So Co Trophy Outfitters

[NDShooter22]

Has anyone used these guys for a private land elk hunt? I found them on the internet, called and asked what I would assume to be the right questions. They say they operate 100% on private land with over 10,000 acres. Very up front that it is elk hunting with the possibility of going home empty handed. Makes good claims about sleeping arrangements, and what to expect out of Unit 140 in Colorado. High possibility of walking 5-10 miles a day (expected). I am mostly looking to put my father on a good elk before his hunting days are over. My only problem with them is that their website does not have any testimonials as well as just searching the internet for reviews. I am working on asking for references, but figured I'd check here too. Any opinions on the unit, outfitter, anything to help me out on making a decision. As everyone knows guides are not cheap and I would like to invest wisely to help my dad get an elk.

Thanks in advance.

 

[5MilesBack]

IMO 10k acres is awfully small for elk hunting. That's basically 3x5 miles. That may sound like a lot to treestand WT hunters, but elk can and will cover a heck of a lot of ground, especially when pressured. The first week they might get pushed onto some other property and they may never see them again the rest of the season. Will this be an archery, ML, or rifle hunt?

 

[Billy Goat]

First thing I thought was it was pretty small at "only" 10 k acres. Granted that's a lot of land, but not to elk. Especially if running multiple hunts. Now if it somehow gives them access to public that otherwise you can't get to it's a different story. But I don't think there is much landlocked public in that part of Co. Could be wrong.

 

[NDShooter22]

IMO 10k acres is awfully small for elk hunting. That's basically 3x5 miles. That may sound like a lot to treestand WT hunters, but elk can and will cover a heck of a lot of ground, especially when pressured. The first week they might get pushed onto some other property and they may never see them again the rest of the season. Will this be an archery, ML, or rifle hunt?

It will be a rifle hunt. I will also get exact specs on land he has access to, but they made it appear they have access to different ranches in the area.

 

[fap1800]

My dad and uncle hunted there a few years ago during third rifle IIRC. My uncle ended up killing a small bull. It was unseasonably warm and the elk were still hanging up pretty high.

 

[NDShooter22]

My dad and uncle hunted there a few years ago during third rifle IIRC. My uncle ended up killing a small bull. It was unseasonably warm and the elk were still hanging up pretty high.

Did they enjoy the hunt? Kinda looking for the good, bad and ugly. Obviously not much you can do about the weather. Right now they have a couple deals going on that makes them a little more appealing.

 

[jpsobba]

PM sent

 

[NDShooter22]

PM sent

Responded. Thanks for the info.

 

[Plumbperfect]

Has anyone used these guys for a private land elk hunt? I found them on the internet, called and asked what I would assume to be the right questions. They say they operate 100% on private land with over 10,000 acres. Very up front that it is elk hunting with the possibility of going home empty handed. Makes good claims about sleeping arrangements, and what to expect out of Unit 140 in Colorado. High possibility of walking 5-10 miles a day (expected). I am mostly looking to put my father on a good elk before his hunting days are over. My only problem with them is that their website does not have any testimonials as well as just searching the internet for reviews. I am working on asking for references, but figured I'd check here too. Any opinions on the unit, outfitter, anything to help me out on making a decision. As everyone knows guides are not cheap and I would like to invest wisely to help my dad get an elk.

Thanks in advance.

NDShooter, Did you ever get any information on these guys. Also looking at a hunt in September. Thanks for the info

 

[Wapiti1]

Has anyone requested their list of references? That is where I usually start. I rarely find folks that don't want to spend a few minutes talking about a hunt.

Jeremy

 

[Plumbperfect]

Brickhead, I spent a couple hours or so on the phone with SoCo Trophy Hunts and ended up getting some dates together. During this time I continued to try and find reviews on them but all that kept pulling up was Apache Park Outfitters, which was odd because no where was there mention of both outfitter names in the same place. The reviews for Apache Park were less than impressive and involved a few worse things than unsuccessful hunts. The Apache Park Reviews spoke about it being run by Rick Spears and Steven Flowers. The guy I dealt with in conversation was Rick Carlin and when I got the paper work in via email it was from Steve (computer guy). In addition when opening the documents the name on the PDF tab at the top read Apache Park. I spoke to 2/3 references he sent me that were supposed to be around the same style archery hunt I'm wanting to do and both said that there were opportunities to kill and some people in their party did. They mentioned they were bow hunting but their hunts were quite some time ago, which made sense because both sounded very elderly and confused on why I was calling them. (Please, I do not mean any disrespect to any of our older archers out there) I asked if they knew anything about Apache Park and they all said no. Pretty strange situation and maybe all coincidence but it was enough for me to look elsewhere. I will say though I reached out to Colorado game and fish , vie email, and got a response saying at this moment there are no complaints on this outfitter. Unfortunately due to the virus and people working remotely, their office was closed and you couldn't speak to anyone in person. I hope this helps in some way. Good luck this fall and I look forward to hearing what you ended up doing.

