Personalized Guided Elk Hunt

[Shields08]

You could network and go with someone very experienced as a party. Another couple of years and you would have the points to bring someone along that is very experienced that has recently burned his points.

That would be a win win for both parties.

Not a bad Idea at all if I could find the right person. I took a 7 day canoe trip in the Ozarks down the buffalo river with an old friend from 20 years ago and that was a terrible mistake. He was terrible company, argumentative, and our objectives didn't align at all. If I could find the right person, that would definitely be an option though.

 

[mad_angler]

Folks should do a better job at selecting an outfitter and ensuring they get a quality guide.

...

Folks aren't saying that it isn't possible. Your post proves that it is possible.

Folks were just saying that it can be hard to find the right guide.

Do you have any tips or advice to help find the right guide?

 

[dtrkyman]

Talk directly to the guide!!! It’s a crap shoot and not always the guides issue, some folks just don’t jive with one another!

A guy I used to guide with was a d head, most clients could tolerate him at best, but the guys who did loved him, just weren’t enough of them!

He is in another line of work these days!

I know a guy who is a guide for the same outfit for years, have no idea why, he knows the ranch I guess, but is a drunk and always something going wrong with him!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Shields08]

Talk directly to the guide!!! It’s a crap shoot and not always the guides issue, some folks just don’t jive with one another!

A guy I used to guide with was a d head, most clients could tolerate him at best, but the guys who did loved him, just weren’t enough of them!

He is in another line of work these days!

I know a guy who is a guide for the same outfit for years, have no idea why, he knows the ranch I guess, but is a drunk and always something going wrong with him!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Exactly what I am trying to navigate. I actually want to go guided the first time, but I just think for what I'm looking for it will take research and maybe a little help from the folks on here. Well known outfitter or just a very knowledgeable resident with stock that's willing to show me. As long as it's a fairly small group setting and not an 8 man camp with a string of 25 mules and 6 wall tents where I'm just a number. Also trying to avoid the drunks who stay up late at camp and don't take my tag seriously. I know the right connection is out there, just have to keep searching and hope to get some info from people on here.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

Folks aren't saying that it isn't possible. Your post proves that it is possible.

Folks were just saying that it can be hard to find the right guide.

Do you have any tips or advice to help find the right guide?

Actually talk with people.

Ask your friends and hunting partners about outfitters they've used. Ask a ton of questions.

Talk with your taxidermist as they tend to have a variety of clients with a variety of expectations of what they wanted on the hunt. They can tell you what is what.

Talk with prospective outfitters and explicitly tell them what you want. If you don't click or if they kind of blow smoke, move on. For those you want to check out further, get referrals of those that killed their animal, did not kill an animal and any that were new to hunting and this was their first/second big game hunt. Talk with them.

But things still happen.

We had one outfitter where a friend and I both knew unrelated folks (did not know one another) that hunted with the outfitter and they were happy. Did the rest of our due diligence, things looked good but sure enough the outfitter just started a divorce right before our hunt and was mad at the world. It was bad and it did require a guide so we couldn't just tell him to pound sand. He looked at it as a money grab and had zero desire to actually hunt (guide was a bum). We kind of just forced the issue by doing our own thing as they had to babysit us. We got our animals despite them but it left a sour taste in our mouth.

Dodge another bullet with a similar situation. Dude got hooked up on drugs and that was that. Thankfully we hadn't sent him the deposit money before he disappeared.

 

[mntnguide]

I am really surprised nobody here has any experience with or know someone who has used Jackson Hole Outfitters. They seem very popular with trail rides and pack trips. Their website talks about customizing small group personalized guided hunts. I would just like to hear from some that may have experienced their hunts.

Thats cause Tre has changed his outfits name multiple times. Double diamond outfitters, washakie outfitters and now jackson hole outfitters. He buys and sells camps all over western wyoming and runs a pretty big outfit with numerous camps. He is a pretty well respected outfitter, but I have no clue how many of his guides return each year compared to new people. He was advertising for guides just recently for this season.

What you are looking for ultimately doesnt exist, and no outfitter is going to guarantee you a guide that is going to be a full-time teacher like you are looking for. If you ride out on your 1st morning and fill your tag within a few hours, they arent going to spend the rest of the week teaching you everything about hunting the west. You are paying for a service to fill your tag, not education to learn the aspects to it. Not trying to be rude, just being straight forward in what you are searching for. Guides are more than happy to teach and answer questions etc, but there job is to get your tag filled, and they want to get it done as soon as possible on a hunt.

As stated above, you seem to be searching for something like an educational camp on how to hunt the west, which i believe numerous versions exist with "influencers" out here putting them on specifically trying to teach people how to be successful in the west, and maybe that is more what you are searching for

 

[dtrkyman]

FYI in 20 plus years of guiding most of my issues have been with other guides and outfitters, almost never with clients!

If you get a good guide and ask him to teach you along the way on the hunt, any decent one would be glad too.

 

[Shields08]

FYI in 20 plus years of guiding most of my issues have been with other guides and outfitters, almost never with clients!

If you get a good guide and ask him to teach you along the way on the hunt, any decent one would be glad too.

Yep, That's all I am looking for is a good connection with my guide. I have just heard horror stories of terrible outfitters or getting paired up with the wrong guide. I have also heard Outfitters rotate these guides around and lay them off after finding out they aren't good with people, or don't know how to hunt, aren't good with horses/mules, are just a drunk, things like that. I'm just looking for a less crowded experience with a good guide. That's all really.

 

[Yooper]

If the funds support it I would just pull the trigger on a good guide in the Thorofare and go. You've already mentioned a few really reputable outfitters. Realistically you're only going to hunt Wyoming maybe every five years (give or take) on a general tag. Tell the outfitter ahead of time that your main goal is to learn and that you want to be with a guide that's willing to teach along the way. I think that's a fair ask when you're spending thousands of dollars on a hunt. I would give different advice if it was like the old days where you could hunt WY every year as a NR, but those days are long gone and you're not getting any younger.