Anybody who’s ever dreamed of an Alaska moose hunt knows those kinds of trips don’t come cheap. Some hunters spend years saving up enough money for a bucket list hunt in the Last Frontier. But prosecutors say nearly 40 hunters who thought they were booking the adventure of a lifetime lost almost $60,000 to an illegal guiding scheme that left some of them stranded in rural Alaska.
Michael Mikhael Beans, 37, began advertising trophy hunts to the Lower Yukon River area on Facebook in 2021, according to court documents. Beans has never held the required state licenses to act as a guide or transporter. Multiple out-of-state hunters booked trips and paid deposits to Beans via Venmo or other payment apps beginning in 2022, expecting fully outfitted hunts out of the remote village of St. Mary’s.
The first group of hunters arrived in Alaska in September 2022, expecting a camp, meals, and a fully guided hunt, but Beans canceled the hunt by text message without ever seeing them in person. They were left stranded in rural Alaska and had to scramble to find lodging and transportation. Beans also canceled other booked hunts before hunters arrived but pocketed the deposits. He and his family of seven vacationed in Oahu, Hawaii, for two weeks that same year.
Not every hunter who booked with Beans went home empty-handed. In September 2022, three hunters tracked Beans down after he tried to cancel their hunt and convinced him to take them moose hunting per their agreement, according to a press release. The hunters killed three bull moose during that trip, with Beans acting as guide, although he was not licensed to do so.
Prosecutors say Beans collected almost $60,000 in fraudulent fees, deposits, and advance payments. He pleaded guilty in February to wire fraud and violations of the Lacey Act related to illegal guiding. Last week, a judge sentenced Beans to three years in federal prison and ordered him to pay more than $64,110 in restitution to 24 victims.
Beans is already serving a separate 30-year state prison sentence for felony sexual assault and sexual abuse of a minor, according to KYUK Public Media. The first two years of Beans’s federal sentence will overlap with time served for those crimes. The remaining year will be served upon completion of that sentence.
Stories like this are rare, but they do happen. Anyone planning a bucket-list hunt should do more than scroll Facebook before booking. No matter how affordable or exciting the hunt may sound, hunters should take the time to verify licenses, read reviews, and ask for references before dropping money on a deposit. Doing a little homework up front is a whole lot cheaper than showing up to Alaska for a hunt that doesn’t exist.
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