Annual THA Newsletter - December 23, 2006

Dear Fellow Hunters:

Our 2006 big game hunting season ended on November 30 and again Trophy Hunters Alberta rifle mule deer hunters experienced a 100% harvest with our average mule deer scoring almost 160 B&C. Many of our hunting guests tell us that we offer perhaps the best mule deer hunting in the world, something we have been aware of for several years.

The whitetail hunting was strong this year with serious whitetails being harvested in all of our whitetail primary zones.

Rut moose hunters experienced average success at 75% opportunity and 70% harvest while our late season moose hunting was more difficult than we usually experience. We know the moose are there since we were seeing them over the summer and through the rut. Most years, our late season moose hunts are as good as, or better than, our moose rut hunts, however, that’s why the sport that we all love so much is called ‘hunting’ and not ‘killing’ or ‘shooting’.

Archery elk hunters experienced 100% opportunity as usual and only one archery elk hunter did not harvest, although he wounded a nice 5x6 bull. Our toughest hunts are always our rifle rut elk hunts due to the incredible wary nature of big bull elk, and 2006 was no exception. Once the guns start going off, elk can be very difficult to hunt as they are spooked and become nocturnal. It didn’t help that we received 2 feet of extremely heavy snow a couple of days before the opening of the rifle elk season on September 18th. Road travel was very difficult and most every trail had many trees down making most trails almost impassable. We suppose that is all part of the territory when we hunt the most magnificent member of the ungulate family.

We had several very prominent hunting guests this year.

Tim Wells, TV Host, Video Producer and Author returned for his 9th straight archery hunt and harvested his 11th P&Y trophy with THA. This year Tim harvested his biggest mule deer yet, a 190+ monster that net scored 184 2/8 and won for THA the prestigious honor of ‘Largest Mule Deer, Archery’ on an outfitted hunt. Tim described his experience with THA:  “THA is without a doubt the best outfitter I have ever encountered. I have hunted all over the world and THA is the only outfitter that I continually return to.”

Tim's TV program, featuring THA on most shows, is now the #1 rated hunting program on the 'Men's Channel' on the 'Dish Network'. We are proud to be associated with Tim and appreciate that someone of Tim's caliber, who can hunt anywhere he desires, continues to choose THA every year for one, or more, of his televised hunts.

As well, we were pleased that Al Kuntz of Al’s Worldwide Adventures joined us for a mule deer hunt. Al has 4 official world records to his credit and is a most discriminating hunter. He has killed many mule deer but never anything scoring 170 B&C or larger. On the 2nd morning of his 6-day hunt, Al nailed his trophy muley. After his hunt, Al’s comments were: "My mule deer hunt was excellent value and a true team effort. The outfitter, guides, ranch family and community all played a part in my excellent experience with THA. I observed 100s of mule deer daily with 25 to 40 bucks per day. I came as a client and left as a friend and part of the family." Al also made some wonderful comments about THA in his newsletter to his 30,000+ client base. The text of Al’s comments are further down in this newsletter.

We also were privileged to have Michael Cooley, Founder, President and CEO of the Sportsman Channel join us in 2006. Mike had never hunted mule deer, however, he came with THA to see lots of mule deer and, hopefully, produce a TV show about mule deer hunting with THA in Alberta. Mike brought along his top cameraman and got more than he bargained for. On the 3rd morning of his 6-day hunt, Mike harvested a 176 5/8 class mule deer and is now probably jaded for life. Mike was on the same hunt as Al Kuntz and both muley kills were on video. Watch for a TV program on these two successful hunters coming up on the Sportsman Channel in 2007.

James Long (Texas), Randy Simpson (Utah), Mike Mears (Alabama) and Todd Carson (Oregon) got 180+ muleys while Wes Millward (CA), Bob Phillips (IN), Don Weaver (ID), Giorgio Venturelli (PQ), Brad Townsend (NY) and Terry Horton (NY) all harvested 170+ muleys.

