Alaska's first registered guide passed away

[AlaskaHunter]

Famed pilot and master guide Urban Rahoi passed away at age 102.
He was the first to receive a guiding license in Alaska and guided out of the Wrangell Mountains.
https://mustreadalaska.com/legendary-pilot-big-game-guide-urban-rahoi-1919-2021/

Ironically, he lost his guiding license at age 100, for illegal bait sites and poisoning to kill wolves
and for his employees killing bears and sheep illegally.
That case cost Rahoi his National Park Service concession to guide hunts from his Ptarmigan Lake Lodge
and also his own guiding license.

 

[Bambistew]

To clarify, I don't' think he was involved in the illegal activity, but the person who was working under his license? That was BS, poisoning wolves and bears and whatever with xylitol.

That guy had some air miles for sure.

 

[justdada]

Wow... 80+ years of flying and a hundred years of good health. Lucky dude for sure
Loved the part when he said "you knew where you were going, or you didn't get there" (pre GPS)

 

[338win]

damn shame it had to be the year of COVID. Wealth of knowledge and spent the last year pent up. God speed.

 

[MTGomer]

What a life. Incredible that he was able to stay active right up to the end.

I don’t know him but I’m from the same town that the guy that did the bear and wolf poaching is from. Before that whole thing unraveled, I saw a lot of Facebook posts about Urban. The last one I remember seeing he was in his late 90s and he was fueling up his cub so he could take it for a flight.

I think he kind of got taken advantage of by the guy that was poaching out of ptarmigan lake.

 

[Tradewind]

I used to see him at the wild sheep banquet for a few years running. Got to sit at dinner w/ him
one year. Had some great stories. Seemed like quite a character. Regret not bidding on the hunt he offered but it jsut wasn't on the agenda. At the time he was in his 80's and i was quietly wondering how good the hunt could be. Little did I know...