baldwin1968
FNG
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2015
- Messages
- 53
Writing this review following a successful moose hunt with Plihal's Frank Lake Guiding Outfitting service.
I'm not going to simply assign a review, I'm going to derive a final score based on several categories of weighted importance to me and be as objective and factual as I can be.
I booked this hunt solely on the 5 star reviews provided on bookyourhunt.com as did the other hunters in camp so I feel it's important to provide an honest review with details to back it up. There are many things that the outfitter can control and many they can't, so I don't factor into the equation whether or not I filled my tag (I did) or if the weather cooperated.
Below are the categories by which I'll rate my experience:
Communication (25%)
Guide expertise and effort (25%)
General area and game availability (20%)
Lodging and accommodations (10%)
Staff (10%)
Food/amenities (10%)
Communication:
This is important to me, I'd never hunted in Canada before and never moose hunted before and didn't know how to prepare. I have hunted for decades across several US states so I’m not an inexperienced hunter. Gene (owner) sent me his number when I was considering purchasing this hunt and he spent about 45 minutes on the phone with me telling me how many moose there are and how successful his hunts were. After that we decided to book and that's where things went downhill. I had several questions on how we'd be hunting, how to prepare, etc. and I submitted most of them through bookyourhunt.com chat. Gene did answer but most answers were short and didn't provide a lot of helpful information. A generic response was "You'll get a booklet that tells you everything you need to bring”, When the booklet showed up, it was a pamphlet, likely printed in early 1980's with a generic list of items to bring mostly involving "warm". When I inquired about items on there like bug spray, I was told "you won't need that in November". As we all know, hunting in different seasons requires different gear. Hunting on the move requires different gear than hunting in a stand, and busting brush requires different gear than hiking logging roads. I'd send several lists of questions and got a few answers, but mostly short. I started getting concerned at that point but my deposit had already been sent. In trying to find a route to drive up there and plan hotels, I was provided the address, however when you put that address into google maps, it won't find it. After going back and forth, I finally had to ask for a nearby restaurant so I could ensure my route was taking me to the right area. Gene does send good directions about 2 weeks before your trip, but won't send earlier as he says people lose them. The packet with more information did come 2 weeks prior and had the same pamphlet from before, but also an article on how to deal with bad guides. In all fairness, it was a Jim Shockey article outlining an experience he had with a really bad guide with the moral of the story being "if you aren't happy communicate", but I was a little shocked to read this article about a horrible and lazy guide that smoked, drank, and didn't do much around camp. I began to wonder if this was setting me up to lower my expectations for the service I was about to get. Lastly there was too much emphasis on making sure we were going to tip well. Providing suggested tip percentages, and ensuring that we knew to tip not only our guides but other staff too. Rating 2 out of 10.
Guide expertise and effort:
Gene was sick when we first arrived so his daughter Emily was guiding, her friend, and another local guide they brought on named Keith. We got Keith and he was a good guide. I was a bit surprised though that the guides don't seem to hunt specific animals, more specific areas. How and where we were going to hunt was more off of gut feel or maybe information on a spotting, but they didn't seem to have individual animals patterned or know the movement patterns within the areas they had access to hunt. Keith actually called in a favor from another guide to let us hunt his property and that's where I shot my bull, which I appreciated. Keith did work morning until night everyday as my buddy still hadn't killed, but again, a lot of it was driving around or glassing to try to find a bull, not hunting specific ones. I do that too in Colorado and not saying it's good or bad, just pointing out that if you expect them to show you pictures of animals you'll be hunting and understand their daily routine, that's not what appears to be going on here. Keith was great though, friendly, hardworking and took good care of us. Rating: 8 out of 10
General Area and Game Availability:
I read several reviews where folks said they couldn't believe the amount of game they saw. Not sure where they've hunted before, but that wasn't my experience. I was actually surprised how little game we saw. On day 1, we saw 1 cow and calf and then a bull my buddy had spooked, and one small buck. Most of the hunters came back with stories of a couple of animal sightings (does, a couple bucks, etc.) but not like 20-30 animals per day of different sorts. The area is farmland and river bottom, I did see the biggest buck of my entire life on the evening following my kill, along with another nice buck and one earlier, but that was it for the whole day. Seeing 4 deer and 1 bear in a day I'd call average at best. Rating: 5 out of 10
Lodging and accommodations:
