There are so many things that you need to take into account when hunting. One of the most critical is the location. Nathan Olmstead of Prophet Muskwa Outfitters shares how his parents started their concessions business in British Columbia. As an avid hunter himself, he gives some tips on what you need to prepare for an amazing hunting adventure in British Columbia. He covers everything from the kind of mindset you need to have to the rifles and boots you need. Discover some tips on the things you need to prepare for your hunting trip in this informative episode.
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Prophet Muskwa Outfitters British Columbia – Nathan Olmstead
It’s a joy to head north of the border and to go up to the Prophet Muskwa area with Nathan Olmstead. Nathan and his family have owned that concession up there for over 30 years. It’s a place that if you want to get wilderness, if you want to get dropped off and get picked up, it’s someplace you ought to check out. Nathan, welcome to the show.
Thank you. How are you doing?
I’m doing fine. Let’s give a little back story on the whole outfit up there and tell people about your mom and dad and how they get the concessions. The stories I love is how you cut in those, not the basecamps, but your spike camps. It’s just amazing what you guys have to do. People don’t understand how much work it takes to manage the size of the concessions that you have.
We’re originally from the state. My dad was born in Iowa and my mom was born in California. My dad was always a huge hunter. He got into life insurance and estate planning back in the ’70s and ’80s. From there, he made money. He can go hunting. He went up in British Columbia for a moose and he thought to himself, “I can do this.” From there, we bought our first concession in Yukon back in 1984. From then on, my dad was full-time outfitter and full-time life insurance and estate planning all the way through. We had areas throughout the US as well in Idaho and Montana. It ended up not being what my dad thought was his idea of his business plan. He did a lot of research and figured out exactly what he wanted and what areas that he thought was going to be the best. That’s when we found the Prophet. That was in 1991. He found that and made the purchase in ’92 and ’92 was our first year of operating. For my brother and I, that was home for us. We started off ranging when I was ten years old. My brother was thirteen and he would take fifteen horses and go seven, eight, ten hours from one camp to the next, spend the night and bring a couple of horses back or go out with the guys and learn how to sheep hunt, moose hunt, call out elk, packhorses, everything.
We diversified. We went to Yukon at one point. My dad’s ultimate goal was to have outfit that he can do the grand slam all within one company, all within one person. You can come book your hunt, make your plans, do it all within one place. Years ago, we finally got that. We have our two areas in BC with series in Yukon. We have tags in Alberta for Rocky Mountain bighorn and then we have tags as well for desert sheep. That’s really been what my dad’s whole plan was. We have a lot of areas that we have tremendous animals that we can harvest like in the Yukon. We can take 25 to 30 sheep a year, but we don’t. We only take between twelve and fifteen, maybe sixteen sheep a year just to keep our quality up and our success rates. The thing is if you have the animals, you’re going to have happy clients. If you have tremendous animals, you’re going to have the happiest clients out there that are going to do nothing but help you in marketing. It’s proven to be the best thing over the last 30, 33 years we’ve been in business.
With my brother, he runs our BC areas. He’s our commercial pilot. He’s the outfitter there and he’s also the president of Guide Outfitters Association of British Columbia. He’s working closely with the British Columbia government and trying to figure out this grizzly bear problem we have since they shut that all down. He’s doing really good there. He’s fantastic in the business aspect of everything and an amazing pilot. I work up in Yukon. I run our two areas up there and I go back and forth from Yukon to BC to Alberta, then down to Texas. You notice sheep down there with some of our friends from Texas. Mom and dad, they’re still very involved. Mom’s slowed down a little bit. She likes being a grandma. She has eleven grandbabies. She’s having a blast doing that. I think dad, he’ll be involved until the end. He’s a guy that can’t sit still. He’s got to be constantly doing something. That’s from start to where we are now with a lot of things filling in between.
You guys have been big conservationists. I know you’ve been big supporter of Wild Sheep Foundation. Over the years, you’ve stepped up with those folks. I know the outfits, the rise are always towards making things better. BC does have a problem with the grizzly bears because when I was up there a number of years ago, there were more grizzly bears than I wanted to see.
