Was leaving the hunt worth it?

[Nickofthewoods]

So he advertised "Ranch dinner and breakfast" but showed up with ramen and mcmuffins? Sounds like a misunderstanding and you accidentally booked the "trailer trash" hunt package. Shoulda stayed, the outfitter probably had a 12 pack of keystone lights for after supper.

 

[JD Jones]

I would have stayed and tried to seal the deal. 2 months from now… with a freezer full of meat… my week of noods and 24hr old mctrash muffins would just be a story and a lesson that I laughed about.

That said it’s your money so who cares at this point what any of us would do. You made your decision.

 

[TSAMP]

I Agree with the ranch style hunt reccomend above. Sounds like maybe that's what you were after. It also sounds like maybe the hunt itself was tapping your budget tight. You shouldn't enter into that situation and start trying to add up dollars and cents. It's a recipe for dissapointment. Although i would decline ramen on day 1 and cross fingers for elk the following day. Their #1 job was to get you on elk and keep you safe in the process.
I think leaving was the right call for you. You are better prepared to vet the next potential outfitter and doing it early probably helped simplify the inevitable conversation.
Hopefully you tossed some cheddar your guides way for that day.

 

[HornPorn]

Sounds like a budget outfitter, so you got what you paid for, but honestly if I knew I could get into 6x6 bulls on day 1 for cheap, I would take that deal every time. Bring my own stove and food anyway because I like to eat hot meals in the backcountry

 

[Silveroddo]

Sorry, couldn't resist. Probably a good lesson to learn and a unit the Youtubers need to cover. "What to do if you're outfitter sucks, but they put you in game". Life is a live and learn thing, a few years from now the decision you made today probably isn't the same one you'll make then, but you've got to go through it to get there and gain the perspective. I can probably empathize the emotion, but things seldom go the way we envision them and rolling with it will be what makes or breaks the experience. Having said that I probably just sealed the deal that my upcoming trip will be a shit show, but its going to have to be pretty bad for me to put it on here in serial format.

 

[woods89]

Disappointing, for sure.

But if the elk were there and you had 10 days, you walked away from a real chance to fill a tag. All our priorities are different, but.......

 

[PredatorSlayer]

If I killed an elk that next morning, I was paying him for 1 pack noodles and an old sandwich and cookies.

You were paying him to help you kill an elk. I would just delete this whole thread, you are kind of coming across like a little biatch. I am guessing you aren’t, but thats what this post makes it seem like. They got you into elk, who cares what you are eating. I eat ramen all the time in the backcountry.

 

[WCB]

I forgot to mention...the "backcountry dream hunt" is mostly just that...a dream. The hunts I remember most from guiding are the ones where things would be described by most people as "miserable". Now our camps were always well stocked, clean, and staffed. But crap went wrong, weather down right sucked sometimes, animals didn't read the script etc. Our hunters were 100% fed well and taken care of but a few still couldn't be satisfied because elk weren't running in with there nuts on fire. IMO I would pick horny elk over eggs and bacon any day...again no excuse for the outfitter as he reflects poorly on all outfitters.

You wanted a backcountry hunt and it sounds like you kinda got one.

 

[sodaksooner]

So just to recap...you were in elk and you left because you had to eat Ramen?

Had to chuckle a bit on this one. Elk hunts are the only time of the year I let myself eat Ramen... Love it, but so bad for you!

 

[SWOHTR]

I'll clear this all up. Please send me the lat/long of where the camp was and I'll let you know if you made the right decision! I'll talk to the outfitter and everything.

Just kidding. Sounds like mismanaged expectations.

 

[dr.mooseknuckles]

Woof, this all makes my head hurt. I would have sucked it up. Shit happens all of the time and nothing ever goes as planned, even for guides and outfitters. Maybe someone quit on him last minute, therefore nothing was set up.

All sorts of variables could have been in play. I would have given it another day and negotiated prices from there. Like stated above, you weren't there to eat. You were there to hunt. I'd be inclined to have serious words with you if you pulled some shenanigans like that with my duck hunting guide in Arkansas if I referred you to him. I've had to do that with some close friends because their hunting expectations didn't match up with the hunting reality.