 

[txhunter581]

Run, do not walk away from anything associated with Apache Park

 

[shmitty]

HEYYYYYYYY. This is by far the worst outfitter in the world. You will regret using them. I hired them and everything was unprofessional from the start. When I arrived in town no one would answer the phone or tell us where to go. Later in the evening finally got a call back and they said to find our own accommodation for the night and the guides would find us in the morning- ya rick and matt seem like the same person by the way-con-artist. There camp is an awful old double wide that needs to be condemned and lit on fire. I got bed bug bites and had rats in my suitcase, giant hole in the floor under my bed!. Never once seen and elk or elk sign. Even the guides knew this place was a joke. Brand new guides from out of state sharing "they wonder if the will get paid" and that they never met matt or rick. 1 guide was just a 20 year old kid or so, really nice kid, but no experience, don't get me wrong the guides where decent people but they had nothing to guide to. Not there fault. Entire tiny property was extremely over hunted, no timber due to big wildfire, just 1 small piece of burn mountain side to hunt, you will be hunting with about 10 others on that property, you will see each other all day

Please take my word and stay away!!

 

[tbarile]

Wow! That’s one of the worst reviews I’ve ever read. The post earlier that references both companies had owners with the same first names but different last names also sheds some light on their business practices.

 

[jvolk]

We are looking to book a 2021 hunt and were digging into SoCo Trophy Hunts as well. Any other reviews? Based on what I am seeing above, we will not be booking with them.

 

[SBAHunts]

not a very encouraging review above....

 

[wind gypsy]

This outfitter spams me with fliers every year after I apply/buy points in CO. These days any outfitter that needs to broadly spam folks for business probably isn't worth spending money with.

 

[AaronMColeman]

I understand deals in March and April when nobody knew what was happening with the world. But tourism and hunting have been through the roof this summer! Nobody needs to run any deals for outdoor tourism sorts of industries. I live in a small town that relies on tourism through the summer, and gets a lot of hunters in fall. It's been a wild year.

 

[Rangerdog]

Has anyone used these guys for a private land elk hunt? I found them on the internet, called and asked what I would assume to be the right questions. They say they operate 100% on private land with over 10,000 acres. Very up front that it is elk hunting with the possibility of going home empty handed. Makes good claims about sleeping arrangements, and what to expect out of Unit 140 in Colorado. High possibility of walking 5-10 miles a day (expected). I am mostly looking to put my father on a good elk before his hunting days are over. My only problem with them is that their website does not have any testimonials as well as just searching the internet for reviews. I am working on asking for references, but figured I'd check here too. Any opinions on the unit, outfitter, anything to help me out on making a decision. As everyone knows guides are not cheap and I would like to invest wisely to help my dad get an elk.

Thanks in advance.

Just returned from a 4 day hunt with these guys. Weather was poor(warm) moon was full. 10 thousand acres is very small for elk hunting especially on this property. A quarter of the property was burned several years ago. The bottom quarter really is not elk country. There were seven other hunters in camp. There wasn't a day that we didn't run into at least three other hunting parties. This property would fit 2 hunters max. Way to much pressure for seven hunters. The elk were not on the property. The camp facilities were dirty. I didn't even want to use the restroom to shower or go to the bathroom. Literally disgusting, old double wide mobile home and I mean old. The heater did work and the bed was comfortable. The food was OK, they did a good job with supper. Breakfast was basically pastries and orange juice and coffee. Lunch was leftover supper. Guides were nice people some very inexperienced. Vehicles belonged to the guides and some were scary...I give so co trophy hunts 1 star out of 5. I got the feeling that this was a shady operation as I kept asking everyone Rick's last name and it seemed know one knew it! Bottom line, I wish I knew then what I know now.

 

[Kodiakken]

We are looking to book a 2021 hunt and were digging into SoCo Trophy Hunts as well. Any other reviews? Based on what I am seeing above, we will not be booking with them.

I used them and posted a thread about them. I have to say my hunt was what they told me. I have rebooked again for 2021.