Looking for Good Outfitter

[Tim McCoy]

I ended up booking with Mikes Outfitting in Alberta. His name came up everywhere I looked. Including a hunting forum based here in Texas. The excitement of just booking the hunt has already put out the flames from this year's debacle in Chama New Mexico. So hopefully I can finally harvest a respectable muley.
Again thanks to everyone for the help.

Have not hunted with Mike U and his crew, but know of their work and reputation, good choice. The body size of some of those northern bucks is deceiving, they can be yuge, which can make the antlers look smaller. If you have told your guide what you want and they say take him, I'd do so, regardless of what I thought about the antlers. I nearly made that mistake in Alberta in 07, it was far from my first rodeo, but I was fooled. Glad I had a patient guide and a rut drunk deer that gave me a chance.

Enjoy your hunt.

 

[cmbbulldog]

My archery buck from last year with Mike... have fun

 

[BKC]

It sounds like you have plenty of $ dedicated for most hunts. Don't be fooled by how many acres they have or what their lodge looks like or what the food is. Your there to hunt, look at their photo gallery and see if they have a good gene pool and see if they kill multiple big deer in the same year and make sure that those deer were killed when you can hunt. It does no good to be there when the deer aren't there.

 

[njdoxie]

fill us in on the debacle in Chama, sounds like a good story

 

[grant_stricklin]

Don't use big tine adventures in Alberta there a joke!!!

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[TexHunter]

fill us in on the debacle in Chama, sounds like a good story

So I booked a muzzle loader hunt with Milligan Brand Outfitters out of Chama New Mexico. Ray, the owner, told me at booking he has over 100,000 acres to hunt and there will only be 10 hunters in camp. Things went down hill from there, when I received his equipment check list one of the thing on his " must have list" was bring money! An below that was bring "Mo' Money" ! That was my first inkling that this guy is just after a payday. When I get to camp there were 12 hunters. He booked in 2 more hunter at the last minute. The first morning my guide and I were assigned the "river bottom". So we head to our assigned area which turned out to be about an 80 acre river bottom that we drove through. Then we proceed to drive around a bunch of houses on the "river bottom". Then we went to the other side of the river to look at some cut hay fields. An that was opening morning, we were finished around 8:00-8:15 opening morning. I was like wtf ! I told the guide you have to be kidding me, where is the 100,000+ acres ? He replied most of it is for elk hunting only. Apparently the ranches he has leased don't allow him to mule deer hunt. I knew then my chances of killing a good Mule deer were going to be slim and none with this jack leg.

So we hit the "river bottom" probably 4 or 5 times during the week. We went to a sage brush flat and did not even see a track of anything! We went to another ranch 6 or 8 of the other guys had already gone to numerous times only to see what everyone else had seen nothing. Then about half the guides would start drinking beer after the morning hunt and drink until time to go for the afternoon hunt. I will certainly sit down and drink a beer or a cocktail with you after my work is done. But certainly not while I am working as the guides were doing. After 12 hunters hunted 5 days only 2 decent mule deer were shot. In my opinion this guy is out for the money he can put in his pocket and I would not recommend him to anyone. Bring Mo' Money !


P.S. I did see some elk but certainly nothing I would shoot. The herd bulls were young 5x5's. Which indicates a shot out herd to me. An I have ever been on a few hunts. Most of these were taken on DIY hunts.

 

[7 Mag]

Sorry to hear of your bad NM experience, unfortunately there are some bad outfitters out there just gotta spread the word about them.

 

[wy-tex]

There are region tags in Wyoming that can be drawn with no PP, mostly private land. Ranchers in those areas outfit themselves and good bucks can be found on the right property. The key don't shoot the first one you see unless it's a no brainer. Great bucks have come out of SE Wyoming but access is the key. Numbers are not high but quality is there if you hunt hard.Same could be said for just about anywhere. Find a rancher outfitter that only wants mature bucks taken and likely their place has good bucks. Don't go someplace that runs a multitude of hunters every year.