BC Guide Outfitters experience

[Theringworm]

It was in Nashville the end of January. He was also at Western Hunt Expo in Salt Lake last week.

 

[Shadowstalker]

Where is the SCI held this year, we have already sent him 9000$ haven't received a receipt or any other confirmation..

Unfortunately that was the start of our experience as well, and it went downhill from there. We had to constantly remind him who was hunting with who, and who had paid what. Everytime we sent him copies to remind him, he said he would let his "admin" (alluding that he had a secretary or something similar) know; and then a few months later the same process would repeat. After seeing his operation we realized he was just shifting the blame and there wasn't a dedicated "admin". I really hope things go better for you and your party, but it sounds just like what we and others experienced

 

[gerry35]

https://www.timescolonist.com/bc-news/guide-outfitters-report-strange-events-amid-wildlife-allocation-dispute-4618759

I'm a BC resident and remember back then when the GOABC and the BC government sold out the resident hunters of BC. I have also guided in the past. This article above is full of lies and I'm not surprised the outfitter in question is right in the middle of it. The whole industry needs to change for resident hunters and also for those who pay their hard earned money for guided hunts.

 

[BCD78]

Very sorry to hear about your experience…. For most a moose hunt is a once in a lifetime opportunity… I went in a moose hunt last year in BC. I can give a good recommendation on a hunt advisor and outfitter if anyone’s interested.
One thing I have come to realize after going on a few guided hunts is that’s it’s getting harder for outfitters to find good guides. So you can have a good reputable outfitter but who you get spend each day with in the woods chasing whatever game animal it is can be a toss up.

 

[Cashcraft45]

Sorry to hear about your experience. Booking an outfitter is always a gamble. I’ve had some less than stellar experiences myself.

 

[Shadowstalker]

Sorry to hear about your experience. Booking an outfitter is always a gamble. I’ve had some less than stellar experiences myself.

Thanks. This was just nothing short of theft. Nothing as advertised. Hopefully someday karma catches up with people like this

 

[CAElkhunter]

unfortunately this happens way too often, especially on once in a life time type hunts where they are not relying on repeat business. The Outfitter is the sales person and then finds guides at the last second and is uninvolved with the actual hunt. It is sad that there isn't really any recourse for the client when this happens.

I have had this situation before in New Mexico and it is no fun. Sorry to hear about it.

Hunt advisors who vet outfitters help with this a bit.

 

[Shadowstalker]

unfortunately this happens way too often, especially on once in a life time type hunts where they are not relying on repeat business. The Outfitter is the sales person and then finds guides at the last second and is uninvolved with the actual hunt. It is sad that there isn't really any recourse for the client when this happens.

I have had this situation before in New Mexico and it is no fun. Sorry to hear about it.

Hunt advisors who vet outfitters help with this a bit.

You description is exactly what happened; but unfortunately we believed the outright lies from his brochure and pitch. I just don't know how he looks himself in the mirror every morning knowing he is stealing money and dream hunts

 

[CAElkhunter]

The worst part is he continues to go to shows like you mentioned.

There are really good outfitters but there are too many like the one you encountered unfortunately.

 

[RedOwl]

I thought about this a long time before I posted, but in the end I just want to give a report on our experience with Mark Werner of BC Guide Outfitters. Three of us that are longtime hunting buddies that after years of talking about it, finally pulled the trigger on a Guided Canadian Moose Hunt. After talking with several guides at the 2022 Portland Sportsman show, we decided to go with Mark Werner of BC Guide Outfitters, he certainly wasn't the cheapest but his booth, marketing material, pictures, and sales pitch sold us and we put down the deposits for a 2024 hunt. 2 of us would be on a 7 day 2:1 guided Moose Hunt for $9500.00 USD each, and the other would be doing a 7 day 1 :1 guided Deer and Bear hunt for $6,000.00 USD. The hunt would be from the 9/21-9/28, because "the week before the rut is one of the most productive times". The deposits were enough to keep us from backing out: $2,500.00 for each moose hunter, and $1,000.00 for the Deer/Bear. After getting the deposits and cashing the check, things went south.
We had to remind Mark constantly of who was hunting with who, for what species, deposits paid, amounts owing, and get him to send the email detailing all this with our reservation forms, instructions, etc... This went on thru at least August. Per his schedule we had the balances paid by the 2024 Sportsman Show.
Some of the main selling points from marketing materials, his website, and conversations were:

