Swan Mountain Outfitters Review

Out of 7 hunters I was the only one that saw a few Elkin a 5 day hunt. We did not get close enough to get one.

Last week I went on a 7 day backcountry hunt with the Swan Mountain Outfitters/Salmon Forks Outfitters in the Bob. From the time we met Patrick, Payton (I m definitely spelling that wrong) and the rest of the guys, they were so nice and willing to answer questions. The trip started off great and everyone was awesome during the week. Wesley, the camp cook made you feel full every morning and night and had our lunches ready to go. Though I did not harvest an animal, I saw some incredible country and had the time of my life on my first western hunt. One of the guys was lucky enough to harvest a beautifully big whitetail. I will say, I was unprepared for how physically challenging it was but the guides never left me behind and kept pushing me the whole way (thanks for not just telling me to sit and watch Nelson. I ll keep up with you next time!). Jacob, my guide for 4 of the days was very knowledgeable and we had a great time during the week. If you re on the fence about whether or not to book with them, I say just do it! Make no mistake, this is not a farm hunt. It is a true wilderness hunt and you may not see any game (and Patrick was very clear about it and I can see why, it is HUGE country) but it is 100% worth it. I m looking forward to getting in much better shape and doing it again in the future.

Went on half day Canyon Creek snowmobile tour just after Christmas. Brian and Carter were great guides and made sure we enjoyed ourselves. Highly recommend.

I highly recommend Pat Tabor. He is an exceptional honest and candid outfitter. Pat will give you a clear picture of your potential experience and help you properly set your expectations, so you can get the maximum enjoyment from a hunt. His deep experience provides him with far more insight than most guides and outfitters. You can be comfortable with the choices you make based on Pat's advice.

Wife and I took the 5 day horseback fishing trip last July. Great scenery, guides were great. Made sure you were safe while letting you do whatever you wanted, fishing, hiking, or horseback riding. Scenery was fantastic, trout were hungry, and the food was great. Heading back up late May for a bear hunting trip.

Incredible trip! Took the 3 day pack trip ~15 miles in. Coming from Chicago, the views were breathtaking. The experience was rewarding. Although our group was comfortable in the outdoors based on previous camping, we had barely any riding experience prior to this. Don t let that stop you if you were like us.

The guides (Nelson and Kevin) were informative, reaffirming, and listened. They took whatever concern you had seriously, and addressed it to ensure you were comfortable. It truly is your trip and what you want to do. Our camp cook, Stephanie, made fantastic meals, but we also found ourselves sitting at the table or riding the trails sharing stories with her. She was amazing.

The rides can be hard at times very steep inclines/switchbacks. But, you need to and learn to trust your horse. They re incredible animals literal athletes in every sense that the outfitters truly care for and you learn to truly respect/admire. The horses have done these trails hundreds of times, so you quickly learn to trust what you learn during your orientation, but more importantly, trust your horse when technical parts of the trail come in front.

Only negative/feedback I would give to SMO is to be more clear on tipping at the end of the trip. Although stated on the site and materials provided, it was still confusing at the end of the trip. All because we wanted to make sure we were compensating everyone appropriately for an amazing trip! Just caused a little frustration among the larger group but nothing to deter from this experience.

You ll see views you would never be able to see any other way. You ll experience new, sometimes challenging but always rewarding, things when it comes to the ride. And, you ll make some friends along the way.

Recommending to all my friends/family. Thank you SMO! Will not forget this trip.

Patrick was excellent and very patient with our party s fear of heights. We made it through and had a great time! One of the highlights of our trip! Great snowmobiling trip!

My family booked and enjoyed a guided horseback ride! Our guide was very knowledgeable and led a great ride! Bonanza was an incredible horse! The downside to the trip was the safety helmets that we wore while riding. The three of the four in our group wore helmets and got lice. This overshadowed and stressed an otherwise incredible vacation! What a incredible pain to spend the next ten days cleaning and controlling the lice! This two hour ride set us back more than $370, by the time I ve spent 20 hours and on products(parasite shampoo), this trip will cost double! Very disappointed!