I grew up at the Wild Sheep Foundation and the part of international. It’s a huge part of our lives. That’s where we go to do all of our marketing and we’ve all been life members at Wild Sheep for twenty-something years and life members of Dallas Safari Club and Safari Club International. I think over the last 30 years of being at SCI, on average we’ve donated between $25,000 and $35,000 a year for conservation of the Safari Club. We’ve definitely done our part and we’ll continue. You have to be vocal. You have to get into those organizations that are doing right, not only North America but the rest of the world where we need a lot of help like continents like Africa where the poaching is just unbelievably horrible. It doesn’t bother us one bit when we spend our North American dollars and it goes over to Africa to help our friends and fellow outfitters over there. It definitely helps everybody out.
Everybody’s got a dream trip, but you can get involved locally with Wild Sheep Foundation, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, your local SCI chapter. You’ll meet people and you’ll hear some stories and realize it can become a reality. More importantly, you’re helping the cause before you even go on your first hunt. That’s something when you’re sitting around campfires, you talk about the day and you talk about this, but you talk about the future of hunting. You talk about conservation. Our hunters are the largest conservationists in the world and millions, if not billions of dollars have gone towards conservation because of hunters so thanks for every single one of our audience that are hunting. Just go to a sheep deal, an elk deal or a safari club banquet and have a good time. Meet some folks.
It’s the best place to get in there and meet people that are like you. Even the Friends of the NRA, their dinners are very well-put together. It opens doors not only locally because I’ve been to chapter banquets in small towns in Southern Oklahoma to Pennsylvania and everywhere and the local guys that open the doors to everybody throughout the world. That was a big thing. Even if you’re not an international hunter or you only hunt in your home state, your money can help out anybody across the world. It’s amazing how the organizations all work together.
Get involved. It’s as simple as that. We talked about the number one thing you want your hunters to bring.
I would say the number one thing is mental preparation and the rifle or a bow that you shoot the best. We have all our clients every year, they will call me or talk to me, my dad and my brother at the shows and they always ask me, “What can I do to get into shape?” You can go out and jog. You can do stuff, but you’re not going to be in the shape you want to be in two days after you get to the camp and you start going and you don’t get in this shape really quick. If you’re not mentally prepared and you’re not with your rifle, your bow or whatever you’re hunting with, you have to be the most comfortable with that. That’s the biggest thing if you ask me.
Whatever you hunt with, make sure you are the most comfortable with them. Share on XWhen you land at Whitehorse or Fort Nelson, wherever you land and then all of a sudden you get into another plane or truck and went through this country, it keeps getting bigger and bigger. You go, “Where are the animals?” The guys will get you on the animals, but it’s just daunting. I remember my first trip to Alaska, they dropped us off and it was like, “I’m alone. It’s all on me.” We were on a river rafting so the raft would get to the end.
It’s a big deal. We have guys from all over the US and Whitehorse or Fort Nelson. From there, my brother will pick you up from Fort Nelson and fly to the mountains. There you’ll meet your guide and then you’ll get on a horse and you’ll ride another six to seven hours then another spike camp. Being mentally prepared to face the weather, you get sick or you get hurt somehow if you twist your ankle and not just giving up. The thing is we’ve got a lot of clients that are physically fit and they’re in great shape but they’re not mentally prepared because they get there and they twist their ankle and they completely break down, “I’m done. I’ve got to leave.”
Just hang out, rest your foot for a day or so. You’re going to be fine. Once people get in the mountains, they realize how much work it is to get in there. Every bit of food is flown in. Every oat for the horses that we feed, we feed over 80,000 pounds of oats in BC alone for our horses. All of that is flown in, all the gas for the generators. Once somebody gets there, they take it back, they’re looking at it and they understand the significance of being in the mountains. I think once they’re mentally prepared before they get there, they really understand how nice it is instead of showing up not knowing exactly what’s going to happen and worrying about things. That’s when everything goes downhill.
The other thing I would add is mental toughness, know your weapon in the dark, in the cold, in the fog, in the rain. Know exactly what that weapon is going to do. The other thing is boots. Talk about boots a little.
