(Editor Note: This month Senior Western Correspondent Lance Stapleton turns his attention to an outfitter in Alaska who keeps producing outstanding trophies and whose clients regularly get permits for some of Alaska’s best special draw hunts.)
In every industry there are a few companies that stand above the others. In the hunting world, I believe these include outfitters such as Bucks & Bulls, Multiple Use Managers and Vancouver Island’s North Island Outfitters, plus a handful of others. R&R Guide Service in Alaska is among these. At the last FNAWS convention, I had a chance to catch up with R&R’s Rod Schuh, who along with his partner, Rob Jones, has spent the last 14 years building R&R’s reputation for producing trophies and offering fine wilderness adventures.
I first became aware of this outfit in 1999 when Hunting Report subscriber and friend, Dick Jacobs, hunted with them for an outsized Dall ram. Although Jacobs had taken several successful Alaskan sheep hunts with other outfitters, he was looking for something special. The ram he killed with R&R met that standard, scoring 174-1/8 B & C points. It became the cornerstone of his Grand Slam. When adding up the points for all the sheep in his Grand Slam, Jacobs netted 715-5/8 points – at that time, the fifth largest Slam ever taken! This Slam earned Jacobs a place on a very short list of hunters whose four rams scored at least 700 points.
Some time later, my son, Mark, hunted moose with R&R and killed a monster moose with shovels that sport 15 points and wrap back under the paddles – a truly impressive trophy that would easily qualify in any of the record books. Because Mark isn’t into book entries or scoring, I may never know just how big this bull is.
I could go on with other examples of hunters who harvested outsized trophies with R&R. The point is that this outfit continues to produce despite the recent declines in many of Alaska’s big game populations. So, how do they continue producing results? Quite simply, they work hard at identifying quality guiding areas, and then manage them carefully. Add to this formula the inordinate amount of time they spend scouting. The same fall my son killed his big bull, they killed at least four other great bulls. That’s a direct result of hunting areas with quality genetics.....
