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Hunter Comments

Where to begin...

#1 - Booked this just about a year in advance to get the entire camp for family/friends, all hunters and fishermen. Had a variety of weaponry, from traditional/compound bows to shotguns and rifles. Was told FROM THE OUTSET that hunting with traditional archery over hounds would not be a problem. When we arrived, we were told to "leave those bows in the car", as they would not allow bowhunting on the bear.

#2 - One individual is not a hunter, and we were promised a "fishing guide" for ALL 7 DAYS of the trip for an additional fee. When we arrived, the boats for fishing on the lake were on racks and unavailable. Further, even though we had paid, there was no fishing guide whatsoever.

#3 - While on the first day of the bear hunt, personal safety was at high risk. One member of our party was verbally abused for loading his weapon prematurely. The hounds had bayed a bear in a rock quarry, when the head outfitter DIRECTED this same member of the party to point the barrel of his rifle into a crevice in the quarry and blindly fire shots to flush the bear. It should also be noted that this bear was about the size of a doberman, and we had NO input as to whether or not we would go after it.

#4 - It was advertised as full day hunts. The dog handler would run the dogs from about 8am to 12pm, then say that "they were tired" and we were calling it a day. Keep in mind there were about 20 dogs, only 5-7 of which were ran at one time. The remainder of the day, the guides would drive around the property to different baits and treestands for maintenance, and claim that there were technically "opportunties" during this time, so if the members of the party wanted to tag along and help change baits, they would have a full-day hunt....oh, yes, and the guides all brought their own lunches which they enjoyed in front of the clients who were not provided with, or instructed to bring any sustinence of their own.

#5 - Several of the party had chosen not to hunt bear, and only hunt whitetail. These hunts were limited to unguided still-hunting on a nearby private farm.

I could honestly go on for much longer. This was the furthest possible thing from a "client-first" mentality, and I would strongly encourage anyone seriously considering this outfitter to reconsider and/or get a CT scan. Guides were rude to the clients, who were treated as more of a nuisance than anything else.

In short, our expectations and the outfitter's promises were not met in the least, and keep in mind, all we were looking for was an OPPORTUNITY on an animal somewhat representative of the species (read: not a St. Bernard-sized black bear).

Was the outfitter notified of problems? - YES

Outfitter's Response

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to this report and this hunt.

John Peitropaoli booked a hunt with Tomah Mountain Outfitters on 3-8-06 for the week of October 9-14, 2006. He booked 4 men on a combination hunt - black bear with hounds in the morning and bowhunting for deer in the evening. The cost of this 6-day hunt was $1500.00 per hunter. The cost of hunting license was extra - $171.00 per hunter. The bear hunt was fully guided and the deer hunt was guided the first day to show hunters where the stands were - about 2 miles from camp. After the hunters were set for the evening hunt, I would go to the bear baits to check them for the next day.

John booked 4 hunters to hunt deer, bear, and coyote at blinds and treestands we set up for them. They provided transportation to and from the stands. The cost of this 6-day hunt was $550.00 per hunter. The cost of license was extra - $171.00 per adult hunter and a junior license was less.

John booked one fisherman for $200.00 plus the license fee for a 6-day week. This person fished 2 days - fly fishing in a stream for trout. After 2 days he had to return to work. He was a local man from Maine.

There was an extra charge of $600.00 for an extra guide to cover all areas of the hunts. This was agreed upon by John at the time of booking the hunts. It was a one cost for all hunters - a total of $600.00. The total cost for this booking - 8 hunters and 1 fisherman was $9000.00(not including the license or food).

When John's party arrived at camp the first day, I was informed at that time 5 people out of the 9 that came could only hunt for 2 days. This was the 4 hunter party for the bear, deer, and coyote hunt plus the fisherman. John's party of 4 for the bear with hounds and bowhunting for deer informed me they could only hunt for 5 days.

First day out on the hound hunt - the hunt listed on the website - we found a good bear track and turned the dogs loose. The dogs ran the bear and bayed it in some rock ledges. The hunters were instructed they could use a bow if the bear was in a tree, they would have to use a gun if the bear was on the ground for the safety of the hunters and the dogs. Hunters were instructed not to load guns while walking into where the bear was bayed up. This is always a rule for the safety of the hunters - there is never an exception. I retrieved the dogs out of the ledges and was only a few feet away from the bear. I asked the hunter did he want to shoot the bear - the bear was in clear sight - and he did not. The bear then left the ledges and the dogs ran and treed the bear. One of the hunters in the party then shot the bear with a long bow, the bear was tagged and weighed at 210 pounds and it had a nice coat of fur.

I would like to say that I always put safety for the hunters, guides, and dogs first before the harvesting of a bear. I enjoyed hunting with John and his party that week. I wish they could have hunted for a full week. The gifts and generous tips they gave us at the end of the hunt were very much appreciated.