Gene had told us that they have a 5-bedroom lodge for the hunters. Well, I'll give you my observation. It's actually a 5-bedroom house, 2 bedrooms upstairs being used by Gene and family and 3 bedrooms built in the basement. Each room has between 2 and 3 beds in it (usually double) so if they book more than 3 hunters you're going to be sharing a room. There's one bathroom downstairs built into a partially finished area the water heaters are in along with a small sitting/laundry area. My experience with other guided hunts has been either small cabins that each patron gets or rooms within a larger lodge with a main eating area. This is just someone's house that they converted to accommodate some basic sleeping quarters. After my kill my meat was hung in the garage which is just a normal garage with tools all over and Gene backed his car out to make room. No official areas for game processing so I just made sure to take my meat off the bone carefully and not drop it on the floor. Additionally, there’s not much to do in the area. After killing on day 2, I sat in the basement for the next several days, doing a bit of work and just waiting things out. There’s a TV down there but no power to it, not really set up for entertaining anyone and there’s just not much to do in the area. Rating: 4 out of 10
Staff:
Gene's daughter Kathia (Kat) did all the cooking and cleaning of the area we were sharing. She's AMAZING! I got to chat with her a bit as I killed early, she's an absolute delight and didn't stop moving the whole day. Bathroom was cleaned daily and she was always cooking, making sure we had coffee, etc. Emily and the other guide Talla were wonderful people and had lots of stories to share. Rating: 10/10
Food:
Again, this was all Kat. I can tell you this, you won't go hungry! She cooks like she's cooking for twice the amount of people and loads you up for great lunches when you're out in the field. Not just a sandwich or something basic, we had hot chili, beef stew, beef and onion sandwiches, etc. Always some goodies and treats too. It's not fancy cooking, but good old fashioned stick to your ribs grub that will leave you satisfied and a couple lbs. heavier. Rating 9/10
So adding things up for a possible 100 points
Communication (25%) 5
Guide expertise and effort (25%) 20
General area and game availability (20%) 10
Lodging and accommodations (10%) 4
Staff (10%)10
Food/amenities (10%) 9
Total: 58/100
Rounding to the closest for 5 stars = 3 stars
Note: Emily and her Dad are partners in this, I really wish I had dealt with Emily earlier as I feel the communication would have been much better. I did share most of this feedback with Emily before leaving, I felt it would be wasted on Gene. If you’re going to book with them, just go into it with the expectations I’ve outlined above and ensure you’re working with Emily regarding communication and questions.
I was trying to do research on this outfitter before booking my hunt and couldn't find much, so I'm hoping this review helps future hunters and sets expectations that are realistic.
I'm not going to simply assign a review, I'm going to derive a final score based on several categories of weighted importance to me and be as objective and factual as I can be.
I booked this hunt solely on the 5 star reviews provided on bookyourhunt.com as did the other hunters in camp so I feel it's important to provide an honest review with details to back it up. There are many things that the outfitter can control and many they can't, so I don't factor into the equation whether or not I filled my tag (I did) or if the weather cooperated.
Below are the categories by which I'll rate my experience:
Communication (25%)
Guide expertise and effort (25%)
General area and game availability (20%)
Lodging and accommodations (10%)
Staff (10%)
Food/amenities (10%)
Communication:
This is important to me, I'd never hunted in Canada before and never moose hunted before and didn't know how to prepare. I have hunted for decades across several US states so I’m not an inexperienced hunter. Gene (owner) sent me his number when I was considering purchasing this hunt and he spent about 45 minutes on the phone with me telling me how many moose there are and how successful his hunts were. After that we decided to book and that's where things went downhill. I had several questions on how we'd be hunting, how to prepare, etc. and I submitted most of them through bookyourhunt.com chat. Gene did answer but most answers were short and didn't provide a lot of helpful information. A generic response was "You'll get a booklet that tells you everything you need to bring”, When the booklet showed up, it was a pamphlet, likely printed in early 1980's with a generic list of items to bring mostly involving "warm". When I inquired about items on there like bug spray, I was told "you won't need that in November". As we all know, hunting in different seasons requires different gear. Hunting on the move requires different gear than hunting in a stand, and busting brush requires different gear than hiking logging roads. I'd send several lists of questions and got a few answers, but mostly short. I started getting concerned at that point but my deposit had already been sent. In trying to find a route to drive up there and plan hotels, I was provided the address, however when you put that address into google maps, it won't find it. After going back and forth, I finally had to ask for a nearby restaurant so I could ensure my route was taking me to the right area. Gene does send good directions about 2 weeks before your trip, but won't send earlier as he says people lose them. The packet with more information did come 2 weeks prior and had the same pamphlet from before, but also an article on how to deal with bad guides. In all fairness, it was a Jim Shockey article outlining an experience he had with a really bad guide with the moral of the story being "if you aren't happy communicate", but I was a little shocked to read this article about a horrible and lazy guide that smoked, drank, and didn't do much around camp. I began to wonder if this was setting me up to lower my expectations for the service I was about to get. Lastly there was too much emphasis on making sure we were going to tip well. Providing suggested tip percentages, and ensuring that we knew to tip not only our guides but other staff too. Rating 2 out of 10.
