Trip report: Shattuck Creek Outfitters - Whitetail hunt

[buckfvr]

It should be incredibly simple for an outfitter to provide current trail cam pics of the area he intends for you to hunt, complete with animals, velvet bucks etc..  Conditions change year to year and you cannot rely on things to remain the same, and its easy for me to imagine an outfitter stuck in/on past hunts from a few years ago that dont represent this year and probably not next year either.

It would take an awful lot of persuasion for me to drop 5k for an "animal less" hunt experience.

[Bob33]

Here's a review with some similar concerns expressed although they are from 15 years ago.

https://www.nexthunt.com/Shattuck-Creek-Outfitters/4745

[trophyhunt]

My moose guide was only 3,500, same with his whitetail hunts, it sure seems like you over paid by a bit.  I can see 180-200" whitetails going for over 5k but that should be guaranteeing at least you see one, an opportunity is always what a guide is after, and for that kind of money, an opportunity should happen. 

[Karl Blanchard]

Few things that's stuck out to me when I visited their website. Almost none of those bucks are over 130" and most all those pics seem very "dated".  The clothes and gear scream late 90's/early 2000's. I could be wrong but I bet I'm not.

[HntnFsh]

I think as mentioned. It was probably a bad year for deer. But the outfitter and guides had to have known that and been upfront about it. Shady to me, as far as deer expectations from their website.

I know of one well known outfitter on here that mentioned cutting trips etc. Because of low numbers. That's the right thing to do!

[Sundance]

My takeaway for what it’s worth: the guide advertised a 90% success rate, the group of 6 hunters for your stay posted a 16.6% success rate. That’s a drop of 73.4%, pretty significant in my eyes. For a shortfall that drastic I’d hope the outfitter would offer some type of return visit/discount.

[ljsommer]

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 👍

Nope not at all and I appreciate your input! I hope I've been clear that I was very impressed by the folks that worked there and their facilities. Great group of hardworking people. I just think they need to update what they're trying to sell.

[ljsommer]

Here's a review with some similar concerns expressed although they are from 15 years ago.

https://www.nexthunt.com/Shattuck-Creek-Outfitters/4745

I can verify at least some of this.
"The so called guides drop you off at designated stands/blinds and leave you there for the day. These stands/blinds appear to be placed in the same locations year after year." - that part was accurate for most of the hunters in camp. That was definitely NOT my personal experience, as my guide was very active with us all day long. However, at dinner we'd talk about our days and almost everyone there was dropped off at a stand and just sat there all day. Again I don't know if that's typical or appropriate, just relating what I was told at dinner by the other hunters.

[ljsommer]

Few things that's stuck out to me when I visited their website. Almost none of those bucks are over 130" and most all those pics seem very "dated".  The clothes and gear scream late 90's/early 2000's. I could be wrong but I bet I'm not.

As I mentioned, my guide was the owner's son. He told us that they hadn't done any whitetail guided hunts in 5 years, and that this year they decided to update their website which drew in more traffic. Two of those pictures are of the guide's sons and their deer. Many of those pictures may indeed be old, but at least one of them is from this season, and the story isn't great:

(told to us by our guide) After dropping off a hunter at a location, the owner and his son were heading back to camp and saw a good buck walking down a fireroad and the owner told his son to shoot it. This seemed weird to me as you'd think that dropping that buck meant less opportunity for your hunters, during the hunt they'd paid for. I didn't comment as I don't know if that's normal or not.

[Buckhunter24]

Here's a review with some similar concerns expressed although they are from 15 years ago.

https://www.nexthunt.com/Shattuck-Creek-Outfitters/4745

I can verify at least some of this.
"The so called guides drop you off at designated stands/blinds and leave you there for the day. These stands/blinds appear to be placed in the same locations year after year." - that part was accurate for most of the hunters in camp. That was definitely NOT my personal experience, as my guide was very active with us all day long. However, at dinner we'd talk about our days and almost everyone there was dropped off at a stand and just sat there all day. Again I don't know if that's typical or appropriate, just relating what I was told at dinner by the other hunters.

For what its worth thats how I hunt whitetails is sit all day. Sounds boring but my success rate went way way up. I think I must be louder than I think when walking because still hunting whitetails has not produced much for me. I can see that being off putting on a guided hunt though

[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 👍

Nope not at all and I appreciate your input! I hope I've been clear that I was very impressed by the folks that worked there and their facilities. Great group of hardworking people. I just think they need to update what they're trying to sell.

👍

[baldopepper]

So here's the dilemma I used to run salmon charters, there were periods where the fish weren't there and I knew that trips were probably going to be a bust before I ever left the dock.  It was not my sole source of income, so I was able to tell my customers before hand that fishing was very slow and gave them the option of canceling. Some went anyway because they mostly just wanted a day on the water. Some of my fellow charter captains had no other source of income and were not anxious to write off those days or weeks when fishing was poor. Not sure it was ethical, but they had bills to pay and worked hard to catch fish for their customers. They had pictures and happy customer references, but rarely any from the current time period.  Not saying for sure that this applies in this situation, but with limited seasons  I suspect some outfitters are reluctant to chase away clients even knowing hunting is very slow.  Not sure how to get around this as a client, but I'm sure it does happen

[trophyhunt]

I think as mentioned. It was probably a bad year for deer. But the outfitter and guides had to have known that and been upfront about it. Shady to me, as far as deer expectations from their website.

I know of one well known outfitter on here that mentioned cutting trips etc. Because of low numbers. That's the right thing to do!

That is exactly what our moose guide did, we were scheduled for Oct 8-14 this year. But because it was slow and hot out, he suggested coming back in mid Nov.  he said he could take our money and drive around in that early season, but he wanted us to have the best chance at killing a good bull. He had my trust after that, it was the right thing to do.

[Stein]

Whitetails aren't salmon, they have a home range of what, a square mile?  They should have a reasonable idea of what animals are on the properties they have access to long before you arrive.  Whether or not you see those is up to the deer, but for a bunch of people to all go out and hunt hard and nobody sees anything would suggest there wasn't anything to see.

I would be disappointed, but it is what it is and sounds like you had a good time.