LLoyd asked me to fill in an outfitter review even after receiving the following correspondence from me. He addressed my concerns for this hunt and I am booking for a 2012 moose rut hunt again. My hunt was a new 2 week combo hunt concentrating on elk and moose. The first week was to catch the end of the elk rut and the second week was to catch the beginning of the moose rut. I also had black bear, wolf and mule deer tags and were if the opportunity presented itself. Moose have antler restrictions in this area of BC and must have 3 eyeguards on a side or 10 points on a side. We had several moose called in as close as 2 yards but none legal. The area hold some whopper moose, as I saw some dead ones. Just none alive. I never saw any kind of elk. Bears and mule deer were also plentiful.
Hello Lloyd, Thank you for your note. I have had a week to reflect upon my hunt and would like to share with you my impressions. First off I felt both you and really wanted me to succeed and fill my tags, and worked hard towards that goal. I wanted you to know I appreciated that effort. However, there were many logistical roadblocks preventing a successful hunt that, if corrected, could help your future hunters enjoyment. Some of these points are very minor and maybe out of your control but others are very important, especially if you are serious about getting more bowhunters. There is no shuttle from the airport to the Super 8 on Sunday. Bjorn and I had to figure that out and get a taxi after the everyone had departed the airport. The Camp: A quick heads up that the trail to camp was a mess and that we should put on boots to walk back would have been a good idea. Basically I still had on my airplane traveling clothes. It wouldn't have been that hard to change shoes. The camp was in a beautiful location overlooking the creek valley. The tents and stoves were awesome. The cots would have benefited from having a sleeping pad on them for comfort and warmth. Pillows should also be provided. The sleeping bag provided was only 5 feet long and would have been inadequate even in summertime had it been the only bag available. Thankfully had a spare to offer me. The Hunt: stated he was instructed to immediately shoot any and all animals I shot with my bow, regardless of shot placement. Rifle shots render an animal ineligable for Pope and Young consideration. I am not into record books or entries but others will be. Also if I wanted an animal shot with a bullet, I would have shot it with a bullet. I was told I would be sharing camp with maybe one other bowhunter, instead I shared camp with two rifle hunters. You have 5000 square miles of territory yet we all hunted the same five miles of gas company roads, passing each other daily, going to the same spots, looking at the same sow and 3 cubs every day. This occurred mainly because the guides didn't know the territory. had spartan knowledge of the area and he showed what he knew so we saw each other every day. and I spent the first two days lost and trying to find our way out to a road and not hunting. I chalked it up to adventure but the pattern never changed. My elk guide never saw an elk in BC this year and had no idea where they were. guided his hunter to an elk bull in a big cut block and sent us there the next day. We got to the cut block but didn't know where to go from there and basically wasted another day because the guide was unfamiliar with the territory. I did stalk that beautiful mule deer that day but I believe it was blown because had to shoot any animal I shot and couldn't stay back while I did the stalk. The next day I passed on a small chocolate bear I had stalked to 10 yards standing broadside shot. Finally you called and we drove down to main camp. The food was awesome. was not a good camp cook, nice guy but not a cook. He gave good wake up calls in the morning but that was about all he did well. We also had beds and pillows. YOU called in a bull the first night. Awesome! We hunted Spengler Lake several times calling in the same small bull. tried to change up the plan the last morning and ended up screwing up the whole lake because he didn't know the area. He had moose running every which way but he couldn't hear them while stomping through frozen muskeg. We had verbal directions for the next two morning hunts but we ended up wandering around with no idea where to go, wasting two more days. Back to Crooked Horn. We got into a nice moose up at the wallows but still wasn't legal. We ended up finding two of treestands on a strong moose trail downhill of the wallows that didn't know were there. That kind of communication could have made for a different hunt, my guide knowing where there were good archery treestands. We also starting trying harder to get a bear. Your guides need to know how, and have the calls to, try and call in bears. I ended up shooting a wolf at camp through both front legs because gun was hitting 2 inches low at 40 yards. We tested the gun after the wolf fiasco. We never did find the wolf but we have front leg bones. On previous hunts that I have been on if a hunter tagged out or left, their guide usually tried to help the remaining guides and hunters fill their tags as well. and went home. They had talked about it with and he didn't mind so they took off. had really wanted to go home and these two guys didn't want to be there, imagine camp life. I thought them leaving was a classless act. is a great guy and we had a lot in common. I would like to think of us as friends and I don't want this review of my hunt to be an indictment of him. He was put into a position were he didn't know where any animals were and he worked like hell to find some. He really tried hard. The problem was I could have done the same thing with the same outcome without him. Of my five tags, I maybe could have shot a mule deer, definatly could have shot a bear, and did shoot a wolf (gun). I never saw an elk or legal bull moose. I think was the only one who knew how to hunt the area and had we hunted together my success may have been different. After the first week I honestly believed it would be an accident if I killed anything on this trip. I truly enjoyed your family and the people I met on this hunt. I know you're still figuring this business out. I think your area has tremendous potential and you do a great job from main camp. I was disappointed with my hunt. Would I recommend this hunt again? Not as the combo I did. I would probably recommend a later moose/bear hunt, but we did start seeing a lot of other hunters the last weekend. Well there you have it. This was my perspective of the hunt. Your guides and family may have other perspectives. Put them all together and you'll probably get a good picture of what actually happened. Thank you for your hospitality and your words of encouragement. I actually learned to shoot a bow with my teeth this year but fortunately my right arm came back enough to draw my bow. I have to go to the doctors again tomorrow. I would love to get one of those moose someday but I think this was my big lifetime trip. Stay well and keep working toward the future. Ed Wurmb
We very much enjoyed hunting with Ed , the combo hunt he was on was a first and we have addressed any shortcomings the hunt setup had. As Ed wanted to borrow a sleeping bag and we had none back from the cleaners we bought a new one for him not realizing that the thing was for kids. Turned out a tad short , my grandson now has a new bag :). We did get extremely close to moose and if legal Ed would have tagged his bull very easily , no question , he could have shot little 40" bulls several times . Some of the moose expiriences will be with Ed and us for a lifetime they were that close . We are very happy to host Ed on his quest for a large bull moose and were pleased to see him rebook the hunt later on in the season when the moose are rutting good . See you soon Ed and get ready to donate that arrow .
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