Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting San Francisco River Outfitters

If I draw tags through their lottery, I may be taking my son on his first elk hunt with this outfitter. It would be in Unit 16B of the Gila's. As of now, I have the option of the first two weeks of bow hunting or the opening week of rifle.

They've killed some monsters in 16B and for the past 3 seasons, their Pope and Young bow kills have been more impressive than their opening week rifle kills.380+s.

The outfitter comes highly recommended but I'd like to hear from any of our membership who could give me their hand's on knowledge of ths outfitter, his camps and unit 16B.

Thanks in advance.

Bob

Have not hunted with Tom, but have hunted around him quit a bit when he hunted 22B. ( now part of 16B). He is a super nice guy and hunts hard for his clients. Not sure where his camps are now but be ready for a long ride.

Thanks. Tom just recently posted his 2014 recap:


2014 HUNTING RECAP


2014 HUNTING RECAP

San Francisco River Outfitters had a great year taking more bulls than ever and our success rates were phenomenal. Our fully guided and outfitted archery elk hunters went 11 for 15 for a great 75% success rate and the drop camp archery elk hunters went 4 for 12 for a 33% success rate. Our rifle elk hunters went 9 for 9 for a 100% success rate with one of those a drop camp. We had two late season muzzle loader hunters taking 1 bull and the other hunter got some shooting. Antler growth was great this year with the largest bull taken with a bow scoring 406 and was a 7x9. Three more bulls were over 380 with one a bow and two with a rifle. Two 365 bulls were taken with a bow and two 350 bulls taken, one with a bow and one with a rifle. The bulls were taken in a huge part of the Gila Wilderness with one of our camps being in 18 miles. It took a lot of hard work and our almost 40 years of experience to accomplish this, along with some of my excellent guides whom are in my estimation some of the best elk guides in the west. The 2014 elk draw was better and we drew almost 45% of the applicants we applied. We continue to concentrate most of our hunts in unit 16B in the Gila Wilderness where we pack in by horseback and mule to get away from the roads and the concentration of hunters with the onslaught of their ATV�s. We continue to provide a great wall tent camp with a full time cook and a full time wrangler/packer and 1x1 guided hunts. 2015 is shaping up to be another great year with ample fall rain and excellent feed in the burn area of the 2012 Whitewater/Baldy Fire complex. The elk herds are better than ever and we expect great things in 2015 as we had two bulls well over 400 that got away again and a few more we never got to see.