Bowsite.com

I have hunted with lots of different outfitters. I have to say that Kelly Christensen and Rafter C outfitters was definitely one of the worst. He was easy to contact and communicate with in January and February until he got my deposit. I booked a semi guided elk hunt. He told me we would be packed in far enough that we shouldn’t see other hunters. He told me that a food allergy that I have would be no problem and the cook was experienced in dealing with food allergies. I didn’t contact him again until early May with only two questions, what town should I stay in the night before we pack in ( so I could plan my long drive ) and should I bring a sleeping pad? I also mentioned the food allergy and each time I sent him an email or left a message, probably four or five times and told him I didn’t want to be a problem so I could bring food if necessary. There was no response to these questions for over three months. Finally just before I was planning to leave he sent an email that simply said no sleeping pad needed and the name of the town. I finally received a text message with the time and place to meet on the morning we were supposed to meet. I was met by some other outfitters who told me Mr Christenson had sold them this particular part of his outfitting business three or four months earlier but had never given them any information or phone numbers or anything for the hunters. They knew that some hunters were booked for this week so they were ready but Kelly had never given them any contact information or anything until that morning! They didn’t know if they were picking us up or if we were driving to the trailhead or if we would be in Jackson, Alpine WY. or Idaho Falls ID! When I asked about the food allergy I was told that he texted the information to them that morning as they were driving down the mountain to meet us and their horses were already at the trailhead and all the food was already at the camp. He also booked four other hunters for the week and they had been told that they would have the camp to themselves. I was glad that they were really great guys because when we arrived at his camp (It was his camp not the new owners equipment.) There was one small sleeping tent that barely fit five cots We even had to take the stove outside to get five cots in it, and we had to leave most of our gear outside. The floor was dirt with an inch of dust and there were two foot high weeds growing up around the inside of the tent. If it would have rained it would have been a muddy mess and our gear would have gotten soaked. One of the cots was broken and guess what? No sleeping pads. The new owners were great though. They rode out after a few days and got another tent and cots and made excellent food and were very accommodating. They didn’t know the area though because they had just arrived there. One day while hunting I discovered a big junk pile in the woods. Piles of old cans plastic rubbish and old saddle, lots of junk. When I mentioned to one of the outfitters that some people that have horses and the ability to haul out their mess were really sloppy. When I described the location I was told that is one of Rafter C’s other camp locations! As far as the hunting; five experienced hunters covering 6-12 miles a day didn’t’ hear any bugling except a few faint ones probably from other hunters and only saw a spike and a couple of cows. All of the elk sign we saw was really old, many months old. There was another camp close to our camp and going a short distance east on the trail there was another one and a bit farther another horse camp. When I went the other direction I ran into hunters coming in from the roads.

Was the outfitter notified of problems? - NO