2014 Alaska Moose

[Don K]

Wow, reading that thread on that other link is a eye opener.

You can put lipstick on a pig, but its still a pig

 

[thecrittergitter]

I just got back from a road trip, had lots of work to do......have about 10 minutes to pack and get to baseball practice but grab your popcorn bowls, I'm lacing up the gloves tonight or tomorrow!

 

[thecrittergitter]

Anyone interested go to

http://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/832100588/m/9861027112

There is my info on Tom Shankster.



I was there in camp the same time. Critter was there and everything I observed was that he was treated as a paying client. Keep in mind all clients in camp were treated like crap. Every hunter in camp had a different financial deal. I was paying $12,800. Worst hunt of my life and I shot a moose.

I would never hunt or be associated in anything with Tom Shankster. Bob Graham one of the guides for Tom Shankster is an amazing hunter, guide, person and Alaskan. Bob Graham got me a moose and brought some joy to the misery of being in Tom Shankster hunting camp.

Mike

Hey Mike !

Good to hear from you! Hope all is well! Thanks for posting that other link, I was headed that exact direction!

 

[jryoung]

I'm lacing up the gloves tonight or tomorrow!

No, really, gloves OFF please

 

[Schaaf]

It feels like the night before Christmas

 

[thecrittergitter]

#1. "CG" was never a client. I challenge him to produce any receipt, canceled check, contract or Hunt report. There is none. All of this is verified by the Alaska State Troopers and the Commercial Services Board. CG never paid me for hunting fees, for flights, meat removal, and meals etc… not one dime. "no payments, no contract, no obligation on my part"

Well, lets see here, where to begin................how about this for a start. Little email correspondence before the hunt.

First from YOU to Harold.

From: [email protected]
Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2014 23:55:00 -0400
Subject: Re: Caribou hunting in Alaska????
To: [email protected]

Hey Harold,
Could yu have your moose hunting buddy e mail his info again, and the price I quoted. Just need to finish up contracts...Thanks...Tom

Next, from Me to YOU.

From: Matt Clyde <[email protected]>
Date: 08/04/2014 7:35 PM (GMT-07:00)
To: [email protected]
Subject: Moose hunt
Hi Tom!

This is Matt Clyde, Harold's Buddy in Montana. I've got all my tickets and such booked for the trip up and if all goes as planned, I'll be in your camp sometime on the evening of the 9th of September.

All my contact information is below if you need that. Harold asked I send you an email with contact information and the price we talked about.

The contract amount was $5,500. I will bring a check when I come up to camp. As I'm not sure when I will get the opportunity to come up again, I bought a brown/grizzly tag, and a caribou tag as well. This way if there is any way to go under contract for a grizzly bear, that would be fantastic. I would be willing to pay a trophy fee if it worked out for that.

This is the hunt I've waited my whole life for, #1 on my list has always been an alaska moose! Very excited this is coming together to finally happen.

Thanks again and if you need to get a hold of me, email or phone anytime.

And here was YOUR response back to ME:
From: akhunts148 [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, August 04, 2014 11:32 PM
To: Matt Clyde
Subject: RE: Moose hunt

Hey Matt
Are you interested in putting your $5,500 on a 4 wheeler for packing moose.? Looking at a Honda forman here for $6,200 new. Tom

And again from me back to you:

From: Matt Clyde <[email protected]>
Date: 08/05/2014 1:21 PM (GMT-07:00)
To: 'akhunts148' <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: Moose hunt
Hi Tom,

That sounds pretty great but I think I'll pass. The flights from here to your camp were over double what I planned for. And I need to plan on a little extra for possibly paying your packers to help pack or trophy fee if I kill something else.....

Thanks though!
_________________________________________
You chose not to have me do a hunt contract in the field, as you did for many of the guys that were there. 6 hunters told me they had not signed any hunt contracts during the time I was there. I did find though that you did do some contracts on those hunters AFTER they were done hunting, some of which you forged the date prior to their hunt, just to stay out of trouble.
For you to tell the Alaska State trooper that there was no money transactions planned for Harold and I is as bold faced of a lie as you could make. You even asked me to put my ass on the line and lie to them if they did show up at camp. You said it was strictly a buddy deal. Since you and I had never met prior to me showing up in your camp, I'm not sure where this good buddy thing came into play.

Hey Louie, I'm betting you never got this part of the story............

 

[thecrittergitter]

#1. "CG" was never a client. I challenge him to produce any receipt, canceled check, contract or Hunt report. There is none. All of this is verified by the Alaska State Troopers and the Commercial Services Board. CG never paid me for hunting fees, for flights, meat removal, and meals etc… not one dime. "no payments, no contract, no obligation on my part"

Tom,
Just because you didn't cash the check, doesn't mean you didn't get one. In the cook tent, standing next to the computer (you know, the one you spent most of your time at drinking coffee while hunters were stuck in the field with no food, no water, no tents, surviving off animals they shot, sublegal or not). It was actually check number 1754. And I wrote it just as you instructed, to one of your guides Spencer. I suspect it was a way to dodge some taxes or something, but that is your call, I did as you asked.

