Elk Outfitters

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GatorMike

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Oct 15, 2019
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Looking for any feedback on reputable Elk outfitters. I have hunted in NM, CO, and Utah for Elk and every outfitter promises the world and then you show up and are lucky to see any Elk at all. Appreciate any feedback on a good Elk outfitter, preferably in an OTC state.
 
GatorMike said:
Looking for any feedback on reputable Elk outfitters. I have hunted in NM, CO, and Utah for Elk and every outfitter promises the world and then you show up and are lucky to see any Elk at all. Appreciate any feedback on a good Elk outfitter, preferably in an OTC state.
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I’m interested as well…


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I’ve never used them but follow guys on other forums who have and the reviews are always good

Flattopsadventures in CO


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I spent a small fortune to hunt with West Elk Outfitters in Crawford CO this past fall, I would not reccomend them. I did a ton of research and planning and I still picked a crappy outfitter, you really cannot ask enough questions, heres my review.
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After 2 years of planning and saving 3 of us drove across the continent and hunted first rifle with West Elk Outfitters in 2023 unfortunately the trip was a big let down.

The good.
The area is breathtakingly beautiful.
The accommodations were good, the floors and bathroom could have used a cleaning mid week but were comfortable. The food was ok, every night supper was a home cooked hearty, tasty meal, nothing fancy but good. Breakfast and lunch was grab your own. Breakfast was donuts, bagels, oatmeal, I think some cereal as well. There is room for improvement on lunch it mainly a sandwich, apples, and prepackaged junk food, (Halloween candy, prewrapped muffins etc).
The owners and staff were friendly and any shortcoming with food and the bathrooms needing a cleaning would have been forgotten if the hunting was better.

The bad.
When booking and researching West Elk had told us they normally have a shot opportunity rate of close to 100% and a success rate in the 75-80%. During the week of first rifle 2023 West Elk had 22 hunters over 4 camps and not one person was successful in harvesting an elk most didn’t even seen one. We were told that during the entire archery season only one elk was harvested. While this is obviously not the outcome we wanted but could have handled the disappointment of not harvesting elk, it is hunting after all. However, the feeling that we were mislead is upsetting. We were told the hunts were a mix of private and public land and that we would move around to find elk.

There was no private land hunting at all. All the hunting was on public land with very high pressure. A local game warden we met while hunting told us the hunting pressure in the area had never been higher due to hunters moving into this area after other parts of the state had a winter die off and that the elk population had taken a hit as a result. She also said that first rifle success rates were rates were very low even during good years.
We were competing with 5-6 trucks at a time driving some access roads and twice I had local hunters ruin a chance at elk as they didn’t care we were hunting in the area and one local hunter laughed about ruining it for the outfitters when we politely said we were hunting in this spot.

The way West Elk hunts is a morning drive that starts at sunrise and ends around 10am and an afternoon drive from about 3:30 until sunset. During the 5 hours in the middle of the day, everyday, the guides and owner napped on the couch and watched football. The clients sat around bored and waited to go back out.
Even if the elk bed during the day I can’t help but feel the time would have been better spent scouting or glassing over water. It was hard to sit around watching the clock tick down on a 5 day hunt while the guides napped and watched tv.

To his credit one of the guides, Andres, was willing to go out during middle of day when I pushed for it. I lucked out and had the good guide, I would hunt with Andres again. He did try his best but there were not many elk around and there was so much pressure and no back up plans or other places for us to hunt so his options were limited. The others in my group were stuck with a 17 year old as a guide who had never guided before, couldn’t call elk and didn’t know the areas he seemed like a nice kid but he was put in a bad position by the owner. It’s also worth noting the minimum legal age to guide in Colorado is 18.
The owner’s son told us that his dad was more focused on a new real estate business and less on guiding and was only keeping the guiding business open until he was old enough to take over. Overall the trip was a very expensive letdown, I wish I had known that it was all high pressure plublic land and that more time was spent hunting instead of sitting around.
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This is not uncommon. I have researched and hunted with may outfitters and they all are snake oil salesman (ESPECIALLY NEW MEXICO). They will tell you anything to get you to book the hunt, send old or fake photos of elk that have been harvested, give you clients to call for "references" and 99% of the time its their friends or guides taking the calls. I have hunted with outfitters in all price ranges 4k to 20k and they are ALL the same. I went with one this past year that has a show on Sportsman Channel and he was by far the most expensive and nobody in camp saw elk..said he had 100k acres...he had approx 3-5k...his property is the smallest private ranch surrounded by much larger ranches and they have to try to call Elk over from other ranches and IF there is a giant on their land..only the owner gets to take that bull (per the guides). Outfitters are very stingy on their food..doesn't matter what state..always granola bars and muffins (hopefully not stale..but most are) and 1 warm meal if you are lucky. Don't beat yourself up....this is the new norm unfortunately. Private ranch outfitters are really the only way to go..and usually the most expensive. Public land pressure offers a 5% or less chance to punch your tag...doesn't matter what state anymore.
 
suggest checking with Micheal Shubach, Infinity hunts. He is booker and can set up hunts in multiple states. He did me right in 2023. Private landowner tags are the only way to go anymore. We had three hunters my week. Two killed 5x5 bulls and one filled his cow tag. They worked their butts off to get us into elk as we tagged out a day early.
 
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GatorMike said:
Look on the Fish and Game sites per state for OTC public land success rates (meaning tags punched)...maybe draw states are higher...
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I have looked. I hunt one of the most pressured OTC units in my state, tags capped at 3500. Most years they go 17-20% kill rate.
 
WeiserBucks said:
I have looked. I hunt one of the most pressured OTC units in my state, tags capped at 3500. Most years they go 17-20% kill rate.
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Talking about state wide...not specific units. There are units that have higher success rates than others, but overall they are below 10% and most closer to 5% on public non draw units..they used to have higher success rates, but in the recent years there are more and more tags being purchased and the percentages have decreased and that is where they are currently. Feel free to call them.... I have which is why I am applying in multiple states to specific units every year to avoid the areas where pressure kills opportunity
 
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