White Mountain Apache Elk Hunt?

[Tbonespop]

Did you have a White Mountain Apache Reservation tag?

No. It was in unit 1, 2B, 2C

 

[GatorMike]

Have any first or second hand experience hunting the White Mount Aphe East or West?

I hunted the Sunrise Camp in Sept 2025...this place is a SCAM!!! We had 14-16 hunters in camo..half were 25k "Trophy 385+ Bull hunters" and the rest were "Management" bull hunters for 10k...NOT A SINGLE HUNTER in any camp harvested a bull ...that is ridiculous for wha they call "the greatest elk hunting on earth"...you will see a lot of Elk but they will only allow you to harvest an 8 year old 5x5 on management and nobody even saw a single bull that fit that descroiption...the "Trophy hunters" not a single one saw anything that was over 385 and none harvested in Sunrise or the other camp the entire elk season. They basically take your money knowing that you will see a lot of elk but that very few will harvest anything. The accommodations were adequate, but I have stayed in better at lower priced hunting camps...the food was good......my biggest issue with them is their lack of integrity and complete disregard for any accountability whatsoever. Their guide abandoned myself and another tribal member at the top of a mountain on the morning of day 3...we had no food or water and we were soaked from a hail/rain storm...went hypothermic for 2 days...when they found us via Thermal Helicopter at 230am as were were entering day 3...I had some internal organ issues from the hypothermia...they rushed us to the hospital. The head guide Wayne Amos sat by my bedside as the doctors were working on me and promised "I will make this right"..then after I was released from the hospital and we had a dinner on the final night he pulled me aside as did another member of the tribe and again shook my hand and promised they would bring me back for another hunt and to invite a friend as their way of "making it right"...they are LIARS...6 months later I reached out to Wayne and he responded with a nasty email and of course he as the head of the hunt camp took ZERO responsibility for his clear lack of leadership for his hunting operation that he is in charge of. We are both military veterans and he even questioned my USMC military service although we had many discussions in camp about our time in service. Wayne seems like a very nice guy when you talk to him at first, but make no mistake...he is a salesman and will not keep his word. Other hunters from camp reached out to me to see how I was recovering due to the injuries I sustained at WMAT and not a single member of the tribe ever called to see how I was...they did call to interview me for the investigation that was ongoing with local rescue law enforcement authorities as well as WMAT investigators. I have had over 20 medical appointments due to the ongoing issues I have from the hypothermia and WMAT takes ZERO accountability....they did however change their Hunting Operation SOP due to what happened to me. Make no mistake...the Tribe will look out for themselves and only themselves at WMAT and they could care less about any hunters as the other hunters I became friendly with that have hunted there for years have also gotten ignored (per them) since this happened. What really sucks is the Apache tribe is the ONLY tribe in the US that you cannot take legal action against because they are the only tribe (per attorneys) that will not release their protection of sovereignty from the US Government...this means they can literally kill you and nothing will be done about it (per attorneys from CA, OK, TX, AZ). If you want to fall for their "Elk hunting capitol of the World" best of luck to you...since I was rescued I have been advised that they had another hunter in camp that they also lost in the mountains and he was injured by a gunshot and they luckily found him before he died.....It is disgusting how this operation takes your money knowing they do not have the animals for hunters to harvest as proven by not a single bull from camp in 2025.

 

[T-Rex]

Wow

 

[Beendare]

Yeah, Wow, thanks for posting that

 

[GatorMike]

