Did I get what I paid for?

[RVRKNG]

My dad, brother, friend & myself purchased a hunt in Colorado last fall. It was a horseback hunt, 2 on 1 guided for 5 days. There were 6 hunters in camp. We were told as we were loading the mules that a guide was sick & in the hospital. So down a guide we went to the camp. The food all week was great. The 2 "guides" were good guys. But.... I feel I was only guided 1 day! The first day we went out early, the guide called some bulls(we never saw them but called back & forth for about 3 hours) that was very exciting & something I had never experienced. He then left me for the rest of the day & guided my dad. It was a fun day.
Next day the guides could not find the horses so we all hiked out of camp to hunt. My dad got a 4x4 bull on his own. On the 3rd day my brother got a 5x5 also on his own! Then he radioed camp at 1:00 in the afternoon to get the guide up there to pack it out. The guide got there at 6:00, the ride to him was no more than an hours ride. They quartered it, in the dark, the guide had to borrow batteries for his head lamp from my brother, his were dead. Then he could not find the trail off the mountain, so they had to spend the night out in the woods

(sort of fun to do). The "guide had no food, water or come to find out calls of any kind. My brother said it looked like he had never skinned a animal before?! My brother shared his food(he was prepared), and water. The "guide" did not even have a coat, just a vest. It was about 20 degrees that night. But OK for bro because he had everthing for this situation, plus a nice fire.

So to cut this short,after the 1st day I was never guided again, as well as the others. We were dropped of in different places & picked up after dark, the rest of the week. Boy riding horses at night with no light is exciting!

I loved the time out there with my family & never will forget the hunt but....were we guided?

 

[Dead Deer Walking]

Sounds like "Misguide" would be a more appropiate title for that guy.

 

[easymoney]

Sorry to hear your sad tale...
Everyone gets sick, even guides but, they should have filled the slot left open with another guide, especially if you paying for three. Sounds to me from your story that those guys were not experienced guides at all, and it seems you were lucky to get out alive and lucky no one got hurt. I assume you held back one third of the fee...
You need to do your research before you spend your hard earned money. Ask for references and referals from past customers. There are a lot of very good guide services out there and they all have long lists of happy and successful clients.


Just my two cents...

 

[scr83jp]

Was this a reputable outfitter or a popgun operation?Some police officers I know booked a hunt in Montana and when they arrived the 'outfitter' had nothing ready to go,he had to go to town and rent tents,had no horses,etc. The hunters had to buy all of the food and the guide brought a friend from Idaho who he gave a resident elk tag to and the 2 of them sponged food off of their customers.The officers learned the ranch nearby was far cheaper to hunt from with a bunkhouse,meals and horses & guides included.It pays to carefully research everything before signing up with an outfitter.You could file a complaint with the Colorado Div of Wildlife to try to get the outfitters license pulled.Contact the Office of Outfitter Registration,1560 Broadway,Suite 1340,Denver,CO 80202 (303)894-7778 http://www.dora.state.co.us/outfitters. To verify your outfitters registration go to http://www.coloradooutfitters.org (970)876-0543

 

[paulc]

I have a couple of similar tales from the early years when i was trying to save money

bottom line is, you need to research who you are going with. Get a referall. Use a service.

couple of examples. A hunt i won at a RMEF banquet.

The outfitter (not the guide) used my range finder as binoculars as his were useless.

One guide I had showed up wearing tennis shoes with no laces as he said he had diabetes so obviously we did no hiking with him only on our own. By the way he also popped his first beer at 7:30 in the AM

..
many other things also.

Needless to say I wrote a long letter and reported him to all of the agencies and publications.

Problem is that every kid/unemployed guy in some of these small towns becomes a guide come Fall regardless of ability.

Save your money and do it right. Driving out of state is way to much time and money to have miserable experiences.

I wish you hadn't got these old memories going in my head.

