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.

 

[LuckyR]

Appreciate all the detailed replies this is exactly the kind of perspective I was hoping for.
The explanations around logistics, user days, and overall workload make a lot of sense, especially hearing it from folks who’ve actually run camps or worked with outfitters. That cleared things up pretty quickly.
There are four of us total, all in decent shape but all busted up from the military but we can push through and very experienced whitetail hunters, just still early in our elk learning curve. Given the cost for non-hunters and the reality of how drop camps are structured, we’re gonna go fully DIY for now and using these next few seasons strictly as learning years.
Since I’m the only resident and the only one planning to hold a tag for the time being, it probably makes more sense to spike camp, keep things light, and save the drop camp option for down the road when multiple guys are drawing tags and we’re more confident in consistently filling them.
Thanks again for taking the time to explain the outfitter side of things definitely helped us reset expectations.

For mid-September spike camps in CO, how minimal are you actually going on shelter? Floorless vs tent, stove or no stove, and how much does weather change your setup? I am a buy once and forget kinda person I have deffineltly done my fair share of super cheap then slightly better then better and it always cost way more. I probably wont go all in year 2 but we have a good setup of basics from this past season but the tent situation was a disaster this past year.

 

[solostalker]

floorless vs traditional tent is going to be personal preference; either will work just fine. A stove shouldn't be needed in sept. And if you don't already have one, I would spend the money elsewhere. Weather is possible, but I would not expect anything too serious in Sept.

Tipi tents are pretty popular and fairly lightweight for what you get. seekoutside, argali, etc., don't overthink it, and don't underestimate yourself.

food, water, shelter and a little grit are the only requirements.

 

[CMF]

I'm going pretty minimal, definitely no stove needed, Floorless would be fine. I'm usually packing a Durston X-Mid 2, but I got a dyneema tarp this year and that's probably all I'll carry when the weather is normal.
This is a little outdated, but still good https://lighterpack.com/r/tc8zg5

 

[5MilesBack]

When I had my CO moose tag a few years ago, an outfitter I know was going to give me the whole wall tent drop camp for just myself during the last week of archery elk season (prime time). I told him I didn't feel right taking the whole camp for just me, but he insisted. Then I shot my moose the first day of moose season a couple weeks earlier so I called him to let him know. He had others on a wait list and quickly filled it up with three elk hunters. The funny thing was......one of those hunters was on RS. I read his hunt recap saying that some moose hunter cancelled so they got the camp. We had a good laugh over it, and it was a win-win-win for all involved.

But ya, generally they don't give much of a break for non-hunters. They prefer to have the camps filled with full paying customers.