There are so many boots out there. There are a couple of different brands but the biggest thing is if you’re going to be doing a mountain hunt, you want to have a boot that has good split sole. You do not want to have a boot that has a glute sole. Waterproof and comfortable. There are a lot of boots out there that has to be broken in. If those are the boots you get and you’re going to be wearing those boots, you want to make sure you break them in good before it gets to the mountains. There’s nothing worse than having sore feet or blisters on your feet. You want to have good waterproof. Gore-Tex is by far the best stuff out there for your boot. A good pair of boots that are Gore-Tex and breathable. If you have a boot that you’re wearing every day and it doesn’t breathe and you don’t change your socks every day, your feet will get hurt quick. Don’t get that swamp foot in there. Boots are probably one of the highest priority pieces of equipment out there besides your weapon.
You mentioned two or three brands that you were partial to.
I wore Meindls for numerous years. Probably for the last couple of years I’ve been wearing Meindls. There are boots that you can just put on your foot and go. Alaska, they have a good vibrant sole on them. They keep your feet dry. They’re comfortable and you don’t really have to break them in. They sent me a new pair of their Scarpas and so far, they seem like they’re going to be great boots. They’re super lightweight. They’re not insulated so it’s early season boots but they’re a little bit stiffer. You want to put them on your feet and even if you don’t live in the mountains, wear them walking so you know where your hotspots are then you can adjust accordingly. If you need to put a different insole in, if you need to wear a different thickness of socks.
There are so many different ways to feel if your foot is going to get hotspots where it’s rubbing on one spot and it’s going to turn into a blister. I’ve done it even around town. People might look at you like you’re crazy, but put your new hunting boots on and wear them around town for a day or two. If you can’t get out into the mountains or on a ranch or anything, it will really help you out. You’ll feel where you’re going to adjust your socks. A lot of guys like to wear big wool socks. I like gray cotton socks. The insoles are great, I recommend them. You take your factory insole out and you put it in. You can go buy them at the store. They have different arches sizes. Insoles are just a big thing for having shoes that’ll make your life so much softer throughout the whole thing.
Even coming to the Rockies, you can hunt early season elk archery hunt. You can hunt them in tennis shoes. That’s not a bad way to do it. I tell people that whatever you’re going to wear, just like your rifle, you’re so comfortable. You slip them in and you’re gone. You don’t have to think about it because if you lose your feet, you’re done. Your hunt is completely done. You can break an arm, a wrist, a finger, you can get a knock in the head. A lot of things can happen and you can still hunt. You still can get out there. If you’re immobile and only can sit and ride the horse for all 100 yards, then it’s tough.
We had friend of mine, he was the cameraman for Outdoor Channel and we’ve become pretty good friends over the last years. He was in the mountains with me and he broke his wrist within the first fifteen minutes. He didn’t know it was broken. He jumped on one of the young horses and got bucked off. He was in the mountains with me for over ten days. He had a broken wrist that they actually had to do a bone graft to fix. He was in there, pulled through it and he had to get boots on so he could stay in there. The insoles are New Balance. Those are the insoles I use.
Those are critical things: mental and know your weapon. Let’s talk about length of rifle shots. What are you comfortable with? Everybody can shoot 1,000 yards, I understand that.
Even for me, 300 yards is a long way. If you’re shooting goose and everything, they’re small. They’re the size of a decent size Whitetail. They’re heavy. They weigh about 250 to 300 pounds, the big ram. Our average elk shots are under 100 yards. Our moose shots are usually within 50 to 100 yards. Our sheep hunting, we really don’t like to shoot much over 300 yards just because you have that factor of wounding that animal. The farther out there you get, the more wind shift you’re going to get and it’s going to make a big difference. That’s when it comes into ammunition and everything else. There are certain bullets that I absolutely love. There are bullets that I’ve had in the past that don’t perform like you want them to when you’re hunting, but they do a fantastic job when you’re shooting at a gong at 500 yards or 1,000 yards. Our average shot overall is between 200 and 250 yards off all of our animals.