Our archery hunters did very well in 2006 as we only had one archery elk hunter and one archery mule deer hunter not kill their animals, although they both had their opportunities. Tim Holdren and Ryan Stacey from Michigan were back with THA again and had arrowed their 2 elk by the 2nd morning of their 6-day archery hunt. Chip Powers and Dan Sisk from Alabama arrowed their 2 mule deer by the 3rd morning of their 6-day archery hunt. Chip’s muley scored 162 2/8 and Dan’s muley scored 181 1/8.

We had many repeat hunters this year and results were very gratifying. Special mention goes to Robert Thompson from England, Josh Hatch from Washington and Nick Stranges from Ontario with their great moose which represent a small percentage of our successful 2006 moose hunters. Robert and his hunting buddy, Kevin Stocks, also from England also harvested 2 whitetails and 2 mule deer.

As mentioned earlier, Al Kuntz sent an e-mail to his 30,000 clients describing his THA hunt:   “Alberta Mule Deer:  Most of you will remember that I had a scheduled TV series shoot starting Oct 25th in Alberta for Monster Mule Deer. This was a perfect example of the Outfitter being highly organized, experienced guides & prime private ground to hunt on. Day one we all spotted wall hanger type bucks but no one was in a hurry to fill their tag. Right at dark my guide Wes & I had a chance to view an excellent mature buck at less than 200 yds. Due to the failing light, we backed out of there not 100% sure just how nice he was. We returned to the same area the next morning & after both agreeing that he was indeed a massive old 5x5, I put the stalk on him. After a few minutes of video tape a well placed 300 Mag put him to rest right in his morning bed. The next day we assisted Mike Cooley (President of the Sportsman Channel) in locating his buck. As Mike & his cameraman Lee combed a drainage, I stayed high & watched with the optics for action. You could have knocked my eye balls off with a stick when I spotted a Monster cross the dirt road approx 3 miles away. Even at this distance it was easy to tell this was indeed a shooter. I waited for the buck to bed down in some tall grass & then signaled the group to where the buck was hiding. I stayed high in case the buck moved & video taped the entire scene as they belly crawled to within 45 yds. of the bedded buck. This entire hunt will be televised on the Sportsman Channel in 2007.”

THA has received multiple awards for harvesting the largest species in their respective categories over the past few years. Each year at the annual Alberta Professional Outfitter's Society Convention, there are only eight awards available to the Province's 450 outfitters for species hunted by THA and the odds of winning one of these coveted awards is less than 2%. Recently, THA has won the award for the 'Largest Whitetail - Archery on an Outfitted Hunt' on two occasions and the award for the 'Largest Moose - Archery on an Outfitted Hunt' on another occasion as well as the 2006 award for the ‘Largest Mule Deer, Archery on an outfitter hunt’ this year.

Our results speak for themselves. At THA, we know what we are doing and we get results!

In addition to Mike Cooley’s upcoming program on his THA mule deer hunt on the Sportsman Channel, watch for the ongoing TV special on the awesome 378 6/8 SCI muzzleloader moose killed on a filmed hunt with THA by famous TV host Dan Parrott. Also catch the two ongoing TV specials of the two double kills of both mule deer (including a 176 class) and whitetail (including a 145 class) on a 3 1/2 day hunt by Ron Koch and Wayne Brensinger, co-hosts of the TV program 'Outdoor Buddies Adventures'. And don't forget the former world record rifle shiras moose killed by Brad Miller that scored 461 7/8 SCI and had a spread of 61 inches!

In 2007, we already have Bill Miller, Executive Director of the North Amerca Hunting Club, joining THA on a SW Alberta foothills rifle mule deer hunt that will be one of 16 big game hunting shows that will be produced by the North America Media Group for their annual TV shows. We will also be hosting another member of the NAHC field staff on an archery whitetail/mule deer combination hunt in September, 2007 that will be another of the 16 NAHC big game TV shows.

Due to their prominence in the field of big game hunting, Tim, Al, Mike, Dan, Ron, Wayne and Bill have access to research and reference information not readily available to most hunters and can hunt anywhere they desire. They all chose, and continue to choose, THA.

