Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Best guided hunts without breaking the bank?

Colorado elk and deer.

Ontario black bear hunt is a very cost effective hunt.... go out fishing every morning... get back at noon.... eat fish until you can't sit upright... then 2pm or so head out and sit until dark. Very high success rate.. beautiful country.

It's nice of you to be looking out for your son's pocketbook.

But..

Seeking out the cheapest outfitter you can find for a Elk/Bear hunt will lead you directly to the lesser quality Outfitters in the business.

You have to ask yourselves this, "why would they be cheaper than the other guys"?

It's either going to be the show they put on or the country they have available to hunt. Something is causing them to have to offer that reduced rate.

It'd be much like me attempting to find a quality union electrical contractor to wire my new home for around 5K.

It ain't gonna happen.

But I might find some fly by night schmuck that would take my 5K and make a feeble attempt.

I was charging $4800.00 for a 10 day, combo elk/deer/bear hunt in Montana 30 years ago.

Ante up, hire a quality outfitter, enjoy a quality hunt,, harvast a quality Bull Elk, make it the hunt of a lifetime.

Hunt America, keep your hard earned dollars in the USA, support our hospitality industry, it's been a rough couple years. 🇺🇸

And you're not required to be vaccinated to cross the Communist border.

Yep. Very responsible and fine young man.

I would recommend a wilderness hunt in the Bob Marshall for elk & deer and possibly bear and wolf. It will be a tough hunt in true wilderness with a modest to low success rate.
The experience cannot be beat and the young & fit can make the best of it.
This is different than a ranch hunt, it is hard and rugged, you tag a bull in the wilderness you have accomplished something. The prices are reasonable, the experience world class.
I highly recommend Micky Cheff of Montana Cheff outfitters. https://www.bmwcheffoutfitters.com/ the Cheff's run several camps I have hunted out of the Bartlett creek camp.
He is a third generation outfitter and runs a great camp and his horses are amazing, very important to have good mountain horses.

Title = oxymoron.

That's a great recommendation.
I'm familiar with that area and the Cheff camps.

They can offer a true back country hunting experience in some amazingly beautiful country.

A guy will also have the opportunity to apply for a Moose and Goat tag for that general area. The odds of being drawn are slim but atleast the opportunity is there.

Most Outfitters do not add additional fees if one is forchanet enough to obtain such a tag, not sure if Cheff has a extra fee or not.

A word of warning, his camps are deep in the wilderness area.
His main base camp at the mouth of Gordon Creek is a 29 mile ride from the trailhead, I believe the Bartlett camp is similar.

That's a long day in the saddle for a inexperienced rider.
Probably in the neighborhood of 9 hours +or-.
It also consumes the first and last day of your hunt.

The are other Outfitters in that area, most often they respect each other's hunting areas but that doesn't hold true with private parties that venture in with their own livestock.

These camps are scattered along the South Fork of the Flathead River. There is a abundance of open parks along the river that offer premium horse graze that attracts more private parties than some other areas in the Bob Marshall.

Try contacting Jeanne Horne, with J Bar H Outfitters in Colorado. She was the Outfitter of the year a few years ago and is outstanding. Her hunts book one to two years in advance and her repeat business is strong. We have used her several times and are all very happy with her staff and hunts. I believe she charges around $5,000 for a guided hunt. It would be a great place to learn how to hunt Elk. Then your son could go on his own. Good luck to you both.

I understand there's a corellation between cost and experience and thank everyone that's taken the time to give meaningful feedback/options so far.