Bowsite.com’s new Outfitter Reviews are a great way to research your next hunt. Unlike other review systems, we’ve taken great pains to reduce opportunities for abuse, and provide a system that is fair to both the hunter, and the outfitter.  We review each report for completeness and then look for full names with matching e-mail addresses. We then take the additional step of alerting the outfitter to the report so they can comment on the report in their own words.

Disclaimer - While we believe these controls will greatly reduce fraud along with attempts to market, or discredit, hunting services, Bowsite.com in no way guarantees, or checks against the accuracy of the reports submitted.  It is the responsibility of you, the hunter, to research these outfitters fully by doing your own, independent reference checks and discussions directly with these businesses.

 How to Use these reviews

A bad review does not necessarily equate to a bad outfitter.  The inverse holds true with good reviews as well.  There are a lot of factors that influence the outcome of a hunt. Weather tops that list, along with the hunters’ physical condition, and his level of experience. But other, not-so-apparent factors also come into play. Hunter attitude, unrealistic expectations, and the individuals’ demeanor all play a role.  And even the best outfitter (or hunter) can make mistakes and have an off week. For those reasons you need to keep an open mind when reading individual reviews.

Collective Reports are the Key

A single report may be helpful, but it is not truly meaningful. To fully understand whether an outfitter provides a good hunt, you need to review several reports.  If the outfitter you are interested in has a collection of poor reports that may tell you something. In any case, you should use our system as just one tool of many when searching for the best outfitter to fulfill your dream hunt.

Outfitter Response

There are typically two sides to every story. All too often I read about someone who’s had a terrible hunt and the outfitter is usually blamed for everything including a bad shot by the hunter. However, without hearing the outfitter’s side of the story these accounts can be often be skewed - unfairly.  For this reason we have built our approval flow to include the outfitter. After a review has been submitted, the outfitter receives a copy of that review via the mandatory email address provided by the hunter.  The outfitter’s message invites him to add his comments about the hunter-supplied review. This helps you, our visitor, to make a determination based on both accounts, not just the hunters’ account. 

Request a Report

We are the first website that publishes outfitter reports to provide a handy way for our visitors to REQUEST a report about a particular outfitter. Because we expect high traffic to this feature, we are confident that our requested reports will get a good response. We have also built in a notification process when a requested report is filled.

Bowsite Sponsors

Bowsite.com has dozens of outfitters who sponsor us. So naturally one may assume that we will protect our paying sponsors from negative reviews. This is not the case. We do provide perks for our sponsors however:  The first is that we will alert them to a negative review and release that review only after they’ve had the option to respond. We felt this was a fair way to handle the businesses that provide Bowsite.com to you, for free, without sacrificing the integrity of the information provided. Non-sponsors will be posted immediately and have the ability to append their comments to a review at any time. 

An additional perk for sponsors is that we provide a handy courtesy link to their website and email directly on the review. This link is not available to non-sponsoring outfitters; however, the links will become activated if, at any time in the future, they decide to become Bowsite.com sponsors.

 

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