The check looked very similar to this one, VERY similar:hump:

 

[thecrittergitter]

I did by the way, cancel that check when I got home specifically because you did NOT provide shit for services. I'm ready to renegotiate the price anytime you are. You name your price, I'm starting at ZERO. I would pay you for the amount of food I ate there but since its about the same as the cost for me to cancel the check I wrote you, I guess we will call it even

 

[thecrittergitter]

#2. No meat was wasted by me. All of CG's meat was flown out of the spike camp. The first 2/3s of this meat was flown out (at my expense) and donated to needy families. The remaining meat was removed from the bags that CG had it in and then hung to keep cool and dry."no payments, no contract, no obligation on my part" The 12 member staff and crew I had in camp had eaten quite a bit of this meat, but the remainder was confiscated by AK State Troopers along with antlers with no reason given to me as to why.

This is one of my favorites: NO OBLIGATION ON MY PART: Uh, so what did you expect us to walk back 20 miles to base camp with a moose on our backs? How stupid you think people are to believe that two experienced (Harold more than anyone I know) dedicated hunters would just get dropped in the middle of nowhere with no plan to get 1600 lbs of meat out?

Oh, snap, remember this email??

From: [email protected]
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 13:01:14 -0400
Subject: Re: Flight out to your Moose Camp
To: [email protected]
I can take your antlers and cape to Denver in exchange for your flight. I usually get $750. for that..Matt is here waiting on you to show..
Not sure where the break down in communication started..I have a truck there in Wasilla that you would have been welcome to use..Bob has been several times looking for you, and trying to get in touch with you..Planning on flying you and Matt out and in with your moose...
Wind has been 35-45 here all day yesterday and blowing today..Not sure if I will be able to get any one out or in today yet...Tom


Just in case it was confusing to you, I underlined the statement you made to us which would lead any reasonable human to believe you were taking care of getting us out and back WITH OUR MOOSE!

Hey Louie, did you get that part of the story from the ol Honest Abe?

 

[thecrittergitter]

NO OBLIGATION ON MY PART......Tom says

Love it, I'm not sure how much more obligated you can be when you sign transfer of possession forms for transporting meat out of the field...........

I suppose you magically forgot signing these............

 

[thecrittergitter]

I know Tom Shankster to be an honorable, honest man with good character.

I can easily provide you with a list of hunters who have the exact opposite opinion of Tom that Matt Clyde has (aka Crittergitter).

Thought you would like to know there’s another side to this story

Louie, since you were NOT present and are only taking Tom's word for what happened, is any of this stuff fitting the OTHER side of the Story

40 hunters in camp this year, I challenge you to produce half of them that would have the opposite opinion of me (aka crittergitter)

Considering 6 of them wrote letters to the Commercial services board and at least 8 others left in utter disgust..I think you getting to your half is going to be quite a challenge.

 

[thecrittergitter]

PS If you see a truck from Nevada in the Missouri Breaks this year, it’s ME!!!!

Hey, that's awesome by the way that you drew for a Missouri Breaks tag! I'll be up there helping a friend that drew a sheep tag. Maybe we will finally get to meet in person. You know, it just so happens to be that I know the breaks very well! I would be glad to get you into some great hunting spots! Got some maps I'd give ya!

Maybe you can come tell me the side of the story that you want to believe even though that isn't what happened.

Just curious, how would you feel if you were planning on hunting up there and Tom told you he would pick you up in Wasilla........and he just blew you off and let you sit there for over 2 weeks. Then he would tell you that he sent Bob in to get you but turns out the only trips Bob actually made were to get more supplies and never even called! You don't think that would piss you off a bit. You aren't even taking the time to hear Harolds side of the story, you just jumped on what ol Sheister told you.

 

[thecrittergitter]

#2. No meat was wasted by me. All of CG's meat was flown out of the spike camp. The first 2/3s of this meat was flown out (at my expense) and donated to needy families. The remaining meat was removed from the bags that CG had it in and then hung to keep cool and dry."no payments, no contract, no obligation on my part" The 12 member staff and crew I had in camp had eaten quite a bit of this meat, but the remainder was confiscated by AK State Troopers along with antlers with no reason given to me as to why.

Lets just break this down for a moment.
No meat was wasted by me. All of CG's meat was flown out of the spike camp.--
You may note that we shot my moose on Sept 17, Harold's on September 18. You got my message delivered to you on September 18 at 6:04 PM that stated " Both moose down and in camp, ready to start getting out of here".
You didn't get us out of that camp until afternoon of September 21st. So our meat had sat for a few days already. We also asked you to bring additional game bags from camp in which you said you would do. When you finally game to get us, we put all the meat into big black garbage bags, ONLY because you didn't bring additional game bags and because you said you were coming right back for it. You didn't. Don't tell the people on this forum, as you probably did to Louie, that you are some hero and donated the meat to needy families.
The state trooper actually landed at the camp on September 25th and ALL that meat plus horns and capes were still sitting there in those bags!!!! He confiscated some of the meat for dna testing but he did an analysis on the 25th and said 100% of the meat was not edible for human consumption! That is YOUR FAULT!!! the meat was wasted by you.

