Having been on a number of "camp" hunts, this was my first true wilderness hunt (ie. a horse ride from the trailhead and no electricity or running water in camp). All I can say is Doug and Joe really know how to run a camp and they had everything you would ever need in a camp miles from nowhere.
Although hunting is mostly about the animals, in the ratings I wish they had a category for outfitters and the camp staff as they have a huge influence on a trip whether you kill an animal or not. In the case of Indian Summer Outfitters the people are second to none. If you needed something, they'd find it. They were very knowledgeable about the area we hunted and knew how to hunt the elk there. No one ever had a bad attitude whether 4:00AM in the morning or 10:00PM at night. And around the campfire they created a camaraderie that finished our long days in a very relaxing way.
For the hunting itself, I was concerned about going to the Bitterroot given the wolf problems and news of declining elk numbers. That said, we heard and saw elk almost every day. Not dozens every day, but we were seeing them. Although we were not signed up for a guided hunt, Doug even spent the first day walking the ridges and valleys with us to familiarize us with the area and to jumpstart our hunt.
My hunting buddy and I both ended up having several encounters and each had our opportunity to put one on the ground, but with elk hunting, one of those thousand things seemed to get in our way.
I would highly recommend Indian Summer Outfitters and look forward to my next opportunity to hunt with them.
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