel, or we would have sat on the dock by the Yukon River until who knows when. All the outfitters I know agree that YSO missed on being courteous and doing the usual ‘meet and greet’ common in the outfitting industry.
Base Camp:
4) Mercury outboard motor was not working correctly and guide just about had a heart attack cranking the damn thing. Darwin brought in a Yamaha motor 3 or 4 days into the hunt, making a special trip. Still lost time glassing from the boat, as this could not be done unless the Merc was at full speed.
5) There was no crescent or other tool to change the 20 lb. propane tank on the 3 burner stove. We could not have used the 2 burner stove as there was no connection for it. Food was good and Darcy brought more food 2 days before returning to Whitehorse, for the next group, along with extra cigarettes for us. The bonus sheep leg we were given, which tasted fantastic, lost its ‘bonus appeal’ after being in a boat with a bad motor for 3 days.
Outpost Camp:
6) Mercury motor working at trolling speed only, kept staling, had to work on it for many hours. It did not work any better after Darwin worked on it. Ended up having the same shitty motor all week.
7) Coleman lantern and stove were both not working properly all week. No spare mantles and no glass on lantern. The very old 2 burner stove would flare up at the control knob and leave you wondering if it was going to blow up.
8) There were no tools in camp to work on the Merc motor or the coleman stove. Not a good situation.
9) The guide was excellent, but he was dropped off only 2 hours before J.P. arrived. He did not have the time to do scouting or anything else, other than to set up the prospector tent. Camp amenities were scarce and everything was brought in from the base camp hours earlier, other than the boat and the gas.
10) There were no bulls on Moss Lake, the location of the outpost camp, and 4 cows only. We had been told the rut started at the beginning of September. It was common knowledge in Whitehorse that rut does not start until mid September. Despite working hard all week with the guide, the hunter was very disappointed in seeing very little action in the surrounding 3 lakes and for not bagging a moose.
Both of us have hunter moose for many years and have seen many situations when hunting was done with only the basis necessities at hand, either by choice or due to unforeseen circumstances. Considering that our trip was planned in advance and at a considerable cost, we had expectations that the outpost camp would be better prepared to receive a guide and a hunter. Quite truly, we have seen abandoned trapper cabins that provided more usable junk than what was at this outpost. We believe that any other experienced or novice hunter would feel the same way.
I conclude by stating that YSO was ill prepared to accommodate us and to provide the adequate support needed for a successful hunt. Bagging a moose is not guaranteed and we accept that. But providing the tools to achieve that goal should be a given. YSO failed to provide that to us.
As mentioned earlier, Jason, we are providing this information to you. You can decide what to do with this information.
We also take the opportunity to congratulate you and Marney on the acquisition or the setting up of an outfitter camp. We have no doubt that you will have many satisfied hunters over the next coming years. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to assist you.
Sincerely,
J.P. Gosselin and Joel Gosselin