I would highly recommend any activity with this company, we did a horse back ride in swan valley which was right near our cabin, awesome wilderness views, awesome guide Brian which we had a great time with & just all around great day would definitely do again!

Picked the 2.5 hour Glacier park trail ride, and for a 2.5 hour ride we thought the price was very reasonable.
We were greeted by Jordan who kicked off the ride by giving us instructions. She was knowledgeable and had the perfect touch of humor.
During the ride she was informative about the area, pointed out interesting facts, ensured no one was lagging behind, and threw out a few jokes.
The ride was easy, beautiful, and a relaxing end to our time in Glacier. We will definitely be back!

My husband and I went horseback riding in West Glacier. I do not recommend for new riders. They really did not take time to prep us. Then, my husband fell off the horse because one of the men did not secure his saddle. Our tour guide, Jake, was great but when we got back, the man who secured the saddle literally blamed my husband for falling off when even our tour guide saw the saddle was all the way on the side of the horse. When we got back, he had to fill out an incident report and the guy was completely unfazed that he fell off, he could not have cared less.

Went there, explored for a while and was not impressed.

As an avid horsewoman, I normally wouldn't justify paying $200 for a trail ride, but I thought I would splurge as this would surely be worth it. Unfortunately, the experience just didn't live up to my expectations.

First off, I called in the morning to book a ride and was told I would receive a confirmation email that included all the info about the ride, including where to be and when. By 4 pm I had not received the email, so I called back to inquire. I was told that the email had already been sent and I needed to check my spam folder. I already had, and didn't see it, so I wanted to verify that he email address was correct, etc. The woman on the phone confirmed the address, but still worrying that I hadn't/wouldn't get it, I asked her what time check-in was. She seemed very annoyed by my questions and just kept telling me the info was in the email, and to check my spam folder.

Secondly, I had booked the full day ride at West Glacier, as the website mentions that this ride is recommended for experienced riders. I definitely would not recommend this ride for experienced riders...you will be bored! Danielle the guide was lovely, but the entire ride was single-file, nose-to-tail, plodding along very slowly. And the company policy is that riders, regardless of experience, may not mount or dismount unless the guide is holding the horse.

The entire ride was on a walking path or two track through dense forest. Nothing challenging or adventurous. And not much to see except trees. And the "views" at the overlooks where we stopped, were just more trees. I was expecting breath-taking scenery, but unfortunately there really wasn't any. Perhaps at the other locations? I was also under the impression that we were riding into Glacier, but I don't know if we actually did?

Finally, I can't believe that the $15 lunch consisted of a ham and cheese sandwich, an apple, a small huckleberry square, and a bottle of water.

Went on the 2 hour Glacier Getaway just outside of West Glacier National Park. Honestly, if it wasn't for the leaves changing this ride would have been just a walk through a wooded forrest. I would have hoped for more mountain views. Our trail guide was friendly but did not talk almost the entire trip, there were 3 of us, myself and another couple and it was an extremely quiet ride. Our guide did not speak unless a question was asked, which all questions ended about 10 minutes into the ride. Not that I want my guide to talk the entire time but every other trail ride I have been on they try to make small talk and get to know the people they are guiding along with giving information about the area. The most he talked was when he was explaining the safety tips and how to control the horses. Also there are no mounting blocks so if getting on the horse from the ground is going to be an issue this is not the place for you. Horses were well behaved and the ones we rode where a good weight and had nice coats, did see a few saddled underweight and coats looked poor. All in all if i had a choice I would not go again and would not recommend this ride for anyone, not worth the $70 dollars for the experience.

