EP24: GURO Outfitters (Outfitter Spotlight)

<p>Rod runs one of Sonora, Mexico&#39;s larger desert bighorn sheep operations, and he guarantees hunters a shot opportunity on a ram. In eight seasons, that guarantee has only slipped twice, and both times the hunt was simply extended a day or two to get it done.</p><p>He and his partner Gustavo started GURO Outfitters with two mule deer tags and nothing else. Rod grew up hunting in Mexico City, starting at four years old on whitetail hunts just south of the Texas border with his father. Gustavo&#39;s family had hunted the same Sonora ranches for generations, and after his grandmother&#39;s eightieth birthday, the two decided almost on impulse to start an outfit together. The first two years were rough. They couldn&#39;t sell their own hunts and survived by taking overflow clients from another outfitter. By year three they added desert bighorn sheep to the lineup, and the growth from there was steady.</p><p>Today GURO runs two camps at a time, each with its own chef and guide team, and never mixes hunting parties. Sheep hunts run eight full days, mule deer hunts six, with clients typically picked up in Tucson and then crossed the border.</p><p>Rod walks through what actually makes a sheep hunt hard, how &quot;high racking&quot; works for mule deer, why target acquisition, not marksmanship, is the biggest obstacle most clients face, and how Sonora&#39;s government uses a helicopter survey every three years to set sheep tag allocations. He also gets into the mule deer scoring standard GURO holds itself to, the toll a multi-year drought took on the herd, and the questions he thinks every hunter should ask an outfitter before booking.</p><p><br></p><p>Let&#39;s Go Guided:Website + email signup: letsgoguided.comInstagram: @letsgoguided_Facebook: Let&#39;s Go Guided</p><p><br></p><p>GURO Outfitters:🌐 desertbighornsheephunt.com📸 @gurooutfitters</p><p><br></p><p>Photography credit: Courtesy of GURO Outfitters</p>