• 95% and 100% Moose success rates
• "Over the years I have learned that the difference between successful and unsuccessful outfitters is the amount of time spent in the field prepping before the hunt.” Publication/Handout and Website
• “For BC guide outfitters preseason is about maintaining and opening new trails.” Publication/Handout
• “our guides are very experienced professional guides”. Direct quote
• “we’ve been out all summer clearing trails and getting the camps ready.” Direct quote to me the week before our hunt after trying for over 3 weeks to get a return a phone call or text.
• “The Client gives the Outfitter permission to release my personal information and photos to the Guide Outfitters Association of BC”. From the Contract
• “One of the secrets of our success has been that we are full time Outfitters. This is what we do. We spend from April to November in our camps and our territory, cutting trails, hauling in boats to remote lakes and building camps in the backcountry. We are also on the landscape scouting all season long. That is the difference between a full time operator and those that show up the week before the hunt and throw it all together.” From website
• “That gives you 7 full days of hunting.” We are still trying to understand how Sunday morning thru Friday night is considered 7 full days of hunting
• “Royalties are not includes and they are only due and payable upon successful harvest of your animal.” From Frequently Asked Questions

It was obvious to us when we got there that they had just started work on Base Camp and became completely obvious when the one and only time we went to a spike camp that it hadn't been worked on or prepped. We literally had to cut the downed trees of the cabin and front door. During the week we got quotes from his 2 "guides" confirming that they had just gotten there a few days before we arrived:

• “We didn’t get up here until a few days ago because we were doing Mark’s Wildlife Monitoring (said on our first night) to start getting base camp ready”
• “We were so busy with Marks wildlife monitoring business we didn’t have time to get a cook”

Which brings me to his "guides". They were Mark's 20 year-old son Matthew, and Matthew's best friend 19 year-old Owen, who was in his first year (possibly 2nd) of guiding. Owen (moose guide) is a super nice kid and worked hard but he had to wait for Mark's instruction on every aspect of each days hunt, and just lacked any significant experience in guiding. Matthew's idea of guiding was road hunting for 3ish hours while vaping non stop, telling stories of all the animals he killed, letting you know what a accomplished hunter he is, napping for a couple of hours and repeating for the evening hunt. He was literally trying to one up a friend who (this pains me to write) is an incredible hunter. Both of these were far from the "professional and experienced guides" Mark advertises. And to top it all off we found out that the really experienced guide that both of those guys revered, was showing up the week after our hunt.
You are probably wondering where Mark (the owner) was during this. First he showed up pretty late after we got there, then he ended up being the cook for a 2 days; And then at the last minute decided to guide a deer and bear hunt for a very wealthy German hunter (who flew in by helicopter) because he had finished a Yukon moose and caribou hunt early. Mark guided for 2 days, and then suddenly had to leave due to a windstorm at home. All of us are convinced that he left because he knew the dissatisfaction in his hunters.
How did we do?
The 2 moose hunters (myself and the brother of the deer/bear hunter) never saw a four legged animal, much less a moose. The deer/bear hunter saw a cow moose for a 1/4 second while it crossed the road. The 95% and 100% success rates quoted are a complete lie. British Columbia keeps very accurate Harvest Statistics;
https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/da...arvest-statistics-1976-to-current/resource/93daf681-ec55-4c7f-bfda-a621f67b5cea
and it appears the success rates for guided hunters in his areas was 18% and 22%. Incidentally there were no recent pictures on the wall at the lodge, everything was from 2018 and before. The German Hunter never saw an animal and was flabbergasted by the lack of animals.
We paid Matthew for our Harvest Royalty fees in USD and without the benefit of the conversion rate even though per his FAQ's "its due upon successful harvest of the animal" We are convinced those monies went into the guides gas tanks, because "Mark doesn't reimburse us for our gas until the end of the season".
We tried contacting Mark twice by phone and text on the last day of the hunt only to be sent to Voicemail. We tried another 4 times (via text, phone, and letter) over the next 3 weeks only to get the response that he was busy guiding other hunters and how he was impacted by the windstorm at his house, and said he would contact us "around Nov 1st". 3 text over the last 10 days and we haven't heard a thing.
During this time I contacted the Guide Outfitters Association of British Columbia (GOABC) because he markets that he was President during 2012 (?); they oversee the 175+ Guides and Outfitters of British Columbia. The CEO let me know he hasn't been a member for a few years even though Mark alludes that he still is in his contract and advertising. While they didn't use these words exactly, it was due to complaints and lack of resolution within their Code of Ethics.
We are not newbies at hunting. We are all 60, in good shape, pretty easy going, successful hunters who put the time in for that success, and combined we have about 142 years of hunting experience. Collectively we paid him and his guides over $28,500.00 USD in guide/Outfitter fees, License, Tags, Harvest Fees, and tips (yes we still tipped the guides), and spent another $2,000.00 in Diesel, Hotels, and Food. This is not a case of poor timing, low populations, winter kill, or even bad luck. It’s simply a case of a guide not preparing his territory all summer like he claims, inexperienced guides, and not focusing on his Guiding/Outfitter business. I am just letting you know our experience and opinion with this Outfitter.
Jim Delmore

My buddy and I recently won a hunt with BCGO through an auction (with a low bid). We are supposed to go in a few weeks but have received no information beyond the initial booking confirmation. Should we be worried?