I believe the "Sunrise" cam

I hunted the Sunrise Camp in Sept 2025...this place is a SCAM!!! We had 14-16 hunters in camo..half were 25k "Trophy 385+ Bull hunters" and the rest were "Management" bull hunters for 10k...NOT A SINGLE HUNTER in any camp harvested a bull ...that is ridiculous for wha they call "the greatest elk hunting on earth"...you will see a lot of Elk but they will only allow you to harvest an 8 year old 5x5 on management and nobody even saw a single bull that fit that descroiption...the "Trophy hunters" not a single one saw anything that was over 385 and none harvested in Sunrise or the other camp the entire elk season. They basically take your money knowing that you will see a lot of elk but that very few will harvest anything. The accommodations were adequate, but I have stayed in better at lower priced hunting camps...the food was good......my biggest issue with them is their lack of integrity and complete disregard for any accountability whatsoever. Their guide abandoned myself and another tribal member at the top of a mountain on the morning of day 3...we had no food or water and we were soaked from a hail/rain storm...went hypothermic for 2 days...when they found us via Thermal Helicopter at 230am as were were entering day 3...I had some internal organ issues from the hypothermia...they rushed us to the hospital. The head guide Wayne Amos sat by my bedside as the doctors were working on me and promised "I will make this right"..then after I was released from the hospital and we had a dinner on the final night he pulled me aside as did another member of the tribe and again shook my hand and promised they would bring me back for another hunt and to invite a friend as their way of "making it right"...they are LIARS...6 months later I reached out to Wayne and he responded with a nasty email and of course he as the head of the hunt camp took ZERO responsibility for his clear lack of leadership for his hunting operation that he is in charge of. We are both military veterans and he even questioned my USMC military service although we had many discussions in camp about our time in service. Wayne seems like a very nice guy when you talk to him at first, but make no mistake...he is a salesman and will not keep his word. Other hunters from camp reached out to me to see how I was recovering due to the injuries I sustained at WMAT and not a single member of the tribe ever called to see how I was...they did call to interview me for the investigation that was ongoing with local rescue law enforcement authorities as well as WMAT investigators. I have had over 20 medical appointments due to the ongoing issues I have from the hypothermia and WMAT takes ZERO accountability....they did however change their Hunting Operation SOP due to what happened to me. Make no mistake...the Tribe will look out for themselves and only themselves at WMAT and they could care less about any hunters as the other hunters I became friendly with that have hunted there for years have also gotten ignored (per them) since this happened. What really sucks is the Apache tribe is the ONLY tribe in the US that you cannot take legal action against because they are the only tribe (per attorneys) that will not release their protection of sovereignty from the US Government...this means they can literally kill you and nothing will be done about it (per attorneys from CA, OK, TX, AZ). If you want to fall for their "Elk hunting capitol of the World" best of luck to you...since I was rescued I have been advised that they had another hunter in camp that they also lost in the mountains and he was injured by a gunshot and they luckily found him before he died.....It is disgusting how this operation takes your money knowing they do not have the animals for hunters to harvest as proven by not a single bull from camp in 2025.

I believe the Sunrise camp was the Western side

 

[usahntr1]

I hunted the Sunrise Camp in Sept 2025...this place is a SCAM!!! We had 14-16 hunters in camo..half were 25k "Trophy 385+ Bull hunters" and the rest were "Management" bull hunters for 10k...NOT A SINGLE HUNTER in any camp harvested a bull ...that is ridiculous for wha they call "the greatest elk hunting on earth"...you will see a lot of Elk but they will only allow you to harvest an 8 year old 5x5 on management and nobody even saw a single bull that fit that descroiption...the "Trophy hunters" not a single one saw anything that was over 385 and none harvested in Sunrise or the other camp the entire elk season. They basically take your money knowing that you will see a lot of elk but that very few will harvest anything. The accommodations were adequate, but I have stayed in better at lower priced hunting camps...the food was good......my biggest issue with them is their lack of integrity and complete disregard for any accountability whatsoever. Their guide abandoned myself and another tribal member at the top of a mountain on the morning of day 3...we had no food or water and we were soaked from a hail/rain storm...went hypothermic for 2 days...when they found us via Thermal Helicopter at 230am as were were entering day 3...I had some internal organ issues from the hypothermia...they rushed us to the hospital. The head guide Wayne Amos sat by my bedside as the doctors were working on me and promised "I will make this right"..then after I was released from the hospital and we had a dinner on the final night he pulled me aside as did another member of the tribe and again shook my hand and promised they would bring me back for another hunt and to invite a friend as their way of "making it right"...they are LIARS...6 months later I reached out to Wayne and he responded with a nasty email and of course he as the head of the hunt camp took ZERO responsibility for his clear lack of leadership for his hunting operation that he is in charge of. We are both military veterans and he even questioned my USMC military service although we had many discussions in camp about our time in service. Wayne seems like a very nice guy when you talk to him at first, but make no mistake...he is a salesman and will not keep his word. Other hunters from camp reached out to me to see how I was recovering due to the injuries I sustained at WMAT and not a single member of the tribe ever called to see how I was...they did call to interview me for the investigation that was ongoing with local rescue law enforcement authorities as well as WMAT investigators. I have had over 20 medical appointments due to the ongoing issues I have from the hypothermia and WMAT takes ZERO accountability....they did however change their Hunting Operation SOP due to what happened to me. Make no mistake...the Tribe will look out for themselves and only themselves at WMAT and they could care less about any hunters as the other hunters I became friendly with that have hunted there for years have also gotten ignored (per them) since this happened. What really sucks is the Apache tribe is the ONLY tribe in the US that you cannot take legal action against because they are the only tribe (per attorneys) that will not release their protection of sovereignty from the US Government...this means they can literally kill you and nothing will be done about it (per attorneys from CA, OK, TX, AZ). If you want to fall for their "Elk hunting capitol of the World" best of luck to you...since I was rescued I have been advised that they had another hunter in camp that they also lost in the mountains and he was injured by a gunshot and they luckily found him before he died.....It is disgusting how this operation takes your money knowing they do not have the animals for hunters to harvest as proven by not a single bull from camp in 2025.

