A long-time big game outfitting guide from the Yukon was honoured earlier this year with the outstanding guide award from the Wild Sheep Foundation.

Al Klassen, 63, has guided on the N.W.T side of the MacKenzie Mountains for decades with Arctic Red River Outfitters.

Most of the hunts are focused on mountain sheep, though they do hunt for caribou and moose, Klassen explained in an interview this week at his home off Burma Road along the North Klondike Highway.

While Klassen has been heralded as an expert guide who is fun to hunt with, he’s also an avid sheep hunter himself.

His next ram will be his 25th. He’s guided hunters on a total of 124 hunts over the years.

There are several shoulder mounts – head, cape and horns – hanging in his bedroom, along with mounts of other wildlife he’s hunted.

More mounts and sheep skulls with the horns attached are displayed in the living area.

But it was his success and personal approach to guiding clients that was recognized in January at the sheep foundation’s annual award show in Reno, Nevada.

Several guides, clients and outfitters provided testimonials to support the nomination for guide of the year by Regan Yeager, who describes himself as a past client, former co-worker and a “damn lucky friend.

“I know there are many more out there who would unquestionably support this recommendation,” Yeager wrote to support his nomination.

“My sincere hope is that one day we can acknowledge Al’s 40-plus years as one of the finest guides to walk the peaks of the mountains.”

Another testimonial says: “He is as skilled and humble as they come, and I couldn’t think of anyone else I’d want to hunt with in the mountains or to have my back in any situation.”

Klassen said most of his time as a guide has been spent working for Arctic Red and Tavis Molnar, the owner.

When he moved to Whitehorse in 1986, Molnar was a young neighbour who Klassen would take hunting.

“He shot his first ram with me when he was old enough,” he said.

Molnar started out at Arctic Red as a camp hand but transitioned to a guide for half the season when it was owned by Kelly Hougen in the early 1990s. He went on to guide for Hougen for 10 years before he ended up purchasing the business in 2008.

The concession is remote, with no roads or trails that would allow for vehicle access – it’s all fly-in.

Norman Wells, the closest community, is 150 kilometres away.

Hiking through the mountains is not just a hunt but an adventure, he said.

“We are successful in the hunt most of the time,” said Klassen.

“But it is like an adventure to come up and go backpacking in these mountains because they are so remote.”

Klassen said there are very few resident hunters because the area is so remote, which makes the management of harvesting animals less complex, and they do manage the harvest.

There is not as much snow in the region as there is in the south, which makes life a little simpler, but it’s colder – clear and cold.

Klassen said he is a backpack guide and hunter who climbs into the mountains with his clients.

“Most of the guys, once they are booked, will be working out and training,” he said. “You have to be in shape for this.

“Most of the guys will count this as the most difficult hunt in their life, but is also the most rewarding.”

He said the standard hunt is for 10 days at a cost of $32,000 US, which is standard in the outfitting industry, and everything you need is on your back – food, hunting gear, etc.

When he starts out, Klassen said, his backpack weighs 68 pounds while his clients’ packs are about 10 pounds lighter, as they are not packing spotting scopes and such.

They hunt rams that are at least 10 years old and past their prime breeding years, he said.

“We pass up a lot of good rams, young rams, just to find the old rams.”

The menu at camp is comprised of freeze-dried goods, and of course wild meat.

Excess meat – and there is excess meat, particularly with moose – is flown out to communities in the N.W.T.

For Klassen, it’s a job, a lifestyle he cherishes, and he can’t wait to get back to work.

Most of his clients, who he guides one-on-one, are from the United States – Utah in particular.

He said he has one regular, Jesus, who comes up from Mexico.

Jesus missed in 2020 because of COVID-19, and last year they couldn’t make it, but they’re coming this year, he said.

Arctic Red, said Klassen, is already booked through 2025.

“People want to hunt, and they have heard about Arctic Red over the years,” he said. “We get the quality animals out there.”

With a lean build, as one might expect from a backpacking guide who spends three months a year in the mountains, the soon-to-be 64- year-old isn’t contemplating retirement anytime soon.

“It is so much fun, I just can’t wait to get back out there,” he said.

“These mountains have kept me young, they have definitely kept me young.”