Trip report: Shattuck Creek Outfitters - Whitetail hunt

[Bareback]

Could you share what a day of hunting was? For the day, did you leave the lodge by foot, horse, quad or truck? Did you sit and wait, still hunt, spot in stalk? I was in the same area for those dates. Weather wise it was more snow and colder than normal. Top crust snow, sunny and dead calm made for tougher conditions hunting timber whitetails. We saw plenty of does everyday but the buck sightings were down a bit.

[C-Money]

I doubt you'll hear back from them. Hope I'm wrong. Sorry it didn't turn out, as that is a crap ton of money!

[Bob33]

From what I’ve read it is difficult to assess whether that was a normal year for the outfitter and he potentially misled customers, or it was an unusual year. If it was an unusual year, he could have been a little more apologetic about the experience and perhaps offered an incentive to return. Outfitters rely on having a good reputation to generate repeat business.

I don’t know how much you did, but a lesson learned might be to do more research before booking. Even though the reference names the outfitter provides will generally say positive things, you can often learn enough from them to have more realistic expectations. Knowing how long the outfitter has been in business can provide insight. Asking the local biologists and wardens about the areas you will be hunting can provide helpful information on the area and recent conditions, and possibly information about the outfitter.

Of course you can also ask the outfitter just prior to the hunt what you can expect animal wise, especially if you are looking for a particular animal or trophy size. If it tells you to expect seeing 50 deer a day and you see five, then you have a pretty good case for being upset.

In reality you paid for a hunt, not an animal. Sometimes a hunt meets expectations, and sometimes it doesn’t. It is unfortunate you had the experience you did but it sounds like other than animal numbers it was enjoyable.

[Gettin Birdie]

little more research on whitetail deer in that area and the west woulda led to a conclusion that is BS. I dont even see a single buck barely exceeding 130 in all the harvest photos. 140" plus whitetail is hard to find and I would venture to say in a whitetails lifetime if given a full life that maybe 2 out of 10 bucks will grow antlers exceeding 140.

That area with more research woulda also led to that its hammered by hunters and wolves have a huge impact on deer there. Also that terrain is tough to hunt deer and let alone see multiple shooter bucks in a week.

Unfortunately True, unless it was some great private ground.  I shot a 140-145" (rough guess by taxi, I never measured it) mountain whitey relatively close by in 2019.  My buddy who's camp I stayed at said, It was the biggest buck he's ever seen taken out of there and he's been going there for 13 years.  He horn hunts it all the time as well.  He's found bigger horn hunting but never during season.  Wolves have severely impacted the area as well.  I shot my buck ~150 yards away from a road where 2 WA residents drove by in atv's about an hour before    I was not road hunting, out walking, lesson is, walk around. 

[ljsommer]

From what I’ve read it is difficult to assess whether that was a normal year for the outfitter and he potentially misled customers, or it was an unusual year. If it was an unusual year, he could have been a little more apologetic about the experience and perhaps offered an incentive to return. Outfitters rely on having a good reputation to generate repeat business.

I don’t know how much you did, but a lesson learned might be to do more research before booking. Even though the reference names the outfitter provides will generally say positive things, you can often learn enough from them to have more realistic expectations. Knowing how long the outfitter has been in business can provide insight. Asking the local biologists and wardens about the areas you will be hunting can provide helpful information on the area and recent conditions, and possibly information about the outfitter.

Of course you can also ask the outfitter just prior to the hunt what you can expect animal wise, especially if you are looking for a particular animal or trophy size. If it tells you to expect seeing 50 deer a day and you see five, then you have a pretty good case for being upset.

In reality you paid for a hunt, not an animal. Sometimes a hunt meets expectations, and sometimes it doesn’t. It is unfortunate you had the experience you did but it sounds like other than animal numbers it was enjoyable.

Agreed. I know some folks have been suggesting I did not research it properly, and perhaps that is the case. I got the referral from a post I found on here and the user suggested it as one of the locations he had used before and was happy with. I think that gave me a bit of bias.

[ljsommer]

Could you share what a day of hunting was? For the day, did you leave the lodge by foot, horse, quad or truck? Did you sit and wait, still hunt, spot in stalk? I was in the same area for those dates. Weather wise it was more snow and colder than normal. Top crust snow, sunny and dead calm made for tougher conditions hunting timber whitetails. We saw plenty of does everyday but the buck sightings were down a bit.

