ARCAT
Member
This is the story of a very bad hunt I went on this fall. I hesitated to post it at all, but I think a few things can be learned from it. I will not name the outfitter as my intention is not to hammer him, but I think we all need to be careful when we book a hunt.
First let me explain that I was and still hold a guides license in Idaho. I have been on 74 Elk hunts, 73 as a guide, and this was the first as a hunter. Hunts I guide in Idaho are in the frank church, 28 miles from a road, and the experiece is a huge part of the hunt. I also know how things work, and how outfitters conduct business in order to be sucessful. I only went on this hunt for 2 reasons, first beacuse I didn't get to go on my stone sheep hunt in BC due to my business partner getting in a very bad auto accident the night before I was to leave, and second because I wanted to kill a really big bull. The kind thats hard to come by on the Frank Church, and I'm never the hunter there anyway. The outfitters website says he averages 342 on bulls.
There are 4 guys from Little Rock who have hunted with this guy 6 years in a row and have come home with an unreal 24 bulls, averaging over 320! You could not get a better recomendation. We got in touch with the outfitter,and got in on a cancellation hunt that costs 2x what a middle Fork hunt costs, but we got a break, and were still spending more than enough to take the family to disneyworld. We were to stay in a very nice lodge, the guys from LR even had a video of it and showing hundreds of elk and hunt in new Mexico. We were told to not shoot anything under 330 the first 3 days. It was going to be awesome. I asked the guy to send us contracts, and he said he was too busy. I told him we would not drive all the way out there without a contract, and he assured me we had the hunt... for the discounted price, so we went anyway.
The day we got there we met the outfitter in a small town in southern CO, where he imformed us we were hutning in CO, and he had 2 left over landowner tags for antelope. we could hunt that day. The season ended that day so we had to be quick. he told us if you don't get a good goat, you wont have to pay. We went for goats, and before dark had 2 -14 inch goats, and it was awesome. it was a great way to start the hunt.
When we got town and dropped the goats at the meat packer, the outfitter told us his brother was guiding us, and the cook had the night off ( the night all the hunters arrive?) Our first clue, so we had a subway and headed for the lodge. Before we split up I told the outfitter that we wanted to settle up, we owed him for the elk hunt, and the goat hunt. He said don't worry about it until the hunt is over. The outfitter it turns out went to the lodge, 3 hours away and we went to a camper, next to a mobile home, second clue. A retired couple was putting us up, the guide slept in the house and we slept in the camper. It was OK. a little cool, (water bottle froze solid) but OK though not a lodge. Its a little weird on an elk hunt to have trick or treaters coming to the door, and to have to go knock on the door if someone home and tell them you need to use the bathroom, but hey if the hunting is good none of that stuff matters.
The next morning the man who lived there (he was a fine gentlman) told us the hunting was sorry, and this was typically the worst hunt of the year. That was another clue. We hunted 3 days and saw 3 cows. And No sign. In fact there was very little hunting. 2 hours in the am and 2 hours in the pm, and almost no walking. Plus the land was actively being logged while we were there. Most of the hunting was driving roads in my Tahoe ( the guide had a ford ranger) and looking for sign. the rest of the time we watched TV, and election BS which was a fate worse than death on an elk hunt, while the guide worked on his taxidermy business. We decided we had enough and asked the guide to call his brother and move us. He called and They decided we should just hunt harder and hope something showed up. We were hunting private ground and we found out they had paid the landowner for the hunt, so he had to take someone there. We called BS and decided to leave. we paid the guide his daily wage, paid the couple for putting us up and groceries, and paid for the goat hunt....BUT NOT THE ELK HUNT.
This caused the guide to call us every name in the book, etc, but we got on the road. The couple we stayed with was very nice and told us to to have safe trip home. about 30 minutes later the guide caught us on the road and flagged us down. Seems they decided to move us, to the lodge, and guarantee us monster bulls if we would just stay one more day. We talked it over and decided we had been screwed once and going on would only make it worse for us. We were leaving, and we left.
I have since thought alot about it. I have also been cussed by the outfitter and the guys from LR that hunt with him.
If you are going to hunt with an outfitter get a contract. make certain you are getting the hunt you think you are. Find out where youa e going to hunt, and where you are going to stay. If the outfitter had taken care of his business we would be out the money and suing him.
Maybe you think we screwed him by not paying, but we operated on the antelope plan. don't pay if you don't get one. We got two good goats, so if we figure it was a goat hunt, then everyone is happy.