 

[Orso]

Sounds like you definitely didn't get what you paid for. A complaint with some type of resolution sounds in order, if you wanted to. However, on the bright side it sounds like a real adventure...

 

[hatchet]

you get what you pay for, hopefully they did not bone you to hard.
at least you guys scored.and were prepared to take care of yourself.
iv,e heard of worse hunts, i guess it would be safe to say you wont
use these dudes again?congrats on a couple of fine elk by the way

 

[Speckmisser]

Rvrking,

Sounds like it wasn't a total loss... but I think you have a legitimate gripe.

Before I start assuming what you did or didn't do, let me ask:

How many references did you check before you booked?

My personal experience says you definitely need to check several, both successful and unsuccessful. I've had some great times with a couple of outfitters who got negative reviews by most of their other hunters. Maybe I got lucky, but if someone only used my referral, they may have been misled (Just ask BDB about Bruce Hyatt

).

Did you provide your post-hunt feedback directly to the outfitter/booking agent?

If not, do it NOW, while the event is still fresh in your mind. The odds of getting any kind of satisfaction decrease exponentially the further you get from the original event.

Did you discuss your expectations and how you'd actually be hunting with the guides/outfitter before the hunt?

If you're a pretty self-sufficient hunter, I know some guides will simply turn you loose in a good area and let you go. That may not have been your expectation, but you need to let the guide know.

Finally, have you posted up your review in the Hunting Guide Reviews section of JHO?

Please do. Honest negative reviews are probably more important than positive ones to people researching their hunts. Let your experience help someone else.

 

[easymoney]

Mr. misser,
Excellent points!

 

[brknarrow]

let everyone know who your guide was ?
? as for me i've been on a few guided hunts some good a few terribble . i don't need or use a guide in co. plenty of places to hunt and i found mine. use to haul horses back there but it's easeir just to rent them.

 

[tmoniz]

I would not pay those guys the full amount. I think this was a bunch of yahoo's. Can't find the horses nor trails? I don't think these guys realize the liabilty envolved or could care less because they may not have anything to get.

Always get references before booking and check with the state they operate in to see what their track record is as far as complaints and such. You're all lucky to get out unharmed.

I would definately file a complaint with the fish and game and the outfitter's association.

Also give up their names in different Elk hunting forums to spread the word and give them a wakeup call as well.

 

[RVRKNG]

Well to add to this, I did write a letter to voice my concerns with the service. We tried to talk to the outfitter once we came off the mountain, but he just brushed us off. He sent me a letter back pretty much saying sorry you had a bad time, and his boys are great guides & know the area very well! Huh. We had purchased this hunt at a SCI fundraiser & had talked to 2 other hunters that had been on the hunt. They gave it great reviews. Also we paid $2800.00 a piece. Usual price was $3800.00. They guide mentioned this in his rebutal letter saying "you had 4 hunters in your group & we only were compensated for 3"?

I think that is B.S.! Then why offer the hunt at the fundraiser for that price? Anyway live & learn.

P.S. I am following up with reporting him to the state guide association. Thanks for backing up my fellings on this.

Jeff M.

 

[paulc]

RVRKING.

I won a trip at a RMEF function one time and booked another at one and i will never do neither again.

Both were with novice outfitters and while they didnt say what they said to you i got the impression. They never told me that I bought a discounted hunt or won a hunt for free (but then paid for my wife to go full price one one) but, i was treated that way.

My free time is precious to me and it pissed me off both times when they wasted my time.

You are one hundred percent in the right and this outfitter should not even be in the business.

You should complain to what ever agency that handles them and make everyone aware of the poor treatment you got.

 

[tmoniz]

When I got my Elk tag in Wyoming several years ago I was flooded with brochures in the mail from various outfitters. I read the brochures and was extremely confused as to whom I should book. Went to some shows and got the big sales pitch as well.

I called one outfitter who explained to me in great detail what he offered. When he said you could drive into town in the evening if you so desired I told him I was more interested in a pack in wilderness hunt.