Great half day trail ride from Lake McDonald area in Glacier Nat'l Park. Staff friendly & super helpful. Understand, but would have liked a guide at the back of the line as I could not hear anything our guide was saying. Thankfully people at the front offered to switch places in line for the second half of the trip. Poor guide probably had to say the same things twice in one trip :-)

Great father - daughter overnight trip. Wyatt and George were excellent guides and told great stories too. Came with in 25 yards of a cow elk and beautiful vistas. Great fun! They cooked supper and breakfast over the campfire. Slept like a log on the cots in the canvas walled tents. Trevor & Alexandra

We went on a half day trail ride (total touristy stuff I know) but! We had so much fun with Jewel our trail guide. She was so knowledgeable about the local history and wildlife. And so personable! We will definitely be back, probably for an overnight pack trip but we will be requesting jewel as our guide!

My father put me onto this outfit with two words: "Spring bear." We didn't end up going for bear that year, but did make it out in the fall for rifle elk and mule deer. After a week of hard hunting I nailed my first mulie in a pretty amazing alpine setting during a hard snowfall.

The next Spring we did decide to do bear, and after a great week staying out of Pat's lodge and hiking/ glassing for bear during the morning and evening I shot a beautiful (and large) animal. I went back in the Fall for archery elk and despite seeing HUGE bulls each day wasn't successful. (I'm actually heading back once more this Fall to try once more to punch my elk/ deer tag and work with the same group of guides).

The great thing about this group is the preparation they put into connecting each season's hunt with the seasons before. From what I can tell, there are very few days these guides aren't on one of the mountains and this allows them to see where the animals are year round. It also gives them a pretty robust set of skills, as a lot of them double-up and work with the Glacier horseback camps in the summer.

I am pretty confident I'll budget for at least one trip with these guys a year. You can't beat the scenery and wildlife and I enjoy working with this team.

I expected to see some incredible views, I was disappointed just walking through the woods as slow as slow can be. The guides were very good and knowledgeable, but, I saw the side of the river and a mountain. Then lots of trees.
If I ever do a ride again I will make sure it s not just a couple loops through the woods.

My family spent 560 dollars on a 2 hour ride for 7 of us.We were excited that the ride was in Glacier National park and we were excited to see all the beautiful views of the mountains. We arrived early for our ride because they told us to for registration. We ended up waiting over an hour extra because they were late with our party. Nevertheless we were excited to see the views so we waited patiently. We finally went out on our ride and spent 2 hours in the trees barely seeing the view of a river for about 20 seconds. We saw absolutely nothing in terms of views other than the sides of the trees. The path was so narrow that the horses basically bounced us off the trees. Some of the views included the parking lots and construction sites at the park thru the trees. We enjoyed the sound of cars on nearby highways. What a disappointment..when we called and asked they told us it had great views. I believe we were on the wrong side of the park..we did the west side. The other side may have views. Other than a happy 11 year old who enjoys horse rides it was a complete waste of money...Do Not take this ride if you expect anything other than looking at the bark on trees at one of the most beautiful parks I ve ever seen in my life. The staff were nice but the ride was a COMPLETE DISAPPOINTMENT and waste of almost 600 dollars ..

Llama trekking yesterday was one of the best days of my life! Couldn't recommend this trip more!

My guys had a great time. Guide was good. The one disappointment(with understanding its a free range hunt) but my guys never even saw an elk. Spending $7000+ for just the camp and licenses its a pretty big disappointment to have not even see anything. Doesn't sound like the elk population is as good as they brag on thier website which is the disappointing part!

We had a great time! We did the 4 hour snowmobile ride to the top where we saw the the sunset over Glacier National Park. Our guide was so great - definitely earned his tip. We maxed out with 6 snowmobiles, 2 people on each and he kept us rolling the whole time. The snow was soft and a lot of us tipped or got stuck, but he quickly turned around and got us back rolling. He was completely on our schedule and we even went over the 4 hours because of our delays and getting stuck, and he never complained.. he actually went out of our way to make sure we still got to the top. We couldn t have been happier with the experience! Would highly recommend to anyone, the views were incredible.