 

[Shadowstalker]

My buddy and I recently won a hunt with BCGO through an auction (with a low bid). We are supposed to go in a few weeks but have received no information beyond the initial booking confirmation. Should we be worried?

Probably, His communication is horrible. I would keep track of everything and save the important info (payments, hunt parties, dates, promises, etc) to your phone so you can resend it to Mark Werner. He will lose it, get it mixed up, etc and its nice to be able to send it to him without having to go make copies. Hope you experience gets better from here

 

[DanCamp]

I wanted to share my experience with BC Outfitters on a 2025 spring bear hunt. I too was lucky enough to win an auction hunt for 2 hunters with BC Outfitters. I asked a friend to join me on the hunt. Once I won the auction hunt and read the string of posts I was worried about what I was walking into on this hunt. Fortunately the above is not what I experienced. As soon as I contacted Mark W. he replied with a email and then text so we could arrange the hunt dates. He was traveling to shows and still managed to get all the information sent to us and booked our dates within a couple of weeks after winning the auction. Communication went silent on both sides until the hunt got closer. The last couple of week prior to the hunt we reached out to Mark and buttoned up the lat details. No real issues there either. Once the hunt started the started seeing bears in the mornings and especially the evening hunts. While the hunting consisted mainly of road hunting we left it to Mark as he was our guide to put us on bears and give us opportunities to harvest an animal. My friend shot his bear the 1st afternoon and I shot my bear the 4th day with over a dozen bears spotted between the two bears we harvested. While we did take much enjoyed mid day naps we still managed to see lots of bears, fill the time with lots of good memories and laughter and enjoyed meals cooked by Mark each day as promised. Mark stayed plenty busy at camp attending to his duties and make sure the other hunters and guides had daily plans as well. Every hunter in camp had at least one shot opportunity and all but 1 out of 6 filled their bear tag. Overall the hunt was a good time. While there always things I look back on and say this could have been better or maybe this would have been nice to try, in the end my friend and I both left the hunt saying we had a good time and would do the hunt again. The individual sleeping cabins, the food, outdoor and indoor social areas and the hunting all made it a very memorable trip. We even talked about taking our wives next time as the hunt was a low key, relaxing type hunt where we feel they would enjoy the experience and be able to harvest their bears.

 

[Shadowstalker]

I wanted to share my experience with BC Outfitters on a 2025 spring bear hunt. I too was lucky enough to win an auction hunt for 2 hunters with BC Outfitters. I asked a friend to join me on the hunt. Once I won the auction hunt and read the string of posts I was worried about what I was walking into on this hunt. Fortunately the above is not what I experienced. As soon as I contacted Mark W. he replied with a email and then text so we could arrange the hunt dates. He was traveling to shows and still managed to get all the information sent to us and booked our dates within a couple of weeks after winning the auction. Communication went silent on both sides until the hunt got closer. The last couple of week prior to the hunt we reached out to Mark and buttoned up the lat details. No real issues there either. Once the hunt started the started seeing bears in the mornings and especially the evening hunts. While the hunting consisted mainly of road hunting we left it to Mark as he was our guide to put us on bears and give us opportunities to harvest an animal. My friend shot his bear the 1st afternoon and I shot my bear the 4th day with over a dozen bears spotted between the two bears we harvested. While we did take much enjoyed mid day naps we still managed to see lots of bears, fill the time with lots of good memories and laughter and enjoyed meals cooked by Mark each day as promised. Mark stayed plenty busy at camp attending to his duties and make sure the other hunters and guides had daily plans as well. Every hunter in camp had at least one shot opportunity and all but 1 out of 6 filled their bear tag. Overall the hunt was a good time. While there always things I look back on and say this could have been better or maybe this would have been nice to try, in the end my friend and I both left the hunt saying we had a good time and would do the hunt again. The individual sleeping cabins, the food, outdoor and indoor social areas and the hunting all made it a very memorable trip. We even talked about taking our wives next time as the hunt was a low key, relaxing type hunt where we feel they would enjoy the experience and be able to harvest their bears.

