Why you should hunt with Willie Dvorak and Jim River Guide Service (JRGS)
When booking a hunt, it is best to use the same rule of thumb as when you buy a scope. Buy the best you can afford. The sweetness of low price is short lived but the bitterness of dealing with a poor guide lasts a lifetime.
I personally guide all of my clients. Before you book a hunt with me, I give you the opportunity to talk to EVERY client that I guided the previous season by supplying you with the names and phone numbers of ALL my clients from the previous season. Call them and ask them hard questions. By listening to their answers, you will see the clear value my business has over my competition. Because I provide the names of ALL my clients, you know YOUR NAME will be going on the list next season so you should have comfort in knowing I have a vested interest in your success. As the owner of the business, you should also know that I have a greater interest in your success than if I was simply putting you out with a hired hand like the other outfitters do. In a perfect world, everybody would care about the business as much as the owner. But we don't live in a perfect world.
There is a demographic that only wants to be guided by the owner of the business because they know what valuable dynamics that brings to their hunt/experience. Because I do all of my own guiding, the hunting is EXCELLENT. Because I do ALL of my own guiding, my time gets spoken for rather quickly. I treat everybody the same. I treat everybody the same when you are booking the hunts ... the first person that puts money across my desk gets the dates. That gives everybody the same chance to hunt with me. When you book a hunt with me, my goal is to get you to come back on another hunt. The best way for me to get you to come back on a second hunt is to show you a great time on your first hunt.
It is sometimes hard to get a hunter to book a hunt with me the first time. However, it is a slam dunk to get them to book a second, third and fourth hunt with me after I have guided them once. I make my living on repeat business. If you have concerns about how to go about choosing a great outfitter, you should find comfort that I do ALL of my own guiding and everyone's name goes on my client lists that I send out to prospective clients. There is a lot of risk in putting the names of all of my customers on a list as a way of demonstrating how good of an operation I am running. I risk other outfitters trying to poach my clients and I risk a client not saying great things about me. If I owned a run-of-the-mill operation, that would be a concern. I do not own a run-of-the-mill operation, I own an OUTSTANDING operation. I have a lot of confidence in my operation and you won't be disappointed that you spent money with me.
You need to know what questions to ask the outfitter that you might trust to take you hunting. You will find out nothing about an outfitter by simply asking fluff questions about Price, Success Rate and Trophy Quality except what his price is. You have to ask the right questions if you want to know if you are dealing with a poor outfitter, a good outfitter, or a great outfitter. Bad outfitters are the cheapest because they have to be. They count on new business every year because repeat customers are a rarity in their books. But there are some bad outfitters that charge a lot. It is up to you to tell the difference between a bad outfitter from a good outfitter from a great outfitter. If you can't tell one from the other, go with one of the cheaper ones and understand that you won't have the success that you would with a better outfitter, but at least you won't spend much money. Outfitters charge what they do because they can't charge more. If an outfitter charges $1000, it is because he can't charge $1200. There are no outfitters that charge less because they don't like money.
When you book a hunt with me, do so knowing that I have your best interest in mind before, during and after the hunt. I am proud of that. Trust that you will get a great outdoor experience when you go hunting with me.
Hunting in South Dakota and Alaska
South Dakota deer, antelope, pheasant and buffalo hunting are just some of Jim River Guide Service's specialties. We also offer predator/coyote hunting and prairie dog hunting.
Jim River Guide Service is located in the game-rich area of South Dakota known as the James River Valley. We are located within a one-hour drive of the Aberdeen Regional Airport and the Huron Regional Airport. These airports can accommodate all of your luggage, including ice chests, dogs, weapons, etc. My home headquarters are located in Mellette, South Dakota.
Along with guiding hunts in South Dakota, I personally guide hunting trips in Alaska for grizzly/brown bear, moose, Dall sheep, caribou, black bear, wolf, and wolverine (www.guidedalaskahunting.com). Check out this other website to learn more about the hunts. I have had many clients start their relationship with me by hunting for one species in one state and then finding themselves booking hunts with me year after year in the other state. Return clients are very important to me.
Accommodations and Services
We've moved into new headquarters! The facility features 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, and 2 kitchens, for over 5,100 square feet to accommodate our hunters and ourselves much better. We offer first-rate accommodations. We still focus on small groups that want excellent personal service.
