CO Drop Camp Question Rates for Non-Tag Holders?

[LuckyR]

Colorado resident here, planning ahead for 2026 and looking for some perspective from folks who’ve done drop camps in CO.
Our group had our first elk season together in 2025 (archery). We’re all very experienced whitetail hunters but only one year into elk. We had a solid season, saw some elk, and learned a ton, but we also realized pretty quickly that a backcountry-style hunt would fit us better than base camping, both from an experience and pressure standpoint.
I’m the only resident and would be the only one holding an elk tag in 2026. The rest of the group is coming from Mississippi and would be there strictly to help, learn the country, and assist with packing meat if we’re fortunate enough to be successful.
We’ve been looking into drop camps and are finding that most outfitters charge full drop-camp rates for every person in camp, regardless of whether they have a tag. I completely understand there are real costs involved with stock, tents, and logistics, and I’m not expecting anything for free. I know the obvious answer is “just DIY it,” and that’s still on the table, but for this hunt we’re specifically trying to learn more country and shorten the learning curve a bit before going fully DIY.

My question is whether anyone has experience with CO outfitters who offer a different rate structure for non-hunting helpers in a drop camp setup, or if full price per person is simply standard practice across the board. Any firsthand experience or insight is appreciated.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

In my limited experience (2 different outfitters used for archery elk hunting drop camps in Colorado), no discount was offered for non-hunters. From the outfitter’s perspective, they’re doing just as much work to transport and accommodate each man in camp whether he has a tag in his pocket or not. Fewer potential animals to pack out is the only way the workload could potentially be a little less for non-hunters vs. hunters. Some outfitters might be willing to negotiate a bit, but I wouldn’t expect them to offer much (if any) discount.

 

[Poser]

Yeah, I don't foresee much of a discount. As mentioned above, the work is the same short of the potential for packing out multiple elk which is just a few extra horses on an existing pack string. Some of these outfitters do offer summer drop camps in the backcountry for fishing, climbing or just glamping. The prices are comparable to hunting drops camps, maybe slightly cheaper due to less demand. Best case, you reach out and see if you can negotiate a slight discount, but I wouldn't expect much.

Since everyone will be paying in the neighborhood of ~$500 per day, I'd make sure the expectations are inline for how they will be contributing. I say that because a case of the ol "I'm paying $500 a day to be here so I'm not getting up at 2:30 in the morning" or, "I'll go home early if I want to go home early" sort of mindsets have a way of creeping in.

 

[Indian Summer]

I’ll chime in on that. I used to charge $1000 for a non-hunter for the week. It covered their food and some other expenses associated with getting them and their belongings in and out of the back country. That is not even taking into consideration packing the camp itself in, setting it up, cutting the firewood. tearing camp down, and packing it out as well as a huge expense, which is taking care of livestock to get it all done.

But… there was never a time when I had more than one non-hunter accompanying a guided hunter So it was worth it. Having only one paid hunter in camp and giving substantial discounts to the rest of the camp isn’t feasible. Aside from all the other reasons I mentioned there is this: An outfitter on national forest has a specified number of days that he can have clients in the backcountry each season. That number of days is limited.They are called user days on the forest service user permit. If 2 hunters gointo a camp for seven days that would mean the outfitter is using 14 of his user days. It would not make sense to sell the majority of his user days for such a reduced rate. That is one thing that most new hunters would ever be aware of or consider. The exception would be if it is a very small outfit and they are not utilizing all of their permitted user days. In that case, it would make sense to take any amount of money you can get for your days. But… if an outfitter has days to burn, you might want to be careful. There is probably a reason.

 

[CMF]

How many are in your group? With a good non-hunter to hunter ratio, seems like packing in spike camp a good distance wouldn't be that hard, and you'd have the capacity to pack out an animal too.

 

[Poser]

You could also run the cost on renting Llamas and DIYing from there. You're typically looking at around $100 a day per animal usually with a minimum of 3. Probably some additional costs for tack and a trailer.

 

[MallardSX2]

Drop camps are an unreal moneymaking scheme.

 

[solostalker]

If you have a few guys to pack gear/meat and a decent chunk of time, it's not unreasonable to pack in 10+ miles depending on your abilities. Especially since you will have one elk at most to haul out. A spike camp for September can be pretty light spread out between a few guys.

Save the drop camp for when you have multiple guys with tags and are confident you will fill them.