Revelation Mountain Outfitters

note: The following reviews predate the numeric rating system and are not included in this outfitter's overall rating.

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outfitter review submitted by: Lorne Dewar on Nov 11 2009

Species Hunted: Dall Sheep

Game Quality: didn't get to go

Accommodation Quality: not applicable

Camp Condition: not applicable

Food Quality: not applicable

Guide Experience: none offered

Other Personal Experience: none

Overall Impression: terrible possiblitiies

Recommend: not on your life

Reviewer Comments: I had booked a Dall sheep hunt with Tony Dingess in the spring of 2008. I had sent in my deposit and then in June of 2008 is sent him the remainder of the hunt price in advance. I did not receive an itinerary from him or hear anything except when i looked on his website blog it stated he was in transition. I called him and asked for details. I got a real song and dance from him. We communicated back and forth with him talking about a lot of hopes he had in the works. He said everything depended on another outfitter taking over his hunts. I told him i did not want a maybe hunt at a possible later date. I raised a complaint about him with the Alaska licensing board. The investigator contacted tony and suggested he pay me back. I received an email from Tony stating that seeing I had cancelled my hunt with him he had no choice but to pay me back. To date I have received a thousand dollars back and have not heard a thing from him since. The date is Nov. 11/09. This fellow has guided some hunts this spring and he continues to advertise on his website. I have been in contact with a couple of the other people he had contracts from last year with and have not heard too much good from them. I would not recommend this fellow. I do not feel he should be outfitting. Tony still owes me a large amount of money and i intend to contact the licensing board again and have them look into this. This had been my once in a lifetime dream and he took that away from me as well as my money. I am bitter.

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outfitter review submitted by: Len Anderson on Apr 11 2008

Species Hunted: Brown Bear

Game Quality: Doesn't really apply

Accommodation Quality: Lousy but as advertised

Camp Condition: The first tent leaked water th

Food Quality: Poor selection of Mt. House fr

Guide Experience: Asst. guide was fine...he had

Other Personal Experience: There were no other personnel

Overall Impression: The worst hunting experience I have ever had.

Recommend: Absolutely not.....save your h

Reviewer Comments: I arrived in camp at the same time as the outfitter and guide and I had to help set up camp. That didn't bother me but a client should arrive at a camp that is already set up. There was no pre hunt scouting so finding bears was purely by guess and by golly. After two unproductive days, the asst. guide and I were moved a few miles up the coast and were left with a small tent and some cooking equipment. We did not see the outfitter again for the next 6 days and we could not communicate with him because of the poor satellite phone system. We literally had to call his wife in West Virginia...leave a message....and then call again the next day to hopefully get a return message. The bears were not anywhere near the coast or salmon streams yet we did not have the ability to move our spike camp inland. We literally were stuck on the coast and had to hike 4-5 miles through alders and uphill to possibly find a bear. On the 6th frustrating day my guide and I finally found a bear appx. 6 miles inland but we had no provisions to spike into the area. There was no packer and not enough gear, food, or fuel to be able to stay in there for more than a few hours. It took half a day just to get ourselves into the area where there might have been bears. After the 7th day of a 10 day hunt, the outfitter (Tony Dingess) showed up in a small boat...loaded up our gear....and motored to Nelson Lagoon. Never was I asked if I was ready to call it a hunt. It had been called for me. I was confused. I thought we would be going to another area. Wrong! Instead, I was going home whether I wanted to or not. There were other hunters as well who opted to go home early because in the same hunting time, they had seen ZERO bears. I was not ready to go home. I had invested literally thousands of dollars for a 10 day hunt and I got 7 days of nothing but misery and a totally unproductive hunting area. The entire hunt was totally unorganized. It was not just my opinion either. Each of the other hunters as well as some of the asst. guides were completely disgusted with the organization or lack of it. Prior to this bear hunt, I had put down a $1000 deposit (with the same outfitter)for a 2008 Moose hunt. I have demanded this money to be refunded as there is no way I will ever hunt with this outfit again. As of today (April 11, 2008), and 6 months since the early October bear hunt, I have received only half of the money back. He not only has the balance of the moose downpayment, but he also owes me for the 3 missing days of the bear hunt. The man says that he will pay me back for the 3 days but I have not seen a dime yet and I have not gotten the balance of the $1000 either. If you access his website (Alaskahunts.net), you will not find my name on the reference list. That is because Tony Dingess has removed it. You will also read that he says he will scout for the bears and know where they are before you arrive in camp. That was not my experience at all. It was just the opposite. He had no idea where any bears were because he had not scouted the area at all. So, do not believe what he says on his website. Except for the camping provisions. That was as advertised. Primitive and very uncomfortable. I could handle that and was prepared for those conditions. That was acceptable to me as long as I had a chance to find some game. As I said, 1 bear 6 miles from camp....in 7 days, is not my idea of a productive hunting area. This is just a small sampling of the problems incurred during this horrible hunting experience. I strongly advise any of you guys out there to not book a hunt with Tony Dingess of Revelation Mt. Outfitters. I would like to add that I have been hunting big game for over 40 years. I am in very good shape and being poorly prepared either mentally or physically was not a factor. I have hunted in Alaska for caribou with different guides so I have something to compare this outfit to. In short.....there is no comparison. The other camps and guides were far superior to what you will get with Revelation Mountain Outfitters. As a side note, I feel so strongly about this negative experience, I will be contacting the Alaska Professional Hunter's Association and any other agencies such as the Alaska Hunting Forum that I can. This man should not be running a hunting guide business.

