Samuelson Outfitters

Submitted by: Mark Herber

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Review Submitted: Feb 1, 2013

Hunt Date: Oct 12, 2012

Species Hunted: Elk

Days Hunted: 5

Hunt Type: Drop Camp

Primary Terrain: Mountain

Method: Rifle

Price Range: 1000-1999

Samuelson Outfitters - Stay Away

Myself and 2 friends booked a drop camp with Samuelson Outfitters for first rifle - Elk in 2012 on the Troublesome East Fork. Samuelson picked our cap location, and it was a good location. We did see some Elk the first coupple of days then nothing. The biggest issues we had with them is that they did not explain all of the pricing up front and it cost us. Several of the horses were nags. One kept going down to the ground on its belly at night occuring when we were traveling up and down steep trails. Luckly the rider on that paticular horse is a professional horse rider and he was able to pull her up every time she hit the ground. I would not have been so lucky. Samuelson was days behind on every estimate. They were a day behind to check on us, causing us to lose hunting time, and a day behind to pack us up causing us to lose work time. They had no means of communication with the camps so you were on your own in some remote mountains as there was little cell phone service and they dident use radios. In one of their other drop camps a bear had to be shot after destroying the hunters supplies and refusing to leave his camp, etc. He was alone and out of contact with the outfitter and lucky to be alive after some cold nights. His hunt was essentially ruined. When they never showed to pick us up at the end of the trip I climbed a moutain to get cell phone service. I got through to Ms. Samuelson, who after a long conversation, suggested we walk out on foot that evening and leave our supplies. It was a 4 hour horse back ride up and down mountains and it was 4PM when she suggested we walk out and leave our gear. It owuld have taken at least 8-10 hours to hike out at night so we opted against it and re-set up our camp for another night. The outfitter showed up around 5:30PM to get us just as we finished setting up camp and had to tear it all down again. All-in-all a mess and waste of money and hunting season.

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note: The following reviews predate the numeric rating system and are not included in this outfitter's overall rating.

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outfitter review submitted by: Mike on Jul 12 2005

Species Hunted: Elk

Game Quality: poor

Accommodation Quality: fair

Camp Condition: fair

Food Quality: poor

Guide Experience: excellent

Other Personal Experience: excellent

Overall Impression: very poor

Recommend: no

Reviewer Comments: This is a classic example of unsupervised guides ruining a fairly good outitters reputation. If you stay in camp with Dick and Cathy then you have a pretty good chance of getting your moneys worth. If you hunt out of the Lost Gulch camp with Brownie and Dennis your wasting your time. They are more interested in doing their hunting than they are helping you find elk and they have no ethics. Don't waste your time.

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outfitter review submitted by: George Major Jr. on Oct 30 2003

Species Hunted: Elk

Game Quality: Good

Accommodation Quality: Excellent

Camp Condition: Excellent

Food Quality: N/A Drop Camp

Guide Experience: N/A Drop Camp

Other Personal Experience: Excellent

Overall Impression: Fabulous

Recommend: Yes

Reviewer Comments: Me and 3 of my best friends did the Hay Park drop camp with Samuelson. 2 1/2 hour horse pack in. That was the hardest part of the trip. If you do not ride horses often, the ride hurts your knees. We had a great time. Richard and Cathy are salt of the earth, just great people. The camp was very well set up. The location was even better. We did the second rifle season. A lot of the elk were spooked and had gone nocturnal. The weather was hot and that did not help. Even with that our group had three chances to take three different bulls in 5 days and blew it. Two guys missed and one guy had his safety on as he went to pull the trigger. We rebooked this hunt on the day we packed out. Can not say enough about this outfitter.

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outfitter review submitted by: Larry Ludlam on Jan 11 2001

Species Hunted: ELK

Game Quality: n/a

Accommodation Quality: fair

Camp Condition: poor

Food Quality: fair

Guide Experience: no experience

Other Personal Experience: fair

Overall Impression: not at all pleased

Recommend: no

Reviewer Comments: My brother and I were promised an experienced guide, but we got someone who had never guided before. There were elk all around us (Some bugling) but the guide never got us within sight or smell of one. After a snow on the last day I found several tracks on the ridge next to camp.

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outfitter review submitted by: LARRY LUDLAM on Dec 25 2000

Species Hunted: ELK

Game Quality: POOR

Accommodation Quality: POOR

Camp Condition: FAIR

Food Quality: FAIR

Guide Experience: NONE

Other Personal Experience: FAIR

Overall Impression: POOR

Recommend: NO

Reviewer Comments: OUR GUIDE NEVER GUIDED BEFORE, DIDN'T KNOW AREA, AND BLUNDERED THROUGH 5 DAYS. THIS HUNT ADDED NEW MEANING TO FAIR CHASE. GUIDE NEVER HAD A PLAN OR IDEA ON HOW TO FIND US ELK. ELK WERE IN AREA, BUT HIS INEXPERIENCE LEFT US EMPTY. ONE DAY WE HAD TO WAKE UP THE CAMP AND START BREAKFAST. GUIDE KEPT ASKING US WHAT WE WANTED TO DO?? WE TOLD HIM TO SEE ELK AND GET WITHIN BOW RANGE. HE GOT HURT WHEN WE TOLD HIM THAT IS WHAT HE'S BEING PAID FOR.

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