 

[9.1]

It sounds to me like the outfitter can't hire enough help to get everything done the way he used to.

 

[S.Clancy]

The fact that he put you in a spot that you were in elk like that the first evening was probably worth the full freight.....A lot of guided hunters (or hunters in general) never get that experience in 10 days, or ever.

And to answer your question, no, it wasn't worth leaving.

 

[11boo]

Dang, I got no elk encounter like that, but I’m not eating ramen either.

We ate the corn and some tenderloin last night, the rest goes back to camp this morning.

 

[dreamingWest]

No way I'm leaving bugling bulls! The biggest commitment for any western hunt for a non-res is time. You could have shot one in the morning and been living like kings until the outfitter got back to camp and likely made everything all right.

This one is a head scratcher for me. Of course I love ramen. I'm there for the mountains and the elk. And the elk are to most difficult to cooperate!

 

[tntrker]

There is no more to the story. The owner took a last minute group into Yellowstone that was supposed to be the time for setting up the camp. The guide was completely pissed off from the time I met him until I asked him to do me a favor, not talk about the owner and let’s have a great time. He apologized, explained he couldn’t call or bugle but we’d have fun trying. Hell, I would have ate crackers an bologna 3 times a day for the week had I KNOWN the situation, but I was being unnecessarily lied too. The guide completely understood and said most people get some sort of refund as things are always a shit show with him. I’m fine with leaving, no urgent business back home, no financial issues, no time issues and no hidden agenda in this post. I’ve been lied to before, as we all have. $9,350 was the hunt cost, he was listed as a trusted guide. I’m not going to share his outfit as he did refund me 100% and as I said, we were on the elk. I didn’t want a partial refund for the simple fact the guide had already been explaining that was a normal practice. This was my 2nd guided elk trip in 4 yrs. The first was supposed to be a back country hunt but changed into a “lodge hunt” the week before due to some elderly men joined the hunt. That went from supposed to be horses to riding around in the truck scoping ranch land and deciding to hide behind a hay bale for an evening ambush. I insisted I wanted a “stalk hunt” so was put on the “punishing walks”. I did take a nice 5x5 then.

 

[NB7]

If I had to plug my ears so I could sleep through the bugles, there would be 0% chance of me leaving in the morning. There might be some renegotiating on price about the rest of the trouble, but I would def not have bailed out.

 

[Ucsdryder]

He asked for it…

 

[Poser]

Pay a guide $10,000 and you get a cook who doesn’t know how to call elk as a guide and ramen and egg McMuffins.

Screw that. I don’t blame you one bit for leaving. I pay a MFer $10,000, he better know how to call and I’m expecting ribeyes and lap dances.

 

[WCB]

There is no more to the story. The owner took a last minute group into Yellowstone that was supposed to be the time for setting up the camp. The guide was completely pissed off from the time I met him until I asked him to do me a favor, not talk about the owner and let’s have a great time. He apologized, explained he couldn’t call or bugle but we’d have fun trying. Hell, I would have ate crackers an bologna 3 times a day for the week had I KNOWN the situation, but I was being unnecessarily lied too. The guide completely understood and said most people get some sort of refund as things are always a shit show with him. I’m fine with leaving, no urgent business back home, no financial issues, no time issues and no hidden agenda in this post. I’ve been lied to before, as we all have. $9,350 was the hunt cost, he was listed as a trusted guide. I’m not going to share his outfit as he did refund me 100% and as I said, we were on the elk. I didn’t want a partial refund for the simple fact the guide had already been explaining that was a normal practice. This was my 2nd guided elk trip in 4 yrs. The first was supposed to be a back country hunt but changed into a “lodge hunt” the week before due to some elderly men joined the hunt. That went from supposed to be horses to riding around in the truck scoping ranch land and deciding to hide behind a hay bale for an evening ambush. I insisted I wanted a “stalk hunt” so was put on the “punishing walks”. I did take a nice 5x5 then.

dude...you need to vet your outfitters a bit more if 2x tried and 2x hit with a bait and switch. Also, if your fine with leaving elk bugling so much at night you had to put ear plugs in and were covered in bulls 1st day with an guide that couldn't call or bugle...your dream elk hunt is A LOT different than most peoples.