The number one thing you need to bring when hunting is mental preparation and your rifle. Share on XThis is 30, 40 years of experience in the mountains. It’s fun to go down the NRA range and shoot 500 yards or even a thousand yards and to hear it go off. In reality, there are too many variables when you’re shooting cross canyon, cross basin. A lot of stuff can happen to that bullet before it gets there. You’re on a trip of a lifetime and you want one and done. With mountain goats, it might take more than one shot to anchor them. Sheep are thin-skinned. If you put the bullet in the right place, they’re going to die pretty quick, right?
Absolutely. It’s something that everybody’s got to take into account. I love all the guys that build long-range guns. I’m friends with a lot of them. A lot of the guys that buy the gun, they go to the range and they’ll shoot that bullet that’s a perfect long-range ballistic bullet for shooting on target. Once you get in the mountains, they’re shooting across the valleys, range like that. Sheep are very thin-skinned. You shoot a sheep in the foot, it might run a mile but you’re going to find that ram. You’re going to get back on it. They’re pretty weak animals when it comes to being injured but there’s no reason to take that chance.
Get something that’s going to perform like you want it to. Up where we are, there’s been certain instances that I’ve had to have guys shoot 500 yards. Even those guys, I could’ve said, “Let’s take a deep breath. Let’s lay here for a minute. We’re going to be able to get in with another 150, 200 yards and then you’re not going to worry about your shot. You’re going to be within that range that you’re comfortable shooting.” That’s the biggest thing I say. You can just take your time and there’s no reason to take a shot that you’re not comfortable. There’s always a way to make a good shot. Get in and close that distance.
Many of the articles that I read getting into being a hunter that said, “Shoot the gun that you’re most comfortable with no matter what caliber.” What’s your thought on that?
I completely agree with that. We have a lot of guys that come in, they’re going to shoot a moose and they have to bring a .338 or really big bullets. All that is going to do is if you’re not used to it, it’s going to make you flinch and you’re going to be scared of your gun. I know guys that they’ve shot a .280 and they’ve shot everything. It’s all bullet placement. Once again, you’re getting into those closer ranges where you don’t have to worry about your bullet size. If you have 160-grain bullets, you can shoot a moose. You can shoot a grizzly bear. You can shoot anything as long as you have good bullet placement. I think if you’re shooting the gun that you shot for 30 years and you’re comfortable with it, that’s the gun you need to come and shoot.
You might only have a couple of shots in your ten-day hunt. That’s a reality. When crunch time comes, you go into the old habit that you shot your 100th buck or 15th whitetail buck off your back .40 and you raise your gun. You put it up and you squeeze the trigger and the bullet goes exactly where you want it to go. That’s the best advice I can give on it. From my years and Nathan has seen hundreds and hundreds of big game animals shot and he and I are saying the same thing. I’m underscoring that because so many people get all wound up and they’ve got to have X caliber and they don’t really need it.
Any .30 cal is going to do damage and I couldn’t agree with you more. Shoot what you’re comfortable with.
If somebody wants to come up to you guys and hunt those big whitetails, do you have any whitetails on your concessions?
In Alberta, we have some good whitetails. There are about 35 whitetails tags in Alberta. The average buck you’re going to shoot there is going to be a nice 160 to 175 bucks. We’ve shot 210s, those big northerners. They’re just neat. They have those great big bodies on them and the mass that those deer have are unbelievable. The place we have the whitetails is straight west of Edmonton, Alberta. You fly into Edmonton and stay with our partner, Scott Carter. He’s an amazing guy, a great hunter. He knows all the Rocky Mountain big horns and whitetail hunts there in Alberta with us. He’s staying at his ranch. He’s got a nice cabin. You go out and you’re not sitting in a stand unless you want to. That part of the world, Scott knows a lot of the big hay farmers. What you do is go and it’s all spot and stalk. You find a big buck. He’s got a couple of food plots out there and we have a lot of game camps. They see where the deer is moving around. You’re hunting right there in the rut in that November season and you find some big bucks and go and put a good stock on them. Personally, I’m going to go up and get a couple of our friends and see what we can find because we haven’t pushed it for the last few years. That would be interesting.
