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Hunter Comments

I originally heard of Ken's operation from watching the excellent bear hunts filmed by the Archers Choice TV show,I met Ken at the St. Louis All Canada Show where I was shopping for a hunt for myself as well as my two sons, he assured me he provided one of the best hunts available for Black bear, while admitting to less than expected results in 06, he assured me twice that his hunts had previously ran 100% and I could expect that. I know hunting is hunting but I voiced my concerns about wheather he could get his baits out on time. He bluntly told me I worried too much and this time he guaranteed me active baits, and that my sons would see bears. What we got for ten thosand dollars was a very expensive camping trip. THE BAITS WERE PUT OUT TWO DAYS BEFORE WE ARRIVED!- NO BAITS WERE HIT ALL WEEK!- WE SAW ONE VERY SMALL BEAR BETWEEN THREE OF US IN SEVEN DAYS!- we met two men back at his lodge from another of his camps with the same scenario, one bear spotted for the week. Ken Gangler may provide a good hunt for TV Celeb's,and he may have a huge lodge and own his own planes,but he refuses to acnowledge that in bear hunting a huge part of the customers success is dependant on his prority in getting the baits out in advance,when I questioned why he had not cared enough to put our bait out earlier,I was expecting him to some how try to make it right, instead he arogantly told me "Because thats the way we do it" and got up from the table and walked away,when I told him I thought he should apoligise to my boys, he sharply told me he never apoligises.

Was the outfitter notified of problems? - YES

Outfitter's Response

Thanks for the opportunity to respond as I find the facts here have been altered considerably to slander me. Please note some of my rendition of the facts of events at camp comes from the guide, Mr. Norm McCreight, a professional guide and noted seminar speaker for the All-Canada shows, who was on-site and ran the remote location where the hunter was at. My hunt sells for $ 3895 each. I gave Mr. Scott a deal considerably less than that because it was a father hunting with two of his sons, a great way for a father to experience hunting with his sons. This was Mr. Scott's first-ever expensive big game hunt and I found him very nervous while making the arrangements. Unfortunately the hunting was very poor, for reasons we can not explain. It is a large area and has traditionally been great,and hasn't been hunted much in the two years prior to this. I had 9 camps running that week, 2 did poorly and 7 did very well. All camps are fly-outs from the main lodge and 10-50 miles away.To answer several of his points - Baiting- We are a very remote fly-in in Northern Manitoba and our bears do have different habits than bears further south. We traditionally begin baiting 2-4 days before opening and have for 10 years.We can not bait earlier due to ice conditions as the ice does not go out until early June. These baits are well-established and some of the trees have 3' deep holes dug around them from the bears. Mr. Scott's guide, Norm McCreight. was in camp 4 days before opening. Unfortunately a huge snow storm with high winds hit our area shortly after Norm arrived and that is why the baits were set out later than normal. Norm also had to kill a 350 lb. bear which came into his camp prior to Mr. Scott arriving which Mr. Scott complained about. On guaranteeing active baits, I never guarantee anything, a good outfitter can't. I told him it was a great scenario and would be a great hunt but told him I could never guarantee anything. Mr. Scott's one son killed a small colored bear which hit a bait. When Mr. Scott arrived back at the lodge after his hunt, he had what I would call a 'full-court pout' on. I have zero problem with a hunter taking me aside and voicing complaints in a man-to-man manner and if he has valid issues, I will address and try to satisfy him. I certainly was around him much of the time and was accessible. His manner was certainly much less than that.He finally opened up in the lodge while eating lunch with me and the other guests. He did not question me, he TOLD me what I had done wrong and how I should have run the hunt. I have been in the North for 24 years as an outfitter and have a high record of success. These critiques were coming from a person who had never been on a big game hunt before in his life. I listened to his complaints and tried to explain why and how we operated, but he cut me off and told me again how I didn't know what I was doing and what was wrong. I finally felt I had to defend my methods and reputation and the tone sharply escalated. Later on as he and the other guests were boarding the plane to head South, he tried it again, and I asked him face-to-face what it was he really wanted to satisfy him. He didn't answer me, just did the pout again, looked away, a heavy sigh, and shook his head. Finally he said I should be ashamed and should apologize to his boys.I asked him 'For what?' and he couldn't answer me. I then told him to talk to several of the people on the plane who had been successful and some of whom had hunted with me several times. One of those was the fellow whom Mr. Scott said had seen one bear. That gentleman was elderly and had killed two 7' bears with me, it was his fourth bear hunt with me. When the plane took off, I went back to my office and guide Norm McCreight was on the phone. I immediately told him what had happened and his exact words were "You didn't give him anything, did you ?" When I asked why, he said, "Ask me what I was doing at 4 AM this morning." Norm then told me Mr. Scott's other son had wounded a second bear the last night which they never found. Mr. Scott tipped him $ 800, making him promise not to say anything to me so he could get back to the lodge and 'see what he could get off me.' While the hunt was poor, Norm also thought Mr. Scott was very unrealistic in regards to what he expected, more in line with the hunting videos which show lots of bears but of course can't show the amount of time sitting in a stand before a bear appears. I have outfitted over 300 bear hunters in 10 years. Many hunters have been with me 4-7 times each. Except for one very bad year in 2006 due to an extremely early-ice-out, we have done extremely well, establishing our bear hunt as one of the finest black bear hunts in North America. I have outfitted probably 1200 hunters for bear/moose/caribou in that time span in one of the most remote areas of North America. We are not batting 100% with all our hunters but the number of hunters who have gone home disappointed after hunting with us are a small fraction of that. We definitely give an effort of 110% and if we have a problem, do our best to fix it and satisfy our hunter. No one has a finer operation and many outfitters from Southern Manitoba bring their friends and hunt with me.