Guided Elk Hunt
10-30-2003, 06:57 PM
#4
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 3
RE: Guided Elk Hunt
My foremost concern for this hunt was to have a safe hunt. On the 3rd. day of the hunt 4 of us were left out untill 2 hrs. after dark!! Never saw a guide from 9;00 am untill 7;30 pm that day. Tents had holes in the roof, no drinking water in camp, not even any water to wash up at the end of the day. That is not untill we complained for two days about it.. No safty what so ever was considered. Guides attitude was ( If you can' t keep up -- too bad ). Shooting at game well beyound a resonable range 500 + yds. when we could have easly stalked closer.
10-31-2003, 08:39 AM
#5
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location:
Posts: 2,395
RE: Guided Elk Hunt
Sounds like you need to write a letter to the board of outfitters on this one. You are right your safety should have been there number one concern. I personally do not see how they could even think of bringing in people to a camp that did not have water. The part about shooting at game that was too far away? You pulled the trigger not the outfitter. You should have insisted on stalking closer. I am not blaming you for taking the shots, you were told to do so. I would have just started my stalk & told the guide he better follow me. The part about being left out until 2-hours after dark does not bother me either IF you know for sure they are coming back for you. There is no reason to leave a paying client alone from 9:00am to 7:30pm.
11-03-2003, 04:14 AM
#6
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location:
Posts: 317
RE: Guided Elk Hunt
Thanks for the reply, DJJ. You sure do have some valid concerns.
I have been on a bunch of guided hunts. I have lived out of a backpack and melted snow for drinking water. I spent a week in British Columbia this past September in the worst weather imaginable. I loved both of those hunts. On one, however, I was left with a bad taste, and I won' t go back or send anyone there.
This was an elk and mule deer hunt in New Mexico. Six of us went. The hunting was superb. All six of us took decent bull elk, and four of us took quality mule deer bucks. Now, you might say, " What the heck could be wrong with such a hunt?"
What was wrong happened after the kills. In one case, the guide didn' t gut the bull elk properly, left it lay overnight, then went to get it the next morning at 10:00 in 80 degree heat. Needless to say, the animal spoiled and the meat was lost. The outfitter didn' t skin or cape animals, so we had to take all kills to a local butcher shop. He charged $150 to cape a trophy for mounting. Also, we didn' t get all of our meat. From a bull elk and a mule deer buck, I got 110 pounds of meat.
When I completed the outfitter' s evaluation form (he sent it to me) and complained about the above, he called and told me, " Where do you get off telling me how to run my business?" I don' t care to try to tell anyone how to run his business, but he did ask for things we did and didn' t like.
Oh well. In well over a dozen guided big game hunting trips, this was the worst experience I had? I guess I will keep going for awhile.
I have been on a bunch of guided hunts. I have lived out of a backpack and melted snow for drinking water. I spent a week in British Columbia this past September in the worst weather imaginable. I loved both of those hunts. On one, however, I was left with a bad taste, and I won' t go back or send anyone there.
This was an elk and mule deer hunt in New Mexico. Six of us went. The hunting was superb. All six of us took decent bull elk, and four of us took quality mule deer bucks. Now, you might say, " What the heck could be wrong with such a hunt?"
What was wrong happened after the kills. In one case, the guide didn' t gut the bull elk properly, left it lay overnight, then went to get it the next morning at 10:00 in 80 degree heat. Needless to say, the animal spoiled and the meat was lost. The outfitter didn' t skin or cape animals, so we had to take all kills to a local butcher shop. He charged $150 to cape a trophy for mounting. Also, we didn' t get all of our meat. From a bull elk and a mule deer buck, I got 110 pounds of meat.
When I completed the outfitter' s evaluation form (he sent it to me) and complained about the above, he called and told me, " Where do you get off telling me how to run my business?" I don' t care to try to tell anyone how to run his business, but he did ask for things we did and didn' t like.
Oh well. In well over a dozen guided big game hunting trips, this was the worst experience I had? I guess I will keep going for awhile.
11-05-2003, 01:01 PM
#7
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 3
RE: Guided Elk Hunt
I guess I' m not the only one who got burned by a bad outfitter. I just want to let as many hunters know about this clown so hopefully no one else ends up with him. I have contacted several agency' s in Col. & reported this idiot to them. I hope he gets run out of business. Makes it bad for the good outfitters that are out there.