Guide expertise and effort:
Gene was sick when we first arrived so his daughter Emily was guiding, her friend, and another local guide they brought on named Keith. We got Keith and he was a good guide. I was a bit surprised though that the guides don't seem to hunt specific animals, more specific areas. How and where we were going to hunt was more off of gut feel or maybe information on a spotting, but they didn't seem to have individual animals patterned or know the movement patterns within the areas they had access to hunt. Keith actually called in a favor from another guide to let us hunt his property and that's where I shot my bull, which I appreciated. Keith did work morning until night everyday as my buddy still hadn't killed, but again, a lot of it was driving around or glassing to try to find a bull, not hunting specific ones. I do that too in Colorado and not saying it's good or bad, just pointing out that if you expect them to show you pictures of animals you'll be hunting and understand their daily routine, that's not what appears to be going on here. Keith was great though, friendly, hardworking and took good care of us. Rating: 8 out of 10
General Area and Game Availability:
I read several reviews where folks said they couldn't believe the amount of game they saw. Not sure where they've hunted before, but that wasn't my experience. I was actually surprised how little game we saw. On day 1, we saw 1 cow and calf and then a bull my buddy had spooked, and one small buck. Most of the hunters came back with stories of a couple of animal sightings (does, a couple bucks, etc.) but not like 20-30 animals per day of different sorts. The area is farmland and river bottom, I did see the biggest buck of my entire life on the evening following my kill, along with another nice buck and one earlier, but that was it for the whole day. Seeing 4 deer and 1 bear in a day I'd call average at best. Rating: 5 out of 10
Lodging and accommodations:
Gene had told us that they have a 5-bedroom lodge for the hunters. Well, I'll give you my observation. It's actually a 5-bedroom house, 2 bedrooms upstairs being used by Gene and family and 3 bedrooms built in the basement. Each room has between 2 and 3 beds in it (usually double) so if they book more than 3 hunters you're going to be sharing a room. There's one bathroom downstairs built into a partially finished area the water heaters are in along with a small sitting/laundry area. My experience with other guided hunts has been either small cabins that each patron gets or rooms within a larger lodge with a main eating area. This is just someone's house that they converted to accommodate some basic sleeping quarters. After my kill my meat was hung in the garage which is just a normal garage with tools all over and Gene backed his car out to make room. No official areas for game processing so I just made sure to take my meat off the bone carefully and not drop it on the floor. Additionally, there’s not much to do in the area. After killing on day 2, I sat in the basement for the next several days, doing a bit of work and just waiting things out. There’s a TV down there but no power to it, not really set up for entertaining anyone and there’s just not much to do in the area. Rating: 4 out of 10
Staff:
Gene's daughter Kathia (Kat) did all the cooking and cleaning of the area we were sharing. She's AMAZING! I got to chat with her a bit as I killed early, she's an absolute delight and didn't stop moving the whole day. Bathroom was cleaned daily and she was always cooking, making sure we had coffee, etc. Emily and the other guide Talla were wonderful people and had lots of stories to share. Rating: 10/10
Food:
Again, this was all Kat. I can tell you this, you won't go hungry! She cooks like she's cooking for twice the amount of people and loads you up for great lunches when you're out in the field. Not just a sandwich or something basic, we had hot chili, beef stew, beef and onion sandwiches, etc. Always some goodies and treats too. It's not fancy cooking, but good old fashioned stick to your ribs grub that will leave you satisfied and a couple lbs. heavier. Rating 9/10
So adding things up for a possible 100 points
Communication (25%) 5
Guide expertise and effort (25%) 20
General area and game availability (20%) 10
Lodging and accommodations (10%) 4
Staff (10%)10
Food/amenities (10%) 9
Total: 58/100
Rounding to the closest for 5 stars = 3 stars
Note: Emily and her Dad are partners in this, I really wish I had dealt with Emily earlier as I feel the communication would have been much better. I did share most of this feedback with Emily before leaving, I felt it would be wasted on Gene. If you’re going to book with them, just go into it with the expectations I’ve outlined above and ensure you’re working with Emily regarding communication and questions.
I was trying to do research on this outfitter before booking my hunt and couldn't find much, so I'm hoping this review helps future hunters and sets expectations that are realistic.
