Powder River Outfitters
Powder River Outfitters
Rated 4 out of 5.0 based on 7 Outfitter reviews.
Contact: Travis Anderson
Location: Broadus, Montana
Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer, Mule Deer, Pronghorn Antelope, Turkey Merriam's, Grouse, Pheasant, Ducks, Geese, Coyote, Elk, Turkey
State(s) Hunted: MT
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Submitted by: Tim Herald
Review Submitted: Jul 30, 2009
Hunt Date: Sep 6, 2008
Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer, Pronghorn Antelope
Days Hunted: 5
Hunt Type: Guided
Primary Terrain: Any
Method: Bow
Price Range: 2000-2999
Number of animals seen, met expectations?
Size of animals seen, met expections?
Hunting pressure in the guides area, met expectations?
Would you hunt with this Guide again?
early season combo
I hunted out of Doug Gardner's camp twice. His partner Ken got into some legal trouble, and they have now split. I highly recommend Doug's camp. The guides are great, Doug is great, there are tons of animals. I have killed both deer and pronghorn there. The camp is pretty rough and food is decent at best, but the amount of animals and price, still make this one a good affordable hunt.
report this reviewnote: The following reviews predate the numeric rating system and are not included in this outfitter's overall rating.
outfitter review submitted by: Jerry Long on Oct 23 2009
Species Hunted: Pronghorn
Game Quality: Excellent
Accommodation Quality: Good
Camp Condition: Good
Food Quality: Good
Guide Experience: Good
Other Personal Experience: Good
Overall Impression: Good
Recommend: Yes
Reviewer Comments: General comments: The area around Broadus was suffering from some pronghorn winter kill and the weather through out the summer had been wet. However, there were plenty of good bucks. Temperatures were mild and it rained every day but one. Not good for a water hole hunt. Spot and stalk was the right method to use in this weather, but the guide and outfitter didn't seem interested in employing it for anything other than a few hours one afternoon. After some significant discussions with the guide we fit in about three stalks before heading to the blinds in the late afternoon. At one point the guide encouraged me to jump out of the truck and shoot a pronghorn - one of my absolute pet-peeves. The guide didn't believe wind-direction was of concern. There weren't enough blinds in our guide's area of responsibility to hunt the wind properly. The blinds had no peep holes to look out of except the saw kerf around the windows. We left the morning of the fifth day amidst further rain storms. There was some confusion regarding a $50 difference between the Close Encounters contract amount and Powder River's contract amount. I'm still confused on that issue. Bottom line is I relied on the booking agent (who hunted with us) and failed to talk to the outfitter before and during the hunt to clear up problems that could have made the hunt successful. The weather did us no favors. I honestly have no doubt that had the weather been hot and dry shooting opportunity would have been close to 100%. You can find a more detailed, three part story of this trip at my personal blog, dvd's Mostly Archery (http://skinnymoose.com/mostlyarchery/2009/09/15/pronghorn-rained-out/).
outfitter review submitted by: George Finck on Jan 19 2008
Species Hunted: deer/antelope
Game Quality: many mature bucks
Accommodation Quality: good
Camp Condition: good
Food Quality: excellent
Guide Experience: excellent
Other Personal Experience: good
Overall Impression: great
Recommend: definitely
Reviewer Comments: On the combo archery hunt I was fortunate enough to tag out with a huge whitetail that currently stands as the state record for a velvet rack, and I shot a nice antelope that just missed p&y. Many fine deer and antelope were taken by the other hunters in camp.
outfitter review submitted by: Jason Thornton on Nov 25 2007
Species Hunted: Whitetail / Mule Deer
Game Quality: Excellent
Accommodation Quality: Good
Camp Condition: Good
Food Quality: Excellent
Guide Experience: Excellent
Other Personal Experience: Excellent
Overall Impression: Excellent
Recommend: Yes
Reviewer Comments: My dad hunted for Mule Deer and I hunted for Whitetail from 11/13 - 17 2007. We saw so many mule deer we couldn't even count them. On one day we saw close to 100 BUCKS including 4x4's, 5x5's, and a 6x7. My dad shot a nice 4x4 on the evening of the second day after passing on dozens of other bucks (some that were better!). We split our time between Whitetail and Mule deer hunting. I ended up hunting 2 evenings and 2 mornings before taking a nice 10 pt that scored over 131". He was unique in the fact that he only had a 10 1/4" inside spread but was very heavy with palmated beams. I saw about 22 whitetail bucks before taking him despite the lousy weather (warm and very windy). About half were decent 8 pts or better and two were likely bigger than what I shot but didn't offer an opportunity. This outfitter has access to a lot of prime land and we hunted a different area each day. Great hunt and I plan to go back.
outfitter review submitted by: George Finck on May 22 2007
Species Hunted: deer / antelope
Game Quality: many mature bucks
Accommodation Quality: good
Camp Condition: good
Food Quality: excellent
Guide Experience: excellent
Other Personal Experience: good
Overall Impression: fantastic
Recommend: without hesitation
Reviewer Comments: went in september on an archery combo hunt for antelope and deer (either whitetail or mule deer). saw literally hundreds of deer and antelope, with many good mature bucks. arrowed a nice antelope and a big whitetail buck that as of 2006 is the new montana state record for a whitetail in velvet. the whitetail grossed over 188. the game animals are so numerous it seems that it should be illegal to rifle hunt at powder river!!! the guides were great! the food was great!
outfitter review submitted by: Gary Jenkins on Dec 7 2005
Species Hunted: whitetail/mule deer
Game Quality: excellent
Accommodation Quality: good
Camp Condition: good
Food Quality: o.k.
Guide Experience: execellent
Other Personal Experience: good
Overall Impression: best ever
Recommend: always
Reviewer Comments: In november 2005 we hunted with powder river outfitters for our 5th time and it was as good as it always is. Nine of us went and we all killed by our 3rd day of the hunt. We killed two mule deer, 155 and 163,and seven whitetails,127,130,134,125,148,152,138.During our 5 years there we have seen 180 to 200 class mule deer and whitetails to 175. Of course they are not everywhere but you will see unbelievable numbers of nice deer.You are hunting out of trailers in bunk beds with all necessary conviences.We go on one to three hunts per year and this always ends up being our favorite.
outfitter review submitted by: Gary Jenkins on Dec 2 2004
Species Hunted: whitetail/mule deer
Game Quality: above average
Accommodation Quality: good
Camp Condition: good
Food Quality: very good
Guide Experience: very/good
Other Personal Experience: very/good
Overall Impression: loved it
Recommend: yes,highly
Reviewer Comments: I have been on about 10 or 12 outfitted hunts in various states and this is my favorite.
Contact: John Cherkauskas
Location: Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan
Species Hunted: Whitetail Deer
State(s) Hunted: SK
Quebec Hunting Information
Quebec is probably best know as an excellent caribou hunting destination. Hunters from across the globe travel to Quebec to hunt their big Quebec-Labrador caribou migration. In addition to caribou hunting, Quebec offers black bears, Canada moose and whitetails.
New Mexico Hunting Information
New Mexico is one of the top destinations for trophy Elk and Antelope hunting. Draw odds can be tough depending on the unit but landowner tags are also available for those who don't draw. Mule Deer are plentiful but generally of average size. Only a couple of units and reservations consistently produce big muleys.
Colorado Hunting Information
Colorado is one of the best western states for trophy mule deer hunting and has the largest population of elk in the west.
