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Fishtail Ranch Outfitters

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Fishtail Ranch Outfitters

Postby Deanmac » 02 25, 2019 •  [Post 1]

Friend of mine, that took me on my first elk hunt four years ago, in SW Colorado.
He is looking at booking a hunt with them for 2020, this would be in Colorado, unit 80 near Alamosa. It appears they do drop camp and guided, I am not sure what he plans of booking. IMO, I would not want to do a drop camp with an outfitter that also does guided hunts. I would figure the guided hunts would get the prime areas and the drop camps get what the guides did not like. Agree or Disagree with that reasoning??

Anyone have any knowledge of this outfitter? I think a 5 day guided hunt is $4250 during gun season 2 to 1 ratio. Drop camp is $8K for 4 people.
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Re: Fishtail Ranch Outfitters

Postby Swede » 02 25, 2019 •  [Post 2]

I think you are right about the drop camp issue. Some say no, but think about it. Would an outfitter put his guides into the second rate areas, and put drop camp hunters in the prime spots? The guides and outfitters know where the critters are. They are going to keep them to themselves unless there is an abundance of excellent spots and they just can't cover them all. Repeat customers are going to get the second best. Georgia folks that may return on their own get the left overs.
The only way I would go on a drop camp hunt would be to go with a person that specialized in drop camps. Unless you are totally set on Colorado, I would contact Indian Summer.
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Re: Fishtail Ranch Outfitters

Postby Deanmac » 02 26, 2019 •  [Post 3]

Swede wrote:I think you are right about the drop camp issue. Some say no, but think about it. Would an outfitter put his guides into the second rate areas, and put drop camp hunters in the prime spots? The guides and outfitters know where the critters are. They are going to keep them to themselves unless there is an abundance of excellent spots and they just can't cover them all. Repeat customers are going to get the second best. Georgia folks that may return on their own get the left overs.
The only way I would go on a drop camp hunt would be to go with a person that specialized in drop camps. Unless you are totally set on Colorado, I would contact Indian Summer.


Thanks for the comments!
My next trip will probably be to WY, I need to build a couple points. I have already talked with Indian Summer, nice guy.

My experience on the drop camp, two years ago, even if the outfitter only does drop camps, the new client will get the worst spot and the repeat customer gets the prime. LOL
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Re: Fishtail Ranch Outfitters

Postby Indian Summer » 02 26, 2019 •  [Post 4]

As a former outfitter I totally disagree with that. An outfitter has to be able to take all kinds of lazy out of shape hunters on guided hunts. Drop camps aren’t for wimps. My drop camp sites were awesome. I could go on with several other points of view but I won’t bother. If you aren’t quite sure of anything call the outfitter and ask a million questions about including the phone numbers of past drop camp hunters.
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Re: Fishtail Ranch Outfitters

Postby Swede » 02 26, 2019 •  [Post 5]

I have read and heard of several hunters that "booked" drop camp hunts, who were abandoned and/or were placed in areas with no game. Still I think Indian Summer makes a good point. Check out the outfitter through the customer references they have. You might be able to verify those on the list by contacting the Forest Service to find out from them how many people they dropped off into camps. They all had to be under the outfitter's permit. See if they too will give you a list of names of the clients for the last couple of years. That was not my specialty when I worked for the F.S., so I do not know just how much information they have on the clients, but they should know the numbers. If you start to hear bureaucratic mumbo jumbo, ask if they need a FOIA request in order to supply the requested information.
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