My partner and I contacted Dale Denney (Bearpaw Outfitters) in June about a muzzleloader mule deer trophy hunt.
His web site indicated and he stated by telephone they had a lot of trophy mule deer in southeast Idaho. He seemed like an honest enough guy so we booked a hunt with him at a total cost $3,043.00, not including traveling expenses.
Our hunt was to include private land hunting, drop camp, all meals, a cook, an in camp guide and a verbal guarantee that we would see trophy class mule deer.
After traveling 2600 miles one way from Texas we found out we were to stay in what appeared to be his mother's house which was located in a subdivision.
We had to remove shoes and muddy clothes before entering the house, but Mr. Denney claimed it was his new hunting lodge. Also upon arrival we saw a doe and a spike hanging in the garage.
We later found out that there was NO private land to hunt on, it was all public land! There was no in camp guide! An much to our surprise, we were the only paying hunters, Mr. Denney had some friends and relatives that were there to hunt as well. Our only clue as to where to go to hunt was to wait until his friends and relatives left out in the morning and then try to follow them.
After a few days of hunting and talking to the local residents, we discovered that there had been NO trophy mule deer in southeast Idaho since 1992.
A hard winter in 1992 and in 1996 severely impacted the mule deer population. Again, the Bearpaw website and Mr. Denney assured us that trophy mule deer were currently abundant in the area. We also talked to a game warden that informed us that the State issued 2000 mule deer licenses in the southeast area alone in the 2002 season because the doe and spike population was so large they were trying cull the herd and rid the area of them.
Mr. Denney arrived a couple of days after we did with lumber and supplies to repair his mothers house and spend the majority of his time doing just that.
It was our understanding that Mr. Denney was to be our in-camp guide and did manage to draw us a map on the back of a matchbook cover in an effort to show us where to go hunt.
It was evident that we were taken advantage of and misled by Mr. Denney, all of his promises and offerings turned out to be false. We could have better spent $3,043.00 by just staying home.
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