Outfitter Review - Ram Creek Outfitters

Outfitter Information

Outfitter Name: Ram Creek Outfitters

Outfitter / Contact: Bill Burwell

Location: AK, USA

Hunt Information

Animals Hunted: Moose & Grizzly

Game Quality: Poor

Game Quantity: Below Average

Accomodations: Acceptible Tent Camp

Camp Condition: Good

Food Quality: Good

Guide Experience: 1-good, 1-poor, 1-new

Other Personal Experience: n/a

Review Information

Hunter: Frank A. Lopez

Phone:

Email:

Would Recommend: DEFINITELY NOT - filing a comp

Overall Impression: POOR

DO NOT trust Bill Burwell. He will tell you whatever you need to hear to book a hunt. He can talk a good talk, but in the end he’ll take your money and leave you wishing you had gone elsewhere. I hunted moose and grizzly with Bill in the fall of 2006. Let me start off by saying that even though I did harvest a moose, to this day this hunt still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.I checked his references. He provided the names of about 8 references. I think only one was a legitimate reference. Four could not be reached. I later found out that one is a friend from Montana, one hunted client from 10_ years ago and one was his guide who happened to be a client at one time. After my trip was paid in full, I never heard from Bill again. I was not able to reach him for the entire 3 months before my trip. I left for my trip thinking I had been ripped off.Bill is about as disorganized as they come. Five hunters hunting 1x1, but only 4 guides including Bill. Not to mention the camera crew filming a TV show for the Outdoor Channel. Only one guide was one of Bill’s regular guides. One guide was a complete idiot that had no business being a guide and my guide who was one of his sheep hunters who stayed over from his hunt to fill in guiding. My guide was a nice guy and worked hard, but I specifically told Bill to I wanted to be booked with one of his regular guides or I’ll wait till next year. There were things that happened in camp that were unethical and some that I think were flat out illegal. Two hunters in camp shot sub-legal bulls during my trip, one with Bill guiding. Bill left his client alone and the client shot the “wrong” bull. The second was with the dunce guide who told his hunter that the bull was a definitely a 60” bull with 4 brows. After the hunter repeated asked, the guide insisted the bull was a definite shooter. This bull ended up being a 45” bull with 3 brows. Everything was confiscated by AK F&G On the fourth day I switched guides to his only regular guide since he was no longer guiding the TV crew. I specifically told my guide that since I would most likely only be able to do this kind of a trip once in my life and that I would rather hunt all the way to the end and go home empty handed that to just shoot a just legal bull so that I wouldn’t go home empty handed. Later that day I harvested my bull. Before the shot, my guide indicated that the bull would go 60”… but it was barely legal… 51”. I was basically stranded in base camp for 3 -1/2 days, not due to weather, but because of a shortage of guides, moving camps and bringing the TV crew in/out. At the end of the trip I was taken back to the air strip in Slana a day early Bill was in a hurry to get his stuff moved for another hunt. Total BS.In the end, I watched two illegal bulls harvested and confiscated, a TV celebrity shot grizzly cub get shot on camera which I am certain will never be aired on TV. I watched as Bill would fly his overhead and spot game from the air and radio it to his guides. My trophy of a lifetime turned out to be barley legal and I paid for 10 days of hunting and only received 6 days with tags left in my pocket. Bill’s area is directly accessible from the hwy and is heavily hunted by locals on ATVs. One day I counted 6 different groups of ATVs drive by our spike camp. To top everything off, all but one hind quarter of my meat disappeared from Bill’s meat locker. The story I was told that it must have been mistakenly confiscated by F&G. If I thought I could take him to court to get some of my money back I would. I'm certain a judge would rule in my favor, but I don’t think I would ever see a dime of that money. Since then, I have attempted to contact Bill Burwell over a dozen times. To date I still have not received a return to my phone calls or emails.

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