I am writing this review as I feel I have a moral obligation to other hunters. I booked an elk hunt with Swan Mountain Outfitters in Sept 2019. I am an experienced elk hunter who was looking for the hunt of a lifetime in the Bob Marshal Wilderness. What I got with this outfitter was a horrible experience. They were very unprofessional, inexperienced and disrespectful. They do not show any accountability and hide behind "fair chase hunting". I could share all the horrible experiences, however, I am just going to say "BUYER BEWARE". These people are not what they say they are. Swan mountain outfitters response is dishonest and nothing to do with my review

Went on the Cowboy cookout tonight and loved it. Shayla our wrangler was so knowledgeable about all the different wild plants and was a joy to talk to. We spent a couple hours on the trail ride and then stopped and had dinner. Keanu cooked everything before we arrived. The breeze was in the right direction as we could smell the food cooking about 10 minutes out. Dinner was excellent. Steak , rolls Corn on the cob, salad, salsa and chips. Then s'mores around the campfire. What a great experience! Thanks again to Swan Mountain Outfitters.

The people at Swan Mountain were really wonderful. Making the reservation was really easy over the phone and it was helpful being able to ask questions about the trip before making a purchase. After purchase, we received an email with instructions on what to pack, how to prepare, what to expect and where to go. It was well organized and thorough. The only confusing part was knowing there are two locations for Swan Mountain, one with a base camp where all of the horses are kept and the other where the Alpacas go out from (Soup Creek Rd). Even though our instructions told us to meet at Soup Creek for our overnight/fishing/horseback riding trip, when we arrived the day prior to confirm that location, we were told it would be at the basecamp location. However, they worked hard to track us down (cell service is spotty out there) and correct the mistake to confirm the Soup Creek location. Day of our trip, our guide was well prepared and had everything ready. The trek up the Mountain to Bond Lake, trail #21, was wonderful. It took a few hours and we arrived to Bond Lake that afternoon with plenty of time to set up camp, go fishing and enjoy the scenery. We saw wolves on the opposite end of the lake, caught cutthroat trout (catch and release) and heard owls that night. We traveled with 2 horses and 4 mules between 3 people. It was an amazing adventure and one I will not forget!

This is a must do in the area!! Bryan is an awesome guide and wrangler. He is extremely knowledgeable of the area and willing to share that with visitors. Beautiful scenery that you can't see from a road or car. Get out in the woods and really SEE Montana.

Absolutely amazing people. Can't recommend them enough

We rode just outside of West Glacier near the Bob Marshall Wilderness. The horses were healthy, excellent trail horses. Our guide, Laura, was capable, kind and knowledgeable. It was a great experience and unique way to see the area. We will be back to try riding inside the park too.

My experience with this outfitter was the worst, I was treated very disrespectfully and threatened by the owner on the last day of my hunt. I feel for the mules and horses, I saw sores and scabs on most of their backs, probably because the gear is all worn out. I also witnessed the guides hitting the mules. My guide Payden had no idea how to hunt elk and planned on sitting me on a hillside for 5 days and hopefully spot me an elk. I feel this outfit is very dishonest.

Outstanding. Fun guides. Great horses. We had a thunderstorm pop up and the guides did a great job of managing the group and horses to ensure everyone's safety. They are taking good reasonable precautions with COVID.

My son and I went on a 5 day pack trip to the Bob Marshall Wilderness. We had a once in a life-time experience. Amazing sites and breathtaking views. Cody, our guide and Margaret, our camp cook, made the trip that more special. Cody instilled in us a sense of security and calmness throughout our adventure. He is professional, kind, dedicated and was attuned to our needs. Margaret woke up early and made sure we were well fed. She is Animated, and positive. We highly recommend the experience, not least of which is because of Cody and Margaret.

Keanu was a great guide for today s half day ride, horses were well cared for and kind to each rider s ability level. Ding ding and Bernie were our mounts for the day and they were wonderful and had character to boot!

Enjoyable experience in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Caught Cutthroat trout, whitefish and a Bull trout with our excellent guide (Payden). Also enjoyed all of the riding and food.