You actually did go get the meat out finally. What was it the 27th or so of September?? I'll go check the plane records. You know, remember when you got all that rank meat out finally and then just threw it on a Regal Air plane and sent it to Anchorage with a message to the Pilot that someone will pick it up there?? Remember that part.. we do because the second you sent Harold the email stating that our meat was at regal air in Anchorage (even though you knew both of us had been home for days) I sent a relative to the Airport as fast as I could to see if any was salvageable. She said the meat was horrid. Imagine that after your dumbass left it in black garbage bags for days! YOU WASTED IT.

Your 12 member crew didn't eat jack shit of that meat. That was your cover....

Let's also talk about this "donated to needy families". That actually would be a great thing for you to do, however, the fact that you had a trailer full of rotten meat at Bobs house finally told us where all the camp meat was really going. I challenge you to produce any records of any sort and locations and contacts for the places that you donated the meat. 14 sheep, 8 moose, 3 caribou? Something like that. I know you kept saying that it was mostly eaten at camp but your single camp freezer that is about 22 CF must have a magic bottom to fit that quantity of meat. I think your pattern for most things is to have the bears eat it and then have an excuse to not pack it out. Too bad this year the bears were minimal!

 

[thecrittergitter]

Hmm, what next:

How about Niles moose. The one shot 5 miles from base camp on September 11. I sent you GPS coordinates of its exact location. And actually, you verified you knew this moose was down on Sept 11 by this email to Harold.

From: [email protected]
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 12:51:33 -0400
Subject: Re: Flight out to your Moose Camp
To: [email protected]
What ever you want hauled back is fine..Matt got on 2 bug bulls last night with one of the other hunters..He was not sure where the other guy was so did not shoot..The other guy got one of the bulls..Matt has pictures of both..One bull was really good the other a monster book bull...Sending him out on 3 other bulls today that I have been watching...Tom

So on September 11 you knew moose was down. On Sept 12 at 1:48 pm I sent you GPS coordinates of the Moose. That entire moose went to waste. You can blame it on your packers all you want, it was your fault. You could have easily salvaged that moose by flying your packers into your Crosscut camp which was only 1.5 miles from the Carcass. You chose not to. That makes it your fault. You were hoping that bear that had been hanging out there would get to that bull and save you the trouble.......Then you have the audacity to blame the HUNTER???WTF kind of outfitter charges a guy for a moose hunt, doesn't provide a guide after 15 days and then tells him he can go kill one on his own and he will send packers. He does that and then you tell the authorities that you didn't give him permission to go hunt on his own?? There were at least 5 of us there when you granted that permission and all 5 will testify on his behalf if this is the game you are going to play..............

 

[thecrittergitter]

I know Tom Shankster to be an honorable, honest man with good character.

Louie,

See previous post. How honorable, honest, or quantity of good character does a guy have to have to send out a hunter that has paid for a FULLY GUIDED hunt on his own with no gps, sat phone, nothing and tells him if he shoots a moose, to mark it with something so he can send packers in for it. Well, hunter does exactly that. Shoots moose, puts space blanket on it and hikes back . I even gave GPS cords.

Then when the moose is questioned by state troopers as it has been in the field so long, that honest, honorable person with such great character, throws the hunter under the bus and says he never had permission to go shoot a moose so getting it out was his responsibility. Sounds similar to what he tried to pull with us......Would you do that to someone Louie?

 

[thecrittergitter]

What's next on the list

How about your guides and packers? I've spoke with most of them and they still haven't been paid for their services for the 2014 season. You took revenues from over 40 clients............and you couldn't afford to pay the people who busted their ass for you

Some of those guys gave 2 and 3 months of their life doing shitty work expecting to be paid for it and you just tell them to get screwed? Your lucky they don't all fly up there and beat the shit out of you. One of them had to hire an attorney just to get paid ? The others I hope do the same!

My popcorn bowl is empty................and I guess I'll wait for the next "challenge".! I'm ready when either of you two are!

I honestly can't believe you have operated this long before someone called you out on your crap!

As Fin says.................NEXT QUESTION!

 

[devon deer]

Cut the guy some slack Matt, he is getting old, lots of senior moments, he must have had 2 guys in camp called Matt!
I think you have answered his statements fully, i am speechless.
Something tells me that is the last time he posts on this forum.
Cheers
Richard

 

[genesis273]

I do believe the balls back in Tom's court!
.....Tom....? Your turn Tom?

 

[Nameless Range]

The moose hunt itself was a good read. The post hunt confrontation was even better.

Good on you CritterGitter for speaking up and calling this garbage out. The evidence is pretty devastating to anything Mr. s̶h̶y̶s̶t̶e̶r̶ Shankster has to say.

 

[bobbydean]

Never used an outfitter. This disaster makes me not want too. I have to believe 99% are better than this guy.

Kudos, for thecrittergitter standing up for himself. Proud of you. Thanks for exposing frauds for other hunters.