It’s not a bush hunt. It’s an agricultural hunt rather than a bush hunt.
In BC, we have some big whitetails too in our bush hunt in the mountains there. The problem is it’s a later season so the later you go in the mountains though, the more weather you’re going to get. We did shoot a whitetail out of there a few years ago and it was a nice buck, 180 something. The mule deer in there are really impressive too. We shot 232 mule deer out of mountains a while back. There are a lot of bears and there are a lot of wolves. When you’re in the mountains, there are a lot of deer but there are not as many deer as you’d want. Just go and strictly pursue whitetails or mule deer because of the predators. Agriculture hunt is amazing. There are some big deer there.
That’s one thing I found out early in the game, hunting whitetails in Canada is you’re going to see a lot of deer. I remember the first time I went on, they said you’re going to see some of the largest-bodied deer ever and it makes the horns look really small. Huge deer and the horns shrink so you’ve got to be careful. We’re talking 300 pounds on the hook. They’re just colossal deer. Listen to your guide and figure it out because you could end up shooting a very nice deer and you go, “I thought it was bigger.”
If you lose your feet, your hunt is completely done. Share on XIt’s amazing, especially being down in Texas for the last few years and hunting these whitetails down here. I shot a phenomenal deer for the place I was hunting. Free range is 168-inch buck. He honestly looked like a 300-inch deer when he stepped out because that was my first time hunting a southern whitetail and so the body size on him was just completely not what I was used to. You see a buck up north, a 180-inch whitetail and he looks like a 140-inch whitetail sometimes. It’s amazing how the difference in the body size is but still a lot of fun to hunt though. I love it.
How do people get a hold of Olmstead Hunting?
There’s a website, it’s OlmsteadHunting.com or ProphetMuskwa.com. You can also give us a call anytime. (250) 789-9494 is the office. My cell phone is area code (559) 907-5233.
Let’s talk about the cost if a guy is dreaming of coming up and shooting a moose, a Canadian or an Alaskan Yukon, or mountain goat caribou. Realistically, what are they looking at all in?
If you’re looking at a Yukon moose, a Yukon moose hunt by the time you’re done paying for the hunt, your air charter, your commercial airline if you fly up there, everything, you’re probably looking at close to $40,000. Our prices, it’s $24,500 for a seven-day hunt. Plus, you have your license and tags and your air charter in and out of the mountains and your charter to get back up. Cost to us, you’re looking at about $30,000 with your air charter to the air charter company. Depending on where you’re flying from and everything, you can usually get a decent price for around $600 to $1,200 and then you have a couple of hotel rooms. Our Canadian moose, they’re quite a bit cheaper. They’re in the $16,000 range, then you have your license and tags on top of that. Our whitetail hunts go for $6,500. You have $6,800 in your hunt plus your flights to get up to the mountains because of the way we do everything there. The mountain hunts definitely add a lot of money on just because of how much we have to fly. That’s the only way you can get in there. Our Yukon moose hunt, we do horseback and riverboat hunts. In BC, everything is horseback.
How about goat hunts? What do they run on these days?
Goat hunts are $11,300 for a seven-day or $13,300 for a ten-day. By the time we get done with the goat hunt for a ten-day hunt, you’re looking about $15,000 all in.
If I’m up there moose hunting, caribou hunting, goat hunting and I want to have other tags such as wolverine, wolf, black bear, how much does that add on to the bill?
Everybody has wolf tags. Anybody that comes hunting with us, no matter what, they have wolf tags. Those are included. Your wolverine, you have a tag for it. I’m not sure how much that is but if you shoot a wolverine, there’s no trophy, just a government harvest fee which is $200. If you’re hunting a moose and you see a goat and you have a goat tag, that’s one thing that I really pushed for everybody. If you have it and you might want to shoot another species, always get that tag because if you decide you want it while you’re in the mountains, it’s going to be another $2,000 on top of the tag to have it phoned in because you have to have it on your person. Say you’re on a moose hunt, you want to shoot a goat and you have that tag, the harvest is $5,250. That includes all your horns and flights and everything in and out of the mountains for second species.