He referred me to a girl that worked at a cafe in Jackson that had the number of a local guide. I called and left him a message. Several days later I received his brochure. I was impressed by the fact that all the photos of game taken was from the previous season. All the other brochures had photos that were a bit dated.

I checked this guy out big time. Even drove up to one of his exclients home to see a mount and hear the story. Then I vacationed that summer in Jackson and dropped his name around quite a bit. It seemed everyone in town knew this guy.
I wasn't expecting to get a bull on this trip, but to get a good idea of what an old fashioned horse back elk hunt was like.

To make a long story short. We met the first day at a cafe. Had breakfast. It was on him. Then his people packed the mules and setup our individual horses.
We rode to base camp which was about 20 miles into the wilderness. Had dinner and then retired to our tents.

We got up every morning very early to a huge breakfast. The wranglers packed our lunches in our saddle bags and strapped in our rifles. Being a little low to the ground the one wrangler always made it a point to have my horse near a log so I could mount it easily. The guide while in the field always made it a point to help me on my horse. The outfitter/guide made it clear the first night that his customers
were in his camp to hunt elk, eat, relax, sleep and then hunt some more.
Everyone was very helpful. They even had a solar shower. The meals were very good. The tents all had wood burning stoves. You really wanted for nothing.

Although the head guide was a little rough around the edges and a bit bossy, he kept a close eye on us and pushed us to the max. He knew the country front to back and got me 3 days into a 10 day hunt on a very fine bull.

It was no picnic. That hunt really kicked my butt. We rode out every day in the dark and returned to camp every day in the dark. I would book him again any time.

But then there was that Sheep hunt in Canada with a total drunken idiot. I had a chance to push him off a cliff one day, but decided he wasn't worth it.

Finding the right outfitter is a nerve racking experience. Especially when there's a huge amount of hard earned money at stake.

But, it's like any other business. If you've been done wrong you are obligated to spread the word.

 

[wmidbrook]

Sounds like you got a touch over 'delux drop camp' service to me--that's only from descriptions of what I've read about delux drop camps vs. fully guided.

Maybe they'd refund some of your money to where it were equal to the going rate of a delux drop camp + $500 for what guiding/game retrieval services you got. There are a lot of guides in CO and pricing is very competitive--$1500/person for a good delux drop camp. My cousin paid $500/day for a guide/wrangler/camp to himself on his elk hunt in NV--I think there were 3 horses and 2 mules--CO would be less expensive.

 

[WapitiBob]

You got shafted and complaining won't do any good. Go to the show and let any potential customers of his know how you got treated. His guides were probably friends just helping out.

 

[MikenSoCo]

As a one time guide(not elk), I can't fathom how someone can take your money and not bust their ass for you. I'd make a sign and walk back and forth in front of his display at the next show until you got your money back. It worked for a buddy who picketed a ford dealership here

 

[snoopdogg]

rvrkng, sorry to hear 'bout your trip. Glad you guys had enough smarts to get on some animals on your own and come back healthy.


MikenSoCo; NICE!! hahahaha

 

[gryphon]

Tmoniz.....Although the head guide was a little rough around the edges and a bit bossy, he kept a close eye on us and pushed us to the max. He knew the country front to back and got me 3 days into a 10 day hunt on a very fine bull.


I reckon that rough around the edges fella being a bit bossy was a fella showing that he knew what was going on and what was needed to get a good bull.....some fellas need to be bossed,you know "get out of bed now" coz the deer wont wait for you to have another coffee etc etc You pay the man and he delivers it and if hes a bit rough so what! As long as he gets you the trophy.

 

[tmoniz]

I didn't have a problem with my guides demeanor. It was the other hunters in camp that did. I was there to take care of business. He provided the means. I'd book him again in a heartbeat cuz I know what to expect. A good hard hunt. And quite possibly another fine bull.