Outfitter Review - Young Scouts Outfitters

Outfitter Information

Outfitter Name: Young Scouts Outfitters

Outfitter / Contact: Randy Armstrong

Location: Saskatchewan, Canada

Hunt Information

Animals Hunted: Whitetail /Mule Deer Combo

Game Quality: Poor

Game Quantity: Poor

Accomodations: Poor

Camp Condition: Extremely Poor

Food Quality: Extremely Poor

Guide Experience: My guide 6 yrs (17 years old)

Other Personal Experience: Unknown

Review Information

Hunter: Dan Newman

Phone: 281-293-9823

Email:

Would Recommend: No

Overall Impression: Extremely Poor

Here is what Randy (the owner/operator/outfitter) promised over the phone and most of which was listed on the contact he signed. I have a copy.1. pick up at airport upon arrival.2. Lodging would be cottages (if finished - under construction) if not - motel, all lodging included in the price of the package hunt.3. 1 on 1 guide4. 3 meals a day5. spot and stalk hunting - no blinds (hunt tailored to my request)6. opportunity at a 150 class whitetail or better and a 180 class muley or better.7. Hunt on Sunday - total 7 day hunt8. no more than 6 hunters in camp at any time9. fresh stands - not hunted previously10. outfitter (Randy) accessible to hunters at anytime during the hunt.Here is what really happened.1. landed in Saskatoon airport at 4:00PM. No one there to pick us up. Started calling the outfitter every hour on the hour. Outfitter and his wife repeatedly informed us that someone was on their way. Later found out that no one was on their way (they basically lied and admitted that they lied). Finally picked-up at airport at 11:30pm (7.5 hours late).2. Outfitter had finished 2 cottages (square buildings with no running water - did have unregulated wood burning stoves). Third cottage under construction but not usable. The outfitter had overbooked and did not have a place for us to stay. Asked us to pay for a motel room and he would reimburse us later, which he never did.3. I was set up with 1 on 1 guide. My guide was the outfitter's younger brother. He said he had 6 years experience guiding, he also said he was 17 years old. Correct me if my math is wrong, but that means he was guiding at age 11! The first morning we could not locate my guide, he overslept. Randy's wife called and had to tell me where he was so that I could wake him up. The other 2 hunters in our group were setup with (1) first year guide - again not as stated in the contract.4. Meals - breakfast consisted of 1 ice cold fried egg, one piece of toast and 1 frozen orange juice in a squeeze box with a straw. The other meals were just as bad if not worse. The hardest thing was trying to figure out where they were going to take us to eat. None of the staff seemed to know. We would just drive around to different houses until we found a house with food (mostly left overs) and then we would eat.5. I repeatedly asked my guide to take me out to spot and stalk - as previously agreed upon with Randy. (I have hunted in Canada for 10 years and always stand hunted. I did not want to stand hunt anymore.) My guide just kept bringing me to stands. This may have been due to the fact that he had broken his leg a few months prior and could barely walk!6. No one in our party saw any good animals, and 1 above avg. mule deer was brought into camp by another hunter. Several small mule deer were taken by other hunters. The only whitetail taken was a very promising (should never have been shot) 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 year old taken by a native boy (no hunters). The deer was shot 5-6 times with a .22 caliber rifle. The native indian guides got a big kick out of that.7. Our scheduled 7 day hunt ended after a day and a half - we had seen and heard enough - and left.8. There were 4 hunters in our group but one could not make it at the last minute. When we arrived there were already 5 hunters in camp making 8 hunters total. After the 5 hunters left, 7 more arrived making 10 hunters in camp. Remember we were promised only 6 hunters in camp at any one time.9. We were all brought to stands that all had deer killed out of them prior to our arrival. Not one stand was clean - as promised by the outfitter. When asking my guide if they had any clean stands he said yes, I requested that he bring me to one, but he never did.10. Last but not least, Randy had told me on the phone that he would be accessible to all of the hunters anytime during the hunt, just in case anything came up. We arrived in camp on Saturday morning and met Randy at breakfast and I saw him again at midday. We had communicated to him earlier that we would like to talk about what was going on, and he acknowledged he would talk with us. We did not see him again until 1pm /Sunday when he came in and (without even saying another word) asked us for money. We immediately asked to speak with him outside, he came out. When one of our party calmly started to express our concerns about what was going on, Randy bursted into profanity and started to yell and scream at this person. We immediately asked to have a ride back to town and ended our hunt. All of these things happened in a day and a half, it was a horrible experience. I would not recommend this outfitter to anyone.

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