Shepp Ranch

note: The following reviews predate the numeric rating system and are not included in this outfitter's overall rating.

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outfitter review submitted by: Steve Trover on Jun 6 2001

Species Hunted: Elk & Deer

Game Quality: Excellent

Accommodation Quality: Excellent

Camp Condition: Excellent

Food Quality: Excellent

Guide Experience: Excellent

Other Personal Experience: Excellent

Overall Impression: Professional and Outstanding

Recommend: Absolutely

Reviewer Comments: I used other outfitters for Elk and Deer in the Salmon River country of Idaho prior to discovering Shepp Ranch. However, Shepp Ranch is without question the finest hunting outfitter I have ever experienced, period. I plan on returning to Shepp Ranch every possible year in the future to hunt Elk and Deer and to enjoy the fine people affilliated with Shepp Ranch. As long as I can maneuver the steep, rugged and beautiful mountains of Idaho's Salmon River country, I will keep comming back. Our guide, our cook and the other Shepp Ranch personnel were simply outstanding. I have never seen an outfitter so capable, ethical and committed to providing the finest hunting experience possible. We were fortunate to see lots of game during our hunt. We took both Deer and Elk during the hunt because our guide was so experienced and completely familiar with the area. I believe our guide has been guiding out of Shepp Ranch for close to twenty years. We hunted extremely hard each day, leaving camp each morning well before light and arrived back at camp each evening after dark. Shepp Ranch constantly demonstrated its commitment to provide us with an outstanding experience every day of our hunt. Our guide made sure that safety and hunting ethics were a top priority. We enjoyed a safe, ethical and absolutely first rate hunting experience with the fine people from Shepp Ranch. Without question, it is the best hunt I have ever experienced. One word of caution. The country we hunt out of Shepp Ranch is extremely rugged and steep. You must be in good physical condition for this hunt. If you are not physically fit to handle strenuous hiking in extremely steep mountain country, you might look for some other area to hunt. While we rode horses from camp several hours each day to the general area where game was located, the hunt is still physically demanding. We hiked several miles up and down extremely steep mountains each day. None of this country is even close to flat. It is the most physically demanding country I have hunted. Be prepared for some very hard work, but its worth it. During the week we hunted, we saw several hundred Elk, including at least 50 bulls. Several six point bulls were spotted and I ended up taking a nice 6X5 bull after missing a very large 6X6 bull. My hunting partner shot a large 5X4 Mule Deer buck with a spread just under 30 inches. We passed up several animals. My partner missed shots at nice bull Elk and I missed a very large Mule Deer buck just a short walk from our camp. (It must have been my scope). The area held plenty of game and we had plenty of opportunity to fill all our tags. On a final note, the food at Shepp Ranch itself and in hunting camp is outstanding. One night we had fresh Salmon with a pepper and fruit salsa for dinner. Another evening we had Cornish Game Hens with a great sauce. Every morning well before light, the cook and/or our guide would wake us up by comming into our tent and shoving a hot cup of coffee in front of our cold nose and then start the fire in the wood stove. By the time I struggled out of my sleeping bag, the canvas tent was nice and warm even though it was way below freezing outside. Its a good thing the mountains are so steep and rugged and require so much hard work to climb; otherwise I might have gained some weight on the trip. Even if we had not fired a single shot during the hunt, I would still rate Shepp Ranch as the finest hunting experience I have ever encountered. In the event you fail to fill a tag, it wouldn't be from a lack of effort by the guide. Shepp Ranch is not only a well run operation, the fine group of people that operate Shepp Ranch are simply wonderful hosts. By the way, I have no connection to Shepp Ranch except for the pleasure of hunting there for the first time in late October of last year. My other outfitting trips don't come close to the quality of Shepp Ranch. It is truly a great hunting experience.

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