When I thought I was going to start my business I had decided not to take hunters from Washington to prevent them from just hunting my spots on their own after their trip.
I had a lot of interest, but the only one to follow through was a guy we'll just call "C".
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C. and I had many conversations prior to his trip out.
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I told him we would be hiking logging roads behind closed gates several miles to our hunting areas.
Chances were pretty good we would be taking midday breaks to wait for wind/thermal changes and eat lunch.
He admitted he was not in the best of shape, but could hike a fair distance and would be working on improving during the summer.
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Car camping and driving to different areas for the day, hunting for any legal animal, public access land.
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He arrived early and I showed him the camp, fixed a lunch and we spent a little time talking.
He brought out a box of wine and poured a glass while I had a beer.
Because of no fire regulations, and it only being 2 of us, I suggested an afternoon walk.
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We drove to one of the gates I like and proceeded to stretch our legs.
We had only gone about a half mile at a comfortable stroll when a nice bull walked out into the road ahead of us.
I suggested we back out to avoid disturbing the herd now that we knew they were definitely in the area.
We head back to camp and get ready to hit the gate first thing in the morning.
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That's when he broke out the 1/2 gallon..
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I had a couple drinks with him and we ate dinner, then I told him I was going to hit the rack, morning came early.
I woke up in the middle of the night a few times because C. was snoring very loud.
The alarm clock finally told me it was time to get rolling, so I got up and fixed a pot of coffee, heated the griddle and tried to wake C.
Eventually got him to come out of his tent and handed him a cup and plate.
He promptly poured a shot in his coffee from the half empty bottle and had his breakfast.
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I urged him to hurry, as I wanted to be at the gate before daylight, and (hopefully) any other hunters.
He complained about not getting any sleep because he did not have his C-pap machine, and was feeling a little poorly.
We got to the gate, and had the place to ourselves
We began our walk in with high hopes.
Walking in to where we had seen the bull the day before, I elected to stop and listen for a while and wait until we could see.
There were plenty of tracks and fresh droppings, so we walked the road to the next spur that went off in the direction they had traveled.
We walked slowly along the spur, looking for more fresh sign and found where they had crossed and dropped down into the creek bottom.
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I asked him if he was ready, and he looked at me in confusion.
I explained that we were going to follow the trail down, and his look changed to bewilderment.
He said "there is no way we can sneak through that!"
I informed him that we were not going to sneak, we were going to have to just follow the trail until we found more fresh sign, then set up and try some calling.
I finally convinced him to leave the road and come with me.
When we hit the creek bed we found an extensive network of easy walking trails, lots of fresh rubs and good sign.
Finding a nice spot with clear shooting lanes, I placed him along one of the bigger trails and backed off about 30 yards.
I waited a little while then began a quiet cow/calf sequence..
Wind was right, no hurry...
After a little while I took it up a notch with some louder lost calf, and cow responses.
Then waited a little while.
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Not getting a response being subtle, I decided to throw out a location bugle.
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Immediately I got a lot of commotion from the direction of C. ...
Then he comes hotfooting it towards me.
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Seems he had dozed off until my bugle, and it "scared" him.
He said he was not feeling very good, and how much longer until we went back to camp for lunch?
I tried to explain lunch was in my pack and we had just started, but he insisted that he did not feel well because he did not get much sleep without his C-pap, and wanted to return to camp.
Because he was a paying client, I reluctantly agreed to return to camp, but wanted to come back early afternoon.
Once we were at camp, I began preparing a hot lunch while C. went back to work finishing off his 1/2 gallon.
After lunch he went into his tent for a nap while I messed around near camp.
Around 2 I decided to interrupt the loud snoring, and eventually got C. to emerge from his tent.
He again complained about not getting enough sleep (despite the sounds of sleeping I heard) and said he was not sure if he was up to heading back to that place.
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I tried to hide my disappointment and suggested a shorter walk near camp.
We did manage to see a lone cow, but could not get close enough for a shot.
C. commented about how that was much more like he had imagined, an easy elk near camp, uphill from a road.
I explained that it was unlikely we would be that lucky, but it was his money so I would try to figure out something a little closer to the road.
He said that going back where we started would be fine, but wanted to stay out of that "thick stuff".
He was used to hunting a few hours in the morning, then having a "he man" breakfast before taking a nap, then lunch before the evening hunt.
He had assumed that's what I meant by a "midday break"
That's how his outfitted deer hunts had been.
The rest of the week was pretty much the same, he polished off a lot of whiskey, complained about not getting enough sleep because he did not have his C-pap, and we walked logging roads.
We did get to see a few elk, but were busted long before we were in range.
I discovered that a few miles in, then out was all I could get out of him and most of the "easy" gates had other hunters.
There also was other trucks showing up at our first gate so we spent more time driving around than I would have liked.
He was a decent enough fellow, but was more interested in hanging around camp drinking than actually spending any time in the woods.
He had watched videos without thinking about how much was edited between the action sequences.
He had based his expectations on his whitetail hunting experiences, and thought we would see more animals, not realizing the size and scope of the area or the distances required to locate them.
I had included wording in my description explaining the difficulties, and that there were no guarantees of success.
But I HAD painted a pretty picture of elk hunting in my desire to attract clients.
I seriously reconsidered my idea of a guide business, but decided to be a little more explicit in my description on what to expect.
Long ALL DAY hunts with sack lunches and little sleep was going to be stressed.
Worse case scenarios about the brush, and emphasize about the terrain being steep.
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My dreams of making a living as an outfitter/guide have ended, I just don't have the time or resources to commit to actually generating an income that would support my family.
I did learn a lot from the few clients I did get in the 3 years I tried, and did have a couple satisfied customers.
But you never forget your first.