Yeah the snow was all frozen, all week with no new snow to soften footsteps. It was impossible to move without everything within 500 yards hearing you.
We would have breakfast at about 4:30 and then roll out in an SUV with a trailer and two quads. We'd park and either hike in before sunlight and setup on a spot(s), or drive in somewhere on the quads and then finish the approach on foot. We'd glass for 2 hours or so, which is about all we could handle before we had to get up and move due to the cold.
We'd break for lunch at some point, which was as much about moving to generate heat as it was eating food. We'd discuss evening plans and evening sit locations and then go get set up, often in multiple locations to cover more ground. Most of my evenings I was solo, and enjoyed a handful of really nice sunsets by myself before hiking out in the dark.

I got the read that we were the only group that was doing much hiking to our spots, and a lot of the other guys were in stands or blinds, but they had as much luck as we did.

[vandeman17]

Not to thread jack but for 2023, I can send you and your wife to a few spots that you guys can likely kill deer if you are willing to sit in a stand. Hit me up in the summer if interested

[outdooraddict]

to each their own and its your $, and you justified the spending for a multitude of reasons, in addition, you seem pleased with the experience minus the harvest and deer sightings.  nobody asked my opinon, but its the internet and ill spout off anyways, but there is no way personally i would drop that $ on a whitetail hunt.  there is so much public access in idaho/ northern idaho that you could have done exactly what they had you do (ride quads and sit and glass), and you could have bought a quad, stayed in a hotel and fed yourself for that cost and got to keep the quad.  im glad your pleased with some of the experience, but 10k to me is a lot of money at this stage of my life and i personally think you got ripped off.  one thing you have going for yourself, is the outlook your giving it. you are pleased with the lodging and food, and accommodations, and it seems you know that you were hunting, not "shooting".  i wish you hunting success in the future and if you choose a guided hunt again, i hope you have a better experience

[dilleytech]

I would be really nice and polite too if I was robbing people. I’m curious do they let you actually hike and hunt at all or do they force you to sit in blinds?

[Rainier10]

Was the $10k for two hunters and the tip or one hunter and a companion? If it was a $4.5k hunt and both of you were hunting and gave a $1k tip I’m not sure you overpaid especially with your description of service provided that they could control.

[ljsommer]

Was the $10k for two hunters and the tip or one hunter and a companion? If it was a $4.5k hunt and both of you were hunting and gave a $1k tip I’m not sure you overpaid especially with your description of service provided that they could control.

That was two hunters and the tip. Thanks for validating the pricing. To answer a previous question, yes we got to hike and hunt all day.

[baldopepper]

I might add this seemed like a bit of an odd year for deer all over the northwest.  We've hunted the same basic area for over 20 years and some years the deer were there and other years they weren't. Whitetail this year were found scattered in the area and not in some areas that normally have good numbers.  I suspect it had a lot to do with the exceptionally long dry summer.  Early rifle hunt was a bust for most, with some claiming to not see a single whitetail or mulie buck. During the late hunt mule deer bucks were everywhere.  Guess what I'm implieing  is that perhaps you just had the bad luck of hitting a bad year.  Sounds like the outfitters worked hard and treated you well, but some years are just that way. Doesn't excuse the no response to your post hunt inquiry, but unless it's a high fence or ultra private property hunt there are never any guarantees of success.

[huntnfmly]

My daughters and I have done several guided hunts and the price you paid is just about the same we paid  across the board
We’ve had success and we have gone home empty handed but always enjoyed the hunt and the experience as it sounds like you did.
Sorry you feel mislead as a few on here have mentioned it sounds like a weird and unfortunate weather situation and it is hunting after all it does happen
So enjoy the next one👍

[ljsommer]

Absolutely, couldn't agree more with that sentiment. Believe me, after 5 or or so years of "hunting" (it may be a stretch to use that word but I'll use it anyway) I have grown very accustomed to not harvesting animals, but I think the idea was that I would at least get to have encounters/opportunities. I can "not see" animals at home, for free, so to drop that kind of money you want to at least see some deer. Even seeing a beautiful buck 1,000 yards away would've been nice.

But as you say, that's hunting and that's how it goes.

[huntnfmly]

Hope my post didn’t come off as oh well deal with it that was not my intention I definitely understand and have had the same frustration
The next one will be better 👍