If you are looking for a future hunt in beautiful Alberta, now is the time to get serious. You will not see us at shows, as we do not have to attend shows to sell our hunts. The majority of our hunters are repeats and referrals. Our reputation speaks for itself. In the meantime you can visit our Website, with over 1,000 pictures of some of our harvests and to get full details on our outfitting operation: www.trophyhunters.ca. We will be adding pictures of our 2006 hunters over the winter so stay tuned.

As well, the artwork for our new brochure is now complete and published on our website. To access our current 2007 THA Brochure click Brochure.

During the year, we will send all hunters registered with THA, various e-mails keeping them advised of any new happenings at THA. If you are not registered with THA, please click Register to register and receive our brochure as well as periodic updates with respect to hunting with THA in Alberta.

We are Alberta’s premier outfitter with 488 big game allocations, including 43 elk, 53 moose, 145 whitetail, 235 mule deer and 12 un-baited bear permits. 107 of our allocations are exclusively archery permits.

Our hunting area consists of all types of terrain and habitat in about 25,000 square kilometers of prime Alberta big game territory. At THA, we have the experience and ability to totally customize an Alberta hunt according to your specific desires and expectations. We know what we are doing and we get results. We are able to offer more flexibility in time, location, terrain and hunting style than any other outfitter in Alberta. We have great people, great resources, and some of the absolute best hunting access in the province. We utilize a minimum of 4 questionnaires for each of our hunters to help tailor our hunts to our client preferences – we know of no other outfitter who is this comprehensive in their planning. All of our camps are customized, small and personal with typically only 2 to 4 hunters, the guide(s) and a cook in any one camp.

In spite of our size and prominence in the Alberta big game hunting business, we are still a family owned home based small business specializing in personal care of our hunters. We pride ourselves in our sharp pricing, small camps and excellent service. We do not use a central facility, such as a lodge, as that would severely restrict our hunting options. Instead we operate many small camps located where the animals are, not where it might be more financially advantageous to us. We also have the capacity to accommodate larger groups upon request, however the daily hunting parties would be in different areas using several different guides to spread the hunters out and provide more manageable opportunities for each individual hunter.

We welcome non-hunters, too! Each year, we host numerous father/son and husband/spouse groups and they usually have the time of their lives. Typically, these small, customized, close-knit groups comment on the wonderful experience they encountered.

For our 2007 Rifle hunts, we have limited openings remaining for both elk and moose hunts at $5,999 per hunter, some with mule deer included at no extra charge. We are also booking whitetail at $3,499 for our highly successful 3-day hunts and $4,499 for our rut hunts with fairly good availability at this time. We are also booking mule deer hunts at $4,999 for our 6-day hunts and $6,500 for our 3 and 6-day trophy hunts again with reasonable availability at this time.

For our 2007 archery hunts, we still have availability for our mule deer at $4,499, whitetail at $3,999 and deer combination hunts at $4,499 to $5,499, both in the highly productive prairies and the foothills of SW Alberta.. We have four openings for our archery moose rut hunts at $4,499 and four openings for our archery elk rut hunts at $4,499. Several moose and elk archery hunts can be combined with additional species if desired.

Also at this time we have considerable flexibility for our 2008, 2009 and 2010 hunts.

If you are looking for a future Alberta big game hunt, now is the time to secure your plans. If you book your hunt before the 15th of January, we will provide you with a $500 discount on your hunt. You will not only save money on the cost of your hunt, you will also have a much higher priority in the selection of time, location and guide than if you delay this important decision. Please note that the $500/hunter discount is only available for groups of 2 or more hunters. It is not available for single hunters.

If you require additional information, or would like to book your THA hunt, please call us toll-free at (877) HUNT-YES <(877) 486-8937>..

We look forward to talking with you.

We extend seasons greetings and wish you and your family a happy, healthy and prosperous 2007.

Regards,

Tyler Brill

Big Game Outfitter

Trophy Hunters Alberta Inc.

(877) HUNT YES