Jaret Owens - Founder

Jaret grew up during the 1950s, learning to hunt and fish in the backcountry surrounding the small town of Ojai, California.  As soon as he could go out on his own he headed to Alaska to guide.  When the season in Alaska would end he was off to the next adventure.  Jaret was always busy with some kind of hunt, whether it was operating hunts with Island Adventures on Santa Cruz Island, spear fishing in the tropics, or helping friends across the world on their hunts. He was a successful hunting and fishing guide for over 40 years, with sun-roughened skin as a testament to the outdoor life he relishes. For decades, Jaret enjoyed leading his clients to where the big game and big adventure can still be found in the Alaskan backcountry and was the inspiration for Alaska Guide Creations.  Jaret made the first bino pack in 1971.  His first rendition was hand sewn and was comprised of all leather.  Soon his clients noticed his pack and started requesting one for themselves.  One thing led to another and Alaska Guide Creations was born.  Jaret is no longer guiding, but the fire for the hunt still burns inside of him.  He loves to visit with customers about gear, optics, and especially hunting.  Give him a call and he'd be happy to visit with you.

The Alaska Guide Creations Way

At Alaska Guide Creations, not only did Jaret make the first bino pack, but we make the best bino packs on the market to this day. Since then we have grown and take pride in making the world's toughest hunting gear coupled with industry leading, personal customer service. We believe that. Not because we are biased, but because of the thousands of reviews and interactions we've received from our customers.

The Alaska Guide Creations brand is the promise of high quality gear, a high value experience, and the very best customer service.  Even with the highest quality gear mistakes can happen and things break, especially when our gear is with you on the most rugged of adventures.  But our customer service will never waiver. Whether that means quickly fixing a mistake, addressing issues, answering calls personally, or promptly responding to messages, the AGC Team prioritizes our customer service above all else. 

A Story From Jaret

The loud screams from my predator call brought the huge bear out of the alders within 50 yards; my buddy, Jim Rockstad quickly emptied the .375 H&H into the bear. The huge bear was finally down and the we were very happy after hunting for eight days.

Suddenly, I sensed something was wrong as I thought I heard faint whistles from high in the snowy mountains. Jim and I grabbed our binoculars from our chest packs and began glassing the high snowy mountains. Jim spotted movement though difficult to see. It turned out to be a man in a camo jacket crawling in the snow just hours before dark. Unknown to us at the time, this man had been in a terrible plane crash and was seriously injured. After difficult hours, we were able to get to the injured man, his leg had been broken in three places etc. We dragged him down the steep mountain and across a small river to where Jim’s big bear lay. We quickly skinned the bear and wrapped the pilot in the hide to keep him from freezing in the snow. We then went on a long hike half the night and most of the next day to get help and were very fortunate to be rescued by the US Coast Guard.

The point is that not only do quality optics often perform miracles in helping one find game; they also played an important role in saving this good man. This is one of many lessons I learned early as a guide and hunter. Born out of necessity in an effort to protect my most valued possession, I designed a binocular chest pack to protect binoculars from banging and dragging and to keep them secure to my chest, yet easy to use and readily available. With shoulder straps eliminating neck tension and inside the chest pack the binoculars have extra protection against dust, rain, and snow. The pack was designed for active people and works great while riding an ATV, horse, crawling, stalking, climbing a tree, etc.