Just finished a 7 day hunting trip. It was pretty rough. If your looking to book a hunting trip I would strongly advise you to do some kind of cardio. The horse rides are tough. The hiking up mountains are tough.

If you can shoot 600+ yards plus you should be ok. We saw bear, elk, deer and mule deer. But they were too far too shoot 800+yards.

The best part of the trip honestly are the guides!!! Great group of guys. Very welcoming. Helpful.... just studs with lots of experience and knowledge. Nelson and Payton are beast!!

We can't recommend the horse riding because when I called for a reservation I asked two times for a horse riding trail with views of the area and they told us that there were many open views. There were none! The trail was only in the forest and we couldn't see anything of the area. The trail was also not 2 hours but 1,5 hour. It was totally not worth it!!! And we didn't get the email with the information.

Amazing horseback ride, everything was so beautiful. Not only was the scenery great, but our guide Ashley was also excellent. Not only did she make our ride safe and pleasant, but my best friend and I also learned so much from her about the surrounding areas and the plants. Would highly recommend the half day ride at Many Glacier for the beauty of the trail and also, the professional staff it had as well.

Where do I start?! Our guide Mike was fabulous, kind, friendly and genuine. We did the half day trip on the Lion Creek Trail. This is a beautiful walk through the forest and up into the mountains. Once you are at your lunch spot you get a beautiful view of the Mission mountains around you. Sack lunch was provided and they gave you plenty of food. Not going to lie, I am from the East Coast so riding a horse on a mountain trail was new for me. I was quite nervous and Mike talked me through it and I made the whole 12 mile round trip! I rode Tony and my husband rode Trigger. Both horses were beautiful, strong and well-trained. We would go again.

Went on a 2 hour horse back ride from Many glacier with my daughter. What an amazing experience! The company was so accommodating. Melanie was so helpful in helping us find the best ride for us. Jessica at the corral was a joy to work with. Kayla was super helpful in riding instruction. Conn was a great guide with interesting info about the area. Our horses Tyson and Rhubarb were wonderful ! The views, wildflowers and experience were nothing shy of amazing! Thank you for an unbelievable experience!

Great guide, Keanu, personal, very confident and knowledgeable of the area.,
The location our guide took us to had an amazing view of the Swan valley. The selection of horses met our riding skills and were gentle and sure footed.
I have lived in Montana for 13 years and regret not taking this ride sooner. A great experience.

My dad and I Took the 3 day pack trip into the BOB with these guys the wranglers were absolutely amazing keagan and Danny are some of the most knowledgeable cowboys I have ever had the pleasure of spending time with. We were in bear country and I never once felt like we were in any danger. A true class act thank you swan mountain outfitters for making my dads 69th birthday one of his best..

My fiance and I enjoyed our ride with Swan Mountain Outfitters, it was a ride scheduled for my birthday in May, which we had to reschedule to September for obvious reasons. The woman who my fiance spoke with about cancelling and subsequently re-booking was very accommodating and easy to work with, which we do appreciate.

I am rating the tour operator five stars, all of the women working at the corral were personable and knowledgeable about horses, I felt very confident riding with them, even with very minimal riding experience. That being said, I am not entirely sure I would book this tour again, more on that later.



Now the bad through absolutely no fault of the tour operator, my ride was drastically impacted by dust. Yes, dust. As the last rider I had to inhale dust from the fourteen horses in front of me for two hours. At times I got a break when the wind pushed it off to the side, but for the better part of my ride dust was a big issue. Though not required when on the horse, I actually put my mask back on to try to help with this. I also closed my eyes during the worst parts. For 24-48 hours afterwards, each time I went to blow my nose it was black, before fading to gray, then back to normal about two days later. This is a fact of life, and no one could have done anything to prevent this, I understand that. My advice to you, the reader? Book the tour but upon check-in, request a space at the front of the line-up. I really do think you will enjoy it, I know I would have enjoyed it more under different circumstances.

