Client contracts and hunt records in Alaska
What must an Alaska hunting guide or transporter put in the client contract?
No written contract, no hunt
Since January 1, 2006, an Alaska registered guide-outfitter may not provide big game hunting services, and a transporter may not provide transportation services, without a written contract with the client.
This is a condition of operating, not a formality. A booking taken by phone and confirmed by handshake leaves the guide operating outside the license, and the board treats it that way.
The contract also has to be produced for the department on request, though copies remain confidential except for disciplinary proceedings and law enforcement. The document is state-facing paper as well as client-facing paper, which is worth remembering when deciding what to write into it.
January 1, 2006A registered guide-outfitter may not provide big game hunting services, and a transporter may not provide transportation services, without a written client contract. — Alaska Big Game Commercial Services Board statutes and regulations, retrieved 2026-09-29
What the guiding contract must state
The statute lists what a big game hunting services contract must include, and the list is short enough to write into any template: the name and guide license number of the registered guide-outfitter, the name of the client, a listing of the big game to be hunted, the approximate time and dates the client will be in the field, a statement of what transportation is provided, a statement of whether field accommodations and meals are provided, and the amount to be paid.
Notice what is not in the list: cancellation terms, deposits, trophy fees, refund policy. The statute sets the floor, and the rest is yours to draft. What you add cannot contradict what the statute requires, and a contract that is silent on a species or a date is defective on its face.
An attorney-built template or a service plan with attorney access, such as the one compared in the formation services page, is one way to draft the additions. The statutory contents, though, you can verify yourself against the list above.
A hunting services contract must state the guide's name and license number, the client, the big game hunted, the field dates, the transport and accommodation, and the price. — Alaska Big Game Commercial Services Board statutes and regulations, retrieved 2026-09-29
What the transporter contract must state
A transporter's contract for transportation services carries a shorter list: the name and transporter license number of the transporter, the name of the client, a listing of the big game to be hunted, the approximate field dates, and the amount to be paid for the transportation services.
The shorter list matches the narrower license, covered in the license comparison. A transporter carries hunters and gear and provides field accommodations at a permanent lodge, house, cabin or salt-water boat, and does not guide the hunt.
The same written-contract rule applies to a registered guide-outfitter contracting solely for transportation services, so a guide who also moves hunters under a transport-only deal writes the transporter-style contract for that piece of the work.
A transportation services contract must state the transporter's name and license number, the client's name, the big game hunted, the approximate field dates, and the price. — Alaska Big Game Commercial Services Board statutes and regulations, retrieved 2026-09-29
The hunt record rides with the client
The hunt record is the document that follows the hunt itself. A copy must be with the client for the duration of the hunt. Before the hunt, the contracting registered guide-outfitter completes the pre-hunt portions. At the end, the remaining portions are completed, the client receives a copy, and the guide retains one copy for four years at their regular place of business.
A client hunting with more than one registered or master guide-outfitter gets a separate hunt record from each, and the department will not accept a record signed by more than one guide-outfitter. The record must be produced on request for the board, the department or any authorized state or federal enforcement agent.
Four years is longer than most file cabinets expect. The renewal affidavit, covered in the filings page, asks whether all due hunt records have been filed, so the records and the license renew on the same cycle.
4 yearsA hunt record copy must be with the client for the whole hunt, the client receives the completed copy at the end, and the guide retains one copy for four years. — Alaska Big Game Commercial Services Board statutes and regulations, retrieved 2026-09-29
A client contracting with more than one guide-outfitter gets a separate hunt record from each, and the department rejects records signed by more than one. — Alaska Big Game Commercial Services Board statutes and regulations, retrieved 2026-09-29
Deposits, cancellation and the board's reach
The statute requires the contract to state the amount to be paid, but it does not set deposit rules, cancellation windows or refund obligations. Those terms are drafted, not mandated.
What the board does reach is the breach itself: breaching a contract to provide big game hunting or transportation services to a client is a listed ground for discipline, alongside convictions and misstatements on an application. A cancelled season handled badly is not just a refund conversation, it is a licensing exposure.
Write the cancellation terms before the season, state them in the contract, and apply them evenly. The clients who lose a season to weather want to know what the paper said, and so does the board if a complaint lands.
Breaching a contract to provide big game hunting services or transportation services to a client is a ground on which the board may impose disciplinary sanctions on a licensee. — Alaska Big Game Commercial Services Board statutes and regulations, retrieved 2026-09-29
What the client brings, and what you verify
The contract names the big game to be hunted. The client's side of that promise is the license and the locking tag, and those prices are state-published: a nonresident hunting license is $160, a brown or grizzly bear locking tag is $1,000, a sheep tag is $850, a goat tag is $600, a moose tag is $800 and a caribou tag is $650.
Nonresident hunters must be accompanied for brown or grizzly bear, sheep and goat hunts, filing an affidavit of accompaniment by a person qualified to guide under Alaska Statute 16.05.407, and nonresident aliens must be guided for all big game. That is the demand side of the outfitting business, written in statute, and it is why the contract's species list is not decorative.
Verify the license and tags before the client flies to camp, not at the spike tent. The season's revenue and the license's future both sit on that checklist, and the full pre-season version is the first-season checklist.
$1,000A nonresident Alaska hunting license costs $160, and nonresident big game locking tags include brown or grizzly bear at $1,000, sheep at $850, moose at $800, goat at $600 and caribou at $650. — Alaska Department of Fish and Game, retrieved 2026-09-29
Nonresident hunters must be accompanied to hunt brown or grizzly bear, sheep or goat under AS 16.05.407, and nonresident aliens for all big game under AS 16.05.408. — Alaska Department of Fish and Game, retrieved 2026-09-29
Questions
Does an Alaska guide need a written contract with every client?
Yes. Since January 1, 2006, a registered guide-outfitter may not provide big game hunting services and a transporter may not provide transportation services without a written contract with the client stating the required contents.
How long must an Alaska guide keep hunt records?
Four years at the registered guide-outfitter's regular place of business. The client receives a completed copy at the end of the hunt, and a copy must be with the client for the duration of the hunt.
Does Alaska cap what a guide can charge a client?
No. The contract must state the amount to be paid for the services, but the state does not set or cap the price of a guided hunt. The deposit, cancellation and refund terms are drafted by the guide, not mandated.