Like I said earlier, the experience if a huge part of the hunt in my mind. this guy is not selling any experience, just big bulls. If the bulls aren't there, what do you have? A very sorry hunt.
First let me explain that I was and still hold a guides license in Idaho. I have been on 74 Elk hunts, 73 as a guide, and this was the first as a hunter. Hunts I guide in Idaho are in the frank church, 28 miles from a road, and the experiece is a huge part of the hunt. I also know how things work, and how outfitters conduct business in order to be sucessful. I only went on this hunt for 2 reasons, first beacuse I didn't get to go on my stone sheep hunt in BC due to my business partner getting in a very bad auto accident the night before I was to leave, and second because I wanted to kill a really big bull. The kind thats hard to come by on the Frank Church, and I'm never the hunter there anyway. The outfitters website says he averages 342 on bulls.
There are 4 guys from Little Rock who have hunted with this guy 6 years in a row and have come home with an unreal 24 bulls, averaging over 320! You could not get a better recomendation. We got in touch with the outfitter,and got in on a cancellation hunt that costs 2x what a middle Fork hunt costs, but we got a break, and were still spending more than enough to take the family to disneyworld. We were to stay in a very nice lodge, the guys from LR even had a video of it and showing hundreds of elk and hunt in new Mexico. We were told to not shoot anything under 330 the first 3 days. It was going to be awesome. I asked the guy to send us contracts, and he said he was too busy. I told him we would not drive all the way out there without a contract, and he assured me we had the hunt... for the discounted price, so we went anyway.
The day we got there we met the outfitter in a small town in southern CO, where he imformed us we were hutning in CO, and he had 2 left over landowner tags for antelope. we could hunt that day. The season ended that day so we had to be quick. he told us if you don't get a good goat, you wont have to pay. We went for goats, and before dark had 2 -14 inch goats, and it was awesome. it was a great way to start the hunt.
When we got town and dropped the goats at the meat packer, the outfitter told us his brother was guiding us, and the cook had the night off ( the night all the hunters arrive?) Our first clue, so we had a subway and headed for the lodge. Before we split up I told the outfitter that we wanted to settle up, we owed him for the elk hunt, and the goat hunt. He said don't worry about it until the hunt is over. The outfitter it turns out went to the lodge, 3 hours away and we went to a camper, next to a mobile home, second clue. A retired couple was putting us up, the guide slept in the house and we slept in the camper. It was OK. a little cool, (water bottle froze solid) but OK though not a lodge. Its a little weird on an elk hunt to have trick or treaters coming to the door, and to have to go knock on the door if someone home and tell them you need to use the bathroom, but hey if the hunting is good none of that stuff matters.
The next morning the man who lived there (he was a fine gentlman) told us the hunting was sorry, and this was typically the worst hunt of the year. That was another clue. We hunted 3 days and saw 3 cows. And No sign. In fact there was very little hunting. 2 hours in the am and 2 hours in the pm, and almost no walking. Plus the land was actively being logged while we were there. Most of the hunting was driving roads in my Tahoe ( the guide had a ford ranger) and looking for sign. the rest of the time we watched TV, and election BS which was a fate worse than death on an elk hunt, while the guide worked on his taxidermy business. We decided we had enough and asked the guide to call his brother and move us. He called and They decided we should just hunt harder and hope something showed up. We were hunting private ground and we found out they had paid the landowner for the hunt, so he had to take someone there. We called BS and decided to leave. we paid the guide his daily wage, paid the couple for putting us up and groceries, and paid for the goat hunt....BUT NOT THE ELK HUNT.
This caused the guide to call us every name in the book, etc, but we got on the road. The couple we stayed with was very nice and told us to to have safe trip home. about 30 minutes later the guide caught us on the road and flagged us down. Seems they decided to move us, to the lodge, and guarantee us monster bulls if we would just stay one more day. We talked it over and decided we had been screwed once and going on would only make it worse for us. We were leaving, and we left.
I have since thought alot about it. I have also been cussed by the outfitter and the guys from LR that hunt with him.
If you are going to hunt with an outfitter get a contract. make certain you are getting the hunt you think you are. Find out where youa e going to hunt, and where you are going to stay. If the outfitter had taken care of his business we would be out the money and suing him.
Maybe you think we screwed him by not paying, but we operated on the antelope plan. don't pay if you don't get one. We got two good goats, so if we figure it was a goat hunt, then everyone is happy.
Like I said earlier, the experience if a huge part of the hunt in my mind. this guy is not selling any experience, just big bulls. If the bulls aren't there, what do you have? A very sorry hunt.