Insane story. Glad you made it out and sorry to hear about your ongoing issues. Lots of good things to be aware of here that wouldn't cross most people's mind when considering this type of hunt.

Out of curiosity, why did the guide ditch you on the mountain?

 

[GatorMike]

I believe the "Sunrise" cam

I hunted the Sunrise Camp in Sept 2025...this place is a SCAM!!! We had 14-16 hunters in camo..half were 25k "Trophy 385+ Bull hunters" and the rest were "Management" bull hunters for 10k...NOT A SINGLE HUNTER in any camp harvested a bull ...that is ridiculous for wha they call "the greatest elk hunting on earth"...you will see a lot of Elk but they will only allow you to harvest an 8 year old 5x5 on management and nobody even saw a single bull that fit that descroiption...the "Trophy hunters" not a single one saw anything that was over 385 and none harvested in Sunrise or the other camp the entire elk season. They basically take your money knowing that you will see a lot of elk but that very few will harvest anything. The accommodations were adequate, but I have stayed in better at lower priced hunting camps...the food was good......my biggest issue with them is their lack of integrity and complete disregard for any accountability whatsoever. Their guide abandoned myself and another tribal member at the top of a mountain on the morning of day 3...we had no food or water and we were soaked from a hail/rain storm...went hypothermic for 2 days...when they found us via Thermal Helicopter at 230am as were were entering day 3...I had some internal organ issues from the hypothermia...they rushed us to the hospital. The head guide Wayne Amos sat by my bedside as the doctors were working on me and promised "I will make this right"..then after I was released from the hospital and we had a dinner on the final night he pulled me aside as did another member of the tribe and again shook my hand and promised they would bring me back for another hunt and to invite a friend as their way of "making it right"...they are LIARS...6 months later I reached out to Wayne and he responded with a nasty email and of course he as the head of the hunt camp took ZERO responsibility for his clear lack of leadership for his hunting operation that he is in charge of. We are both military veterans and he even questioned my USMC military service although we had many discussions in camp about our time in service. Wayne seems like a very nice guy when you talk to him at first, but make no mistake...he is a salesman and will not keep his word. Other hunters from camp reached out to me to see how I was recovering due to the injuries I sustained at WMAT and not a single member of the tribe ever called to see how I was...they did call to interview me for the investigation that was ongoing with local rescue law enforcement authorities as well as WMAT investigators. I have had over 20 medical appointments due to the ongoing issues I have from the hypothermia and WMAT takes ZERO accountability....they did however change their Hunting Operation SOP due to what happened to me. Make no mistake...the Tribe will look out for themselves and only themselves at WMAT and they could care less about any hunters as the other hunters I became friendly with that have hunted there for years have also gotten ignored (per them) since this happened. What really sucks is the Apache tribe is the ONLY tribe in the US that you cannot take legal action against because they are the only tribe (per attorneys) that will not release their protection of sovereignty from the US Government...this means they can literally kill you and nothing will be done about it (per attorneys from CA, OK, TX, AZ). If you want to fall for their "Elk hunting capitol of the World" best of luck to you...since I was rescued I have been advised that they had another hunter in camp that they also lost in the mountains and he was injured by a gunshot and they luckily found him before he died.....It is disgusting how this operation takes your money knowing they do not have the animals for hunters to harvest as proven by not a single bull from camp in 2025.

p was the Western camp

Insane story. Glad you made it out and sorry to hear about your ongoing issues. Lots of good things to be aware of here that wouldn't cross most people's mind when considering this type of hunt.

Out of curiosity, why did the guide ditch you on the mountain?

We were trying to locate Elk on the top of a mountain (Mature bulls were VERY tough to come by)....he wandered off and did not come back...he told the "bird dog"to go back to the truck...that guy had zero clue about land navigation or hunting in general. He went the wrong direction..I told him we were going in the wrong direction...he swore there was a road....then hail storm hit...from there things went downhill fast

 

[usahntr1]

I believe the "Sunrise" cam

p was the Western camp

We were trying to locate Elk on the top of a mountain (Mature bulls were VERY tough to come by)....he wandered off and did not come back...he told the "bird dog"to go back to the truck...that guy had zero clue about land navigation or hunting in general. He went the wrong direction..I told him we were going in the wrong direction...he swore there was a road....then hail storm hit...from there things went downhill fast

Wow

 

[wildwilderness]

Out of curiosity, why did the guide ditch you on the mountain?

I guess you haven’t had to deal very much with indigenous folk… I have never found rhyme nor reason to most things that occur, or don’t occur…