It seems to me that I have heard more stories of fake outfitters and illegal hunting this year than ever before. The latest comes from Kansas
"Wichita — A hunting camp owner and his brother face sentencing next week on conspiracy and wildlife trafficking charges for offering guided hunts at Camp Lone Star in Kansas to hunters who paid thousands of dollars to illegally kill deer."
As long as there is going to be hunting there are going to be bad or illegal outfitting going on. I have ran into my share of them while out in the hills and have had the honor of turning a few of them in to the fish and game. It is just good for the hunters that are planning a guided hunt to check on who they are booking the hunt with.
I have just got done booking a grizzly bear hunt in British Colombia and all the checking on the outfitter that I did I hope turns out for the best. All the referrals that I checked gave him the thumbs up as far as a class outfit. Now saying that I have been checking out outfitters for this hunt for the last six months before I settled on this one last week. The big thing for a hunter to remember is that there are crooks out there that are more than happy to take your money and leave you high and dry.
I guess that is sadly true Critter. It is a shame that hunting with a guide is the same as any other business transaction. When you are talking about the danger of running into a badly run or worse an outfit that condones illegal practices. As consumers even more than as hunters we all need to check references whenever we hire anyone whether we are booking a hotel room, buying airline tickets, or planning a guided hunt with an outfitter / guide service. Any time that your hard earned money is involved, it is a buyer beware situation. We have to do everything that we can to protect ourselves from crooks, scam artists, and just plain lousy service. It is sadly true. There are crooks out there that are in fact happy to steal your money and deliver either nothing at all (taking your money and disappearing) or delivering a less than satisfying service. There is a raffle for a hunt being offered on another website advocating a guide service in the state of Maine that I have hunted with before and will not hunt with again. Check out my Learning to Hunt Bear story in the archives at Biggamehunt.net for the details, but the experience while legal was not what I had expected or hoped for. In fact had it not been my very first guided hunt without an expectation of what was realistic I probably would have been even more disappointed. Definitely check references and remember – they could be lying! If you still have doubts – don’t book with that outfit!
Good luck with your grizzly bear hunt in British Colombia! If you have done your research and don’t have that gut feeling reservation – you will be fine.
Although there have always been illegal and dishonest guide services out there I think we are just getting better information about them now. Like has been said you really need to check things out before you book. I as well have had a very bad experience because of not doing my homework. The references provided by the guide are not always much help because he can pick and choose what he gives you. Word of mouth is the best if you can find it on your own from someone you know or has hunted there before. I rarely have that available so have to research as much as I can by myself. The internet has worked well as a lot of guys post good or bad experiences on many different websites. Google has worked great for this.
I hired a outfitter years ago that said the night before my hunt started if an outfitters lips are moving he's lying. well i found out the hard way from him that he was telling the truth. should have done more research.
Well, my recent experience with an outfitter from Montana & Idaho seems eerily similar. I'd say that 50% of what he said was bold-faced lies and of the other 50% you couldn't believe a word of it. ::huh:
That's what is so scary to me. I am still trying to do some research for my father and I to hunt in Kansas or Illinois, and I am afraid to get snake bitten by some of these outfitters.
They seem to be a dime a dozen on the internet. And, if you go by comments and reviews, it seems there are always people who love them, and then there are those that hate them.
I am trying to actually get references from people I "know" through these sites. At least I feel they would steer me in the right direction of a good outfitter, versus having to go in blind.
tndeerhunter mine was from montana also hope his first name wasnt Denny.
Nope, Scott! Big, BS-ing, Scott.....lol 
| Thread | Thread Starter | Replies | Last Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guides & Outfitters??? | Goody | 0 | 01/05/2006 20:00 pm |
| Guides & Outfitters??? | Goody | 0 | 01/05/2006 19:45 pm |
| Guide & Outfitter Advice??? | Goody | 0 | 01/05/2006 20:02 pm |
| Guide & Outfitter Advice??? | Goody | 0 | 01/05/2006 19:44 pm |
| New outfitters and alberta bear sale | dhunter33 | 0 | 02/22/2011 00:56 am |
