Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Guided elk hunts

What's the thoughts and opinions on them? What states and which outfitters?

Budget?

You need to narrow your question down a lot.

Start by answering these questions;

#1
I’m just curious
or
I’m serious, I want to go on a guided elk hunt

#2
I am in excellent physical condition
I am a couch potato

#3
I would be happy with a cow / raghorn
I am hoping for a decent 6X6
I want to shoot a monster bull

#4
I want to stay in a hotel and eat in restaurants
I want to sleep in a tent and eat around a campfire.
I want to horse pack into unspoiled wilderness

#5
I have lots of points in several states
What is a point ?

#6
My budget (per hunter) is
bare minimum $5,000

An excellent post by Anaconda.

L.W.

Knowing his budget would answer a number of those questions.

Can you get a good guided hunt for $5000.00? I haven't even started looking around at outfitters yet and was hoping to hear about a few that some of the folks on here have used to avoid the bad apple that's always in the bunch. We paid for a drop camp once a few years ago and that was a fleecing if there ever was one.

Serious yes. I've been to Colorado several times hunting elk on my own with friends but as I have gotten older, 62 most of the guys being older than me have gotten to the point of not being able to go. I've got some younger friends but it seems most of them are so tied down they just can't go. Going by myself is okay but it's allot of work so that brings me to a guided hunt and not that I'm lazy and want to be catered to. It would just be good to not have to make a camp and all that goes with it and haul an elk out by myself if I did get one.

Speaking of camp. No motels for me. If I hire a guided hunt I want to hunt in a remote area in a good camp with good food and good people. So I guess that means horse pack into unspoiled wilderness.

The only point I have is for the muzzle loader season in Colorado. A decent 6x6 would be outstanding. As far as my physical condition goes I would be ready when I went. I'm active every day and would put in extra time being in even better shape. In the past I used to ride 60-80 miles a week on my bike. That seemed to do me allot of good. I'm not kidding myself though thinking I can stay in lock step with a guide that's been living in the mountains for years and 30 years younger than me.

Howdy Jim1611,

I hunt elk sporadically. Last year I decided that I wanted to take a cow elk to fill the freezer. Already have some nice elk antlers on the wall. Am 67 years old, and am in a similar situation with you. Most of the guys I've hunted with have given it up. So, January of this year I went to Oregon and hunted with Zach at AOA Outfitters.

Good price. Great service! It was a tougher hunt than I expected. Up and down some big ridges, then a long stalk, and a long (405 yards) shot with my 30-06 rifle. Zach and Dale were with me as "hired help" and were great! They were easy to get along with. Knew where to look for the elk. They're in their late 30's and very fit, but they took it easy on the old guy re the pace.

Zach also offers bull hunts and takes some nice ones. I don't know the price for that as I'm not real interested in adding more elk antlers to the wall. Accommodations were excellent. I was in a real nice cabin. The hunt was over by late afternoon the first day, then we spent some time chasing other critters around in central Oregon. Good country, good fellows, and a good hunt at what I thought was a good price. Skipping a year, because mama and I don't go through an elk as quickly as we used to. I'll probably go back with them in January 2024.

Unless I draw the local antlerless elk tag here in Washington. That I can do on my own or with a buddy along to help.

Regards, Guy

At $5k more than doubtful, particularly for "a decent 6X6", actually not even close I believe.

If you can acquire the tag, 5k is certainly doable for a guided hunt, with good folks, in AZ. I know this as I went on my first and only guided hunt ever last year due to the tag I drew and lack of scouting time I had for the tag. Once in 2 lifetime tags I drew....

Private land or LO tag good luck, run.....

I suspect other western states are the same for similar services as there is competition....

I'm very interested also.

1. I'm very serious
2. I'm a couch potato due to having CHF and some other issues
3. I want a decent 6x6
4. I'm good with a lodge or a tent, horseback into the wilderness not so much did that in my 20s
5 I have no points
6. budget including everything (no taxidermy) of $7000

Not going to happen. Sorry.

Agree....

Anaconda's list of questions is a very good one.

Have been dealing with this question for many years, due to writing for various hunting magazines. Perhaps the most frequent question I've gotten from readers goes something like this:

"I don't want to kill a record-class bull, just a decent 6x6--and would like to go on a horseback wilderness hunt. I could also help around camp if that would reduce the price any."

There are several problems here. First, horseback hunts involve considerable expense for the outfitter, and "helping around camp" would not only cut considerably into your hunting time, but haven't run into any outfitters who want clients splitting wood, or helping the cook.

