An Alaskan guide is being sued by the state for allegedly ripping off more than 30 moose hunters — and pocketing well over half a million dollars — over the course of two hunting seasons.
In the lawsuit, Alaska attorney general Treg Taylor claims that in 2023 and 2024, Clint Miller took more than $660,000 from 32 hunters, who’d booked once-in-a-lifetime moose hunts through his business, Alaska Wilderness Outfitter. But Taylor alleges that only two of those hunters ever set foot on huntable ground, and neither of them had a real chance at tagging a bull. Most of the other trips were canceled at the last minute, and none of the hunters were ever refunded.
Miller, meanwhile, has continued to advertise a 100 percent success rate to potential hunters even though none of his clients have actually killed a bull since 2021, according to the suit. And he’s already booked two clients and collected at least $54,000 for the 2025 moose season.
“Many dream, save and plan for years to go on a big game hunting trip of a lifetime in Alaska,” assistant attorney general Helen Mendolia said in a statement Thursday. “Yet for most of Miller’s clients, those plans and dreams ended in disappointment and considerable financial loss after last-minute cancellations without refunds.”
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The suit that was filed in Palmer Superior Court in July describes a pattern of fraud over the course of 2023 and 2024, where Miller would book more clients than he could realistically or legally take into the field. He would charge clients between $12,500 and $24,500 per person, and would require them to pay in full months before the hunt. Miller would then either cancel on them at the last minute, or make the logistics so challenging that the hunters would have to cancel on their own.
In 2024, the lawsuit alleges, Miller canceled on 18 of 25 paying clients. Four of the other clients canceled their trips because he did not provide them the dates or logistics to book their flights to Holy Cross, where his outfitter is based.
Upriver with Nowhere to Hunt
As much as it would suck to have your bucket-list moose hunt canceled at the last minute, it appears the hunters that did get out with Miller’s outfit over the last two years got an even rawer deal. Take one of the 2023 hunts that the lawsuit describes in detail, for example.
During the second week of September that year, Miller sent out six clients with two guides, even though their contracts stipulated a two client to one guide ratio. All eight were transported by boat approximately 130 miles up the Innoko River from Holy Cross to a camp where they were not permitted to hunt.
“Upon arriving at camp, these six clients learned that the land where they could legally hunt was located hundreds of miles away and they did not have enough fuel to transport everyone,” the lawsuit reads. It says that four of the hunters “feared for their safety” due to the lack of fuel and supplies, and they decided to leave.
“The remaining two clients stayed in the field, but they had very limited opportunities to hunt because they had to travel approximately 400 river miles (around eight hours roundtrip) via boat from their base camp to the land where they could legally hunt.”
A post that Miller shared on his outfitter’s Facebook page in March 2023 shows what appear to be some of Miller’s clients after successful moose hunts in 2020.
“If you’re looking for a truly big bull I have a life time [sic] of knowledge and 25 years of guiding in the same unit to help you get the big bulls,” Miller wrote in the post.
During the following season, in 2024, the three hunters who didn’t have their trips canceled were sent hundreds of miles upriver without enough fuel or a licensed guide. This meant that even if they could have made it to the hunting grounds, they wouldn’t have been able to hunt moose there legally, according to the lawsuit. (Although it’s generally legal to hunt moose without a guide in Alaska, some areas have more specific regulations. The lawsuit alleges that Miller’s trips passed through lands owned by a native corporation, as well as federal lands that required additional permissions.)
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“The group decided to return to Holy Cross, leaving a boat and gear behind because there was not enough fuel to transport everything,” the suit reads.
In addition to being illegal and unsafe, Mendolia said Miller’s dishonest business practices were “a huge disservice to all the reputable guides” in Alaska whose reputations have been damaged by his actions.
Alaska News Source reports that the Palmer Superior Court judge has also issued a temporary restraining order against Miller. This is meant to prevent Miller from taking any new payments from potential clients, and it requires him to reimburse the dozens of clients he’s reportedly ripped off over the years.
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