Welcome to the forum and great first post. The wording sounds eerily similar to his brochure

 

[gerry35]

Welcome to the forum and great first post. The wording sounds eerily similar to his brochure

Interesting.

 

[gerry35]

I wanted to share my experience with BC Outfitters on a 2025 spring bear hunt. I too was lucky enough to win an auction hunt for 2 hunters with BC Outfitters. I asked a friend to join me on the hunt. Once I won the auction hunt and read the string of posts I was worried about what I was walking into on this hunt. Fortunately the above is not what I experienced. As soon as I contacted Mark W. he replied with a email and then text so we could arrange the hunt dates. He was traveling to shows and still managed to get all the information sent to us and booked our dates within a couple of weeks after winning the auction. Communication went silent on both sides until the hunt got closer. The last couple of week prior to the hunt we reached out to Mark and buttoned up the lat details. No real issues there either. Once the hunt started the started seeing bears in the mornings and especially the evening hunts. While the hunting consisted mainly of road hunting we left it to Mark as he was our guide to put us on bears and give us opportunities to harvest an animal. My friend shot his bear the 1st afternoon and I shot my bear the 4th day with over a dozen bears spotted between the two bears we harvested. While we did take much enjoyed mid day naps we still managed to see lots of bears, fill the time with lots of good memories and laughter and enjoyed meals cooked by Mark each day as promised. Mark stayed plenty busy at camp attending to his duties and make sure the other hunters and guides had daily plans as well. Every hunter in camp had at least one shot opportunity and all but 1 out of 6 filled their bear tag. Overall the hunt was a good time. While there always things I look back on and say this could have been better or maybe this would have been nice to try, in the end my friend and I both left the hunt saying we had a good time and would do the hunt again. The individual sleeping cabins, the food, outdoor and indoor social areas and the hunting all made it a very memorable trip. We even talked about taking our wives next time as the hunt was a low key, relaxing type hunt where we feel they would enjoy the experience and be able to harvest their bears.

In BC any outfitter that hunts black bear in May should be able to produce high success rates. On a one week hunt you should be able to spot dozens of bears and have several great opportunities. The easiest hunt for them to offer.

 

[DanCamp]

Interesting.

I normally don’t post as I don’t like to get involved in drama. I just like to hunt. My friend and I had a great time, made great memories and met some other hunters in camp that helped make it a good trip. I had never met Mark and have no affiliation with him other than I hunted with him this spring. I did this post so other hunters can read how my hunt went. Can’t speak for anyone else not would I attempt to do so. Wishing all hunters a great 2025! Take care and be safe in the woods.

 

[Nickziegler]

I normally don’t post as I don’t like to get involved in drama. I just like to hunt. My friend and I had a great time, made great memories and met some other hunters in camp that helped make it a good trip. I had never met Mark and have no affiliation with him other than I hunted with him this spring. I did this post so other hunters can read how my hunt went. Can’t speak for anyone else not would I attempt to do so. Wishing all hunters a great 2025! Take care and be safe in the woods.

Let's see some pictures. Surely you took plenty of yourself on a great hunt

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[Nickziegler]

I just took a look at this outfitters page and find it extremely weird that he is a BC outfitter offering mule deer hunts in BC and has hunters in his gallery with supressors on there rifle?

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[Bob the hunter]

I just took a look at this outfitters page and find it extremely weird that he is a BC outfitter offering mule deer hunts in BC and has hunters in his gallery with supressors on there rifle?

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I saw them at SCI and I believe all there mule deer hunts are done in Colorado.

 

[sbolton]

I would like to take a minute to clear a few things up that I have been reading on these posts about BC outfitters. All mule deer hunts take place in Colorado with me; Mark helps me with advertising and selling of hunts and him and his son come hunting with me in the late fall. In Colorado suppressors are legal to hunt with. I have known Mark for over 10 years and found him to be nothing short of professional in his hunting business, I've been to BC hunting with Mark a few times and just returned from a spring bear hunt which I took my grandson on and had a great time, we both took nice bears. I would caution everyone to do your research on a person before you jump on the band wagon of tearing someone down without knowing the full story. There is more to all of this than someone is saying for instance weather, you see nothing in these posts about how bad the weather turned and the amount of rain that took place during this hunt, which any good hunter knows that is a key part of any hunt. I went to Africa a few years ago and they had unprecedented rain for 7 days and we had a hard time finding game because everything was pushed into the bush. I did not blame the outfitter for this it is just what happens sometimes. I would suggest you reach out to Mark and get the other side of the story because there are always 2 sides