The other problem is that high-country wilderness usually doesn't hold as many elk as lower elevations, especially later in the fall when snow starts to fall. Plus, wilderness is usually public land, so there will be other hunters--which also results in fewer elk in the easily accessed country.

Yet another problem: My first wilderness hunt was a horseback drop-camp on the edge of the Bob Marshall Wilderness here in Montana. My two partners and I never saw a bull, and my total was a cow and calf on the lower border of the hunting area. Never heard a bugle, and this was in mid-September, the start of the peak of the rut. There was also very little sign--other than deer and one set each of grizzly and wolverine tracks. Found out later this was because the outfitter's better elk areas were booked for fully-guided hunts, because they paid better.

But even horseback hunts in better (usually lower) country often don't result in much success, because again it's normally public land.

If somebody really wants a "decent 6x6" they're far better off booking a hunt on private land. This can be a horseback hunt, but won't involve any horse camps, and more often is a combination of vehicle and foot hunting. But the number of elk and especially mature bulls will typically be much higher. It will cost more, but success rates are also much higher. It's generally better to pay 2-3 times as much for a good hunt as for lower-priced public-land horseback hunts--if you really want to kill an elk.

However, there are still some good wilderness horseback hunts. Twenty years ago I went on one with Prophet-Muskwa Outfitters in northern British Columbia. This was a 10-day combination hunt for elk and moose--though I also had a caribou tag, but never saw a big one. Saw four mature bull elk--not as many as is typical on private land on a similar-length hunt--and killed a "decent 6x6" on the 9th day. (Didn't get a shot at any of the other bulls.) Also took a very good bull moose.

Back then the whole hunt was around $25,000, but these days Prophet-Muskwa charges $26,500 for an elk hunt--and that doesn't include licenses, taxes, and the round-trip flight into the base camp from Fort St. John--which is now $3500. (If I recall correctly the flight around 1/10th as much 20 years ago, though there was an additional fee for meat and heads.) A moose is another $32,500--again not including license, tax, etc.

In comparison many ranch hunts are a bargain for a decent 6x6.

I agree, the above ain’t happening.
I’d say $10-12,000 private land with landowner tag is the situation today.

Been on two, British Columbia and Arizona, both with same results, one elk seen on both hunts, neither presented a shot. Will no go again.

Dale has some good advice.

Since you are asking for thoughts and opinions, here are mine: I have never hired a guide for elk. I have no intention to ever hire a guide for elk. I have no desire to hunt elk in any manner other than DIY on public land.

I have nothing against guided hunts, I just dont want anything to do with them. I would rather do it on my own.

This basic question pops up every once in a while. Not to be a prick, but I kind of have to laugh each time.

If things were that straight forward and ‘cheap’ many, many who hunt would be doing it, constantly and it wouldn’t mean nearly as much. Just like anything else worth being proud of in life you generally either pay for it monetarily or physically, and even the monetarily thing is subjective. Or, get lucky once in a while…

I wish you good luck, in any event.

Thanks for the comments guys. I consider 5k a starting point but as I said earlier I haven't checked into a guided hunt in years so I'm out of touch with cost. The biggest thing I want to avoid is paying for a hunt and finding out the services are from someone more interested in taking my money than being honest. That's what happened on the drop camp. So that brings me to this reason for my thread. To hear about good experiences with reputable outfitters and who they are. I've never been hung up on being able to brag about killing a trophy animal. It's the hunt for me. My expectations of that are not so much as pulling the trigger or seeing scads of elk. I don't like crowds, don't want to ride down the road from a lodge and hunt over an alfalfa field from a blind. I want to hunt on public land and get away from the crowds.

Couch potato, decent 6x6, and 7k budget is not going to happen. Get in shape, budget 10k just for the hunt (not including, travel, tips, etc.), then you are in the ballpark. If you want/need to stay a couch potato, you'll need to up your budget closer to the 15k mark.

Source: I've guided 75 ish hunters on ~10k Bull elk hunts.

In 2008 I hunted outside Toad River BC pretty much as John describes above. I paid $11,500 with Stone Mountain Safaris for that 10 day hunt. The plane ride was $950 IIRC which my company provided expat travel budget paid for. I shot a nice elk and a nice moose and came a point away from a mountain caribou. Today that 10 day hunt is $28K. That said, it was by far the best hunting experience I have had.

https://stonemountainsafaris.com/hunting-price-list/