Don t care about health! Came in for a refund the morning of our ride with plenty of advance. My wife had a cough this morning and we didn t want to expose anyone to it. They told me no refunds no matter what. They are playing with your life here.

We went on a trail ride in Glacier, the cracker flats 2 hr ride, and it was fantastic. Emily was our guide and she was upbeat, knowledgeable, and very helpful. We had a wide variety of riders on the trail (beginner to advance) and it went smoothly. The horses are your typical nose to butt kinda guys but as an experienced rider, I still thoroughly enjoyed myself. This place is a must if you head out west!

too big of an operation to be personal. i could barely hear anything my guide was saying. good for first time riders, they explain everything in great detail.

Went on a father / daughter elk hunt in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. The entire experience was worth a lifetime to build up to this. We both have hunted public lands before, and wanted to get in a little deeper from horseback. The guides and cook staff were amazing, the ride was tough, the hunt was hard, and it was cold! The Bob Marshall is big, with some wide open spaces, and some very thick wooded areas, it's rugged. You can't be a wuss, and being patient is part of hunting elk as we have learned. They can move alot, and weather is unpredictable. We saw tons of animals and my dad finally harvested a bull. We would have been happy with our time in the backcountry, even with no success harvesting an animal. Any hunter knows that you have to put your time in to be graced by the hunting gods, haha. We would do this again, maybe at Swan Mountain Outfitters salmon forks location next time. Also, somebody on the trip before us harvested a muley. Thanks!

I Below is a bullet point of issues i had before the trip began and during.

1) I was quoted 4,950 per person and after I purchased my tags i was informed after my $ 2,000 non-refundable deposit was taken that the price went up to $ 5,550. After i noticed this i sent a email to Megan with no response. ( $ 1,200.00 over charge )

2) My fresh out of guide school ( 21 yrs old and his second season ) took me and my father on the first day to what he stated was the hardest trail ride in the area and stayed out till it was dark before heading back down the trail that was unsafe to even ride down at nite. We returned to camp at 11pm. So 5:30 departures 11pm return. 15.5 hr trip after our 20 mile ride in the day before. That would have left us 4 hrs sleep before breakfast the next day. Neither of us could elk hunt the following day.

3) The hunt areas and level of experience the guides had is overstressed with close to no animals not pushed out by over hunting and close to no knowledge of the area we hunting in. 1 other guide needed my guide to show him where the trail was even at, due to never had even being there before.

4) I witnessed the cook urinating 10 ft out of the cook tent on the ground, walk back in and continued to cook and handle his tasks without washing his hands. ABSOLUTELY disgusting !

5) The small whitetail deer i shot on Thursday was finally delivered to processor 5 days later and was a hassle of 4 conversations about cc info needing to be sent with a packer that was pissed off and trying to fight the cook. Why would there not be some level of professionalism in having this all set up ahead of time. To just not have to worry about this.

6) My hide? I was told it would go a taxidermist locally, but have no idea where, have heard nothing of it and would like to know where it is?

Conclusion: I feel that i was sold a very expensive ( professional level ) guided eljk hunt and was completely miss led, was mis-treated and out right ripped off.
I feel that you are selling trips that have very little chance of any success to pay for what im sure is an very expensive operation to run.

Booked a guided flyfishing trip for 3 days and 2 nights. Since it was only me i went with 3 other guest. Our guide was guide Phil was great telling us all the different berrys and trees plus a few bear stories. Horse ride to upper camp was exciting. Camp cook Margerat had snacks and lemonaid when we arrived. I found out my 3 companions werent fishing. After a sleepless night i wasnt able to go on second day ride. Horseback ride back was great. Thanks to all for a great trip.

This place is great! We couldnt have had better guides, Wyatt and Joe had all of us girls laughing the whole time. Awesome horses, beautiful country, and all around great people.

Will not ever be back nor recommend this company. They d rather humiliate a child to stay on schedule , turn a profit then offer 30 seconds of grace.