Probably where you’re hunting the Alaskan Yukon moose, you can see the mountain goats are pretty easy to see.
Everything’s in the same area. When you’re hunting and you see a moose and you’re hunting moose, you see elk, goat, caribou, everything’s all the same area.
For getting up there instead of waiting ten years to come back and hunt a goat, it’s a hit. I realized that because hunting isn’t inexpensive, but you’re there. Think about that seriously. If you’re going to take a trip of a lifetime, it sure is well worth it because all of a sudden, you’re a hundred yards from a gorgeous billy and you go, “Oh.”
The long run of things, it’s actually fairly cheap because you’re already there. You’ve already paid for a commercial flight. You’re already on the mountains. Instead of having to come back, take off all the time from work. It definitely makes more sense to do it that way if you can.
Accommodations on base camp is just like any lodge. What happens when we get on the spike camp?
In BC, our base camp is unlike any other place. It’s probably the nicest lodge that you can’t drive to. It has a full-service spa. We usually have one or two chefs that cook at the lodge. It’s an amazing place. It’s beautiful. It’s our second home, so a very nice place. Our spike camps in BC are very nice as well. They’re all nice cabin camps, either log cabins that we’ve built from the trees surrounding the camp or plywood cabins. It’s very nice, very comfortable and dry. It has nice airtight stoves. It keeps you warm. Everything is dried out if it gets wet. Most camps have a cook in our remote base camps and then our spike camps could be you and your guide and maybe a wrangler. In BC, we eat really good food. We have all home-cooked meals, you’re not eating out of house.
In the Yukon, it’s a little different, you’re in a tent a lot more. We do have base camps that have cabin camp, but 80% of the time you’re going to be in a tent moving around. Up there we do use mountain house a little bit, but we have home-cooked meals, dates, eggs, pancakes and bacon in the morning and chicken and pork chops, everything for the evening. A typical lunch on the mountain, you’re going to have sandwich, apple, orange and some chocolate bars for energy. It’s very comfortable even though you’re out spiking out a tent. We use nice tents and up there, the cabins are primarily plywood cabins when you’re at the base camp. It’s still comfortable. It’s nice and it’s in the part of the world where you can step out your door and there can be a moose licking on your horse’s saddle first thing in the morning. It’s an adventure out every corner, that’s for sure.
When you said looking out the door, you’d step on the steps that are ripped together or just look out there and I’ve been fortunate, blessed to be up in that country. It’s like, “Oh my goodness.” It takes your breath away. Those are the memories that I really hold. I’ve been fortunate to take some pictures, but the sunrises and sunsets and even catching grayling or whatever, it’s all part of it.
That’s the biggest thing I would say is bring a good camera. Harvesting your animal is one thing, but being in the mountains like that, there’s nothing like it. I still get goosebumps when I wake up in the morning and unzip my tent when I’m on a sheep hunt. I’ve been doing it for years and it still gets me when you open that door and you’re like, “This is unbelievable what God created here. It’s beautiful places.”
A lot of people say, “I want to be on the Sportsman Channel, Outdoor Channel.” You go on one of those hunts, you are. Nathan, this has just been a joy and brings back a lot of great memories and great adventures that I’ve been fortunate to have and continued success to you guys up there. Let people know how to get ahold of you guys.
Thank you so much for having me on here. It’s been a great time. Our website is ProphetMuskwa.com. My phone number is (559) 907-5233, which is my US cell phone or the office is (250) 789-9494. If you ever have any questions please give me a call or find me on Instagram, @NathanPOlmstead. I’d be happy to answer any questions.
Think about it because you can do it. You start working when you’re twenty years old, you can go on for all the hunt of a lifetime in your lifetime. It’s pretty simple though.
We’ve got a lot of stuff. We’ve had a lot of clients that do anything from people that are in charge of countries to just your normal guy. We are here for everybody. We’ve done a lot of different ways to help people pay for things. My dad’s a financial advisor. He can give you a lot of different hints on it if you’ve got a way to save up for it. If you put your mind to it, you can do it.
I would certainly agree with that. Nathan Olmstead, thank you. This is a great conversation and a great visit and travel safe.
Thank you.