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outfitter review submitted by: Len Anderson on Jan 14 2007

Species Hunted: Dall Sheep

Game Quality: Good

Accommodation Quality: Excellent

Camp Condition: Excellent

Food Quality: Good

Guide Experience: Excellent

Other Personal Experience: Not Applicable

Overall Impression: Very Satisfied

Recommend: Yes

Reviewer Comments: I took a full curl Dall ram on the 4th day of my hunt. Although it was a very tough hunt, it was typical of a Dall Sheep hunt. Camp was backpack style but very comfortable. Food was as advertised ie freeze dried along with sausage, cheese, oatmeal,and candy bars. I loved the guides. It was clear they were committed to working as hard as they could to get me into position for a shot on a ram. I have since booked a brown bear hunt with Tony and his asst. guides. That is as good an endorsement as a business can have......a repeat customer.

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outfitter review submitted by: Chet Norris on Dec 21 2006

Species Hunted: Dall Sheep

Game Quality: Good

Accommodation Quality: Good

Camp Condition: Good

Food Quality: Good

Guide Experience: Very Good

Other Personal Experience: Good

Overall Impression: Very Satisfied

Recommend: Yes

Reviewer Comments: All information and details Tony presented about the hunt were accurate. I harvested a legal ram on the second day of the 2006 season.

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outfitter review submitted by: Silvio Rossi on Dec 15 2006

Species Hunted: Brown Bear

Game Quality: Record Book

Accommodation Quality: Excellent

Camp Condition: Excellent

Food Quality: Excellent

Guide Experience: Excellent

Other Personal Experience: Excellent

Overall Impression: Excellent

Recommend: Yes

Reviewer Comments: I booked a last minute Peninsula Brown Bear hunt with Tony. We lost 3 days of hunting do to weather. Tony told us that if we didn't get an opportunity at a good bear we could come back. On the first afternoon of our hunt my guide and I saw 2 bear right by camp. We spotted a huge bear on a mountain top. It took us 5 hours to get in position for a shot. I shot a 10'10" bear. I saw another huge bear the next day while getting my bear to camp.

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outfitter review submitted by: Len Anderson on Dec 7 2006

Species Hunted: Dall Sheep

Game Quality: Several mature rams that were stalkable for a further look.

Accommodation Quality: Spike camp accommodations that

Camp Condition: Excellent tents and water boil

Food Quality: Mountain House freeze dried fo

Guide Experience: My guide (Derek Harbula) was a

Other Personal Experience: Other asst guides in camp were

Overall Impression: It was everything that was advertised. A clean operation with good people running it. Tough hunt w

Recommend: 100 % In fact, several men

Reviewer Comments: I had such a good time on my sheep hunt I have since booked a fall brown bear hunt in 2007. I can't wait to see the guys again. I have great respect for them as hunters and gentlemen.

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outfitter review submitted by: Gifford Perdue on Nov 16 2006

Species Hunted: Brown Bear

Game Quality: None

Accommodation Quality: Very Poor

Camp Condition: Very Poor

Food Quality: Terrible

Guide Experience: No experience at all

Other Personal Experience: Terrible

Overall Impression: The worst hunt ever

Recommend: Not for any one

Reviewer Comments: The outfitter did not know the area at all and sent us out with two young men that had signed up for his guide school. This should be against the law.

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outfitter review submitted by: Brandt Williams on Sep 25 2005

Species Hunted: Brown Bear

Game Quality: Smaller than expected

Accommodation Quality: Primitive, but as advertised

Camp Condition: Good

Food Quality: C-, but as advertised

Guide Experience: B+

Other Personal Experience: C+

Overall Impression: 6.5 out of 10

Recommend: Unfortunately, No

Reviewer Comments: Outfitter was too anxious to get bear hunt over with so he could move on to his sheep hunt. Think there was some poor planning and lack of overall organization for this hunt. Don't believe the outfitter did any scouting ahead of time as indicated he would by flying the area. Never asked if we wanted to pass on the small bears we saw and took, rather wanted us to shoot first legal bear we saw. saw 10 bears in six days, none over 8'. Hunt was very competitively priced.

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