Jim River Guide Service operates on over 100,000 acres of private ground in five distinct areas of South Dakota. I have an extensive network of family and land owners who are interested in your success and satisfaction on your hunt.
Jim River Guide Service provides you with an excellent hunting experience. Housing, excellent vehicles and equipment, and first-class meals featuring wild game from South Dakota, buffalo, excellent home-raised beef, and pork with all the extras are provided with unmatched hospitality. The guide will give you 100% all of the time, in good weather and bad. Not only does he guide in South Dakota, but Willie Dvorak, owner of Jim River Guide Service, is an experienced guide for moose, caribou, and bears in Alaska. We also can arrange butchering services, taxidermy, air travel, and shipment of trophies/meat at no charge.
Hunting Season Information
Archery deer season runs from late September through late December. Pheasant season starts the third weekend of October and runs through late December. Early hunting is excellent, however, late-season hunting can occasionally be even better due to the grain harvesting that generally starts in mid-October and can run well into November. Prairie dog shooting takes place from April through October. The best time for buffalo shooting is December and January. I can call predators all year long. We'll do our best to accommodate you when your calendar allows you to hunt.
South Dakota prairie dog hunting is legendary. I have heard reports stating that South Dakota has more prairie dogs than the rest of the country combined. To the South Dakota prairie dog hunter, that means an awful lot of long-range target shooting!
Prairie dogs offer sportsmen countless hours of entertainment. We can set up within 200 yards of prairie dog towns or set up out past 500 yards for a real long-range challenge. I can produce nearly unlimited long-range shooting opportunities for shooters. Shooting ranges vary depending on the day and depending on the prairie dogs. Either way, prairie dog shooting is an excellent way to sharpen all of your shooting skills that you will need when you go after that big buck this fall, settle in for that 400-yard shot on your elk across the canyon, or prepare yourself for that 100 yards shot on the great Alaskan Grizzly/Brown Bear. The best practice a person can do for your dream hunts is taking shots at the game at varying distances.
Prairie dogs are small targets that will stand still, oftentimes give you a few chances, and seem to replenish themselves as the day goes on. I keep the pickup close by with your gear and refreshments in the cooler. We don't drink alcohol while shooting but you are more than welcome when the day is done. I provide the benches and sandbags for bench rest shooting or you can bring your favorite one from home.
While there are many myths associated with the sport and you should come out with reasonable expectations, it is very possible to shoot 500 or more rounds per person per day. The average guy shoots 300-500 rounds per person per day. This is a long range sport. It is challenging. It is just about as much fun as you can have with a rifle.
We will stay in hotels in local towns on these hunts. I hunt on several ranches with towns ranging in size from hundreds to thousands. The advantage to this becomes evident when summer storms or other weather systems come through and force the prairie dogs to "hole-up" for the day. It makes your whole trip when we can pull up stakes and move 100 miles to shoot at dog towns that are not getting pounded with rain or experiencing very windy conditions. This move will often only take 1-2 hours and you will be right back to doing what you came here for...shooting South Dakota Prairie Dogs.
You can add predator hunting to the prairie dog package at no cost. We will typically go after the coyotes in the morning. The midday hours will be saved for prairie dog shooting.
Bring your buddies and plenty of shells. We have a lot of shooting to do!
Pricing Information
All Inclusive: $510/hunter/day
WHEN RESEARCHING A HUNT, YOU SHOULD ASK TO SPEAK TO ALL OF THE CLIENTS WHO HUNTED AT THE SAME TIME YOU ARE CONSIDERING HUNTING THE PREVIOUS YEAR. IT IS FOOLISH TO CONSIDER BOOKING A HUNT WITH AN OUTFITTER BEFORE YOU SPEAK WITH HUNTERS WHO HAVE HUNTED AT THE SAME TIME AND PLACE DURING THE PREVIOUS SEASON. IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW AHEAD OF TIME WHAT YOU ARE GETTING FOR YOUR MONEY. I AM PROUD OF THE ATTENTION I GIVE MY CLIENTS BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER THE HUNT. MOST IMPORTANTLY, DON’T CONSIDER BOOKING A HUNT WITH ANYONE THAT IS NOT WILLING TO GIVE YOU THE NAMES AND NUMBERS, AND/OR EMAIL ADDRESSES OF “ALL” OF THE CLIENTS FROM THE PREVIOUS SEASON.
Jim River Guide Service
Willie Dvorak
432 Railway Avenue
Mellette, SD 57461
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