Picking the right outfitter

[BigHunt]

i see no pride in guided hunts

[Beason]

i see no pride in guided hunts

Then don't comment.

[ Post made via Android ]

[BigHunt]

i see no pride in guided hunts

Then don't comment.

[ Post made via Android ]

just letting you know where i stand on this thread

[Scot]

Many years ago I went on guided whitetail hunts. They were both really negative experiences. In the first instance all of the "guides" were hunting at the same time the paying clients were,they were hiding their kills and denying that they were doing it. I wont even get in to the rest of it.
Second guided trip the following year was with an Outfitter that I arranged through a booking service. (don't think that is the answer either). I asked this outfitter directly about Winter kill the prior winter and how it effected his guiding territory. Shame on me for taking him on his word. We were walking 8 to 10 miles a day over a six day period and we saw three deer.
I have hunted the last thirteen years unguided and will continue to. I don't need the assistance of a guide to hunt whitetails.
It was a learning experience for me and really shaped my outlook. I personally would never use a guide or outfitter again.
I know there are some fine outfitters out there. There are some I would not hesitate to hunt with if I was so inclined. There are also some who I wonder how they can sleep at night. Do your due diligence if you intend to use an outfitter!

[Zap]

I know of a very good outfitter in east central Kansas.

He is a bowhunter, and has bow/gun hunts for deer and turkey.
Very honest fellow and offers AAA+ lodging.

[Stanley]

Guided bear hunts are the most common. It helps to have bait out ahead of arriving at camp. When you do it yourself it takes a lot of time and days to put your own bait out and check daily to see if they are hit. You can realistically spend an entire week setting up on bear and then it's time to go home. I have done it both ways.

[Dewey]

Guided bear hunts are the most common. It helps to have bait out ahead of arriving at camp. When you do it yourself it takes a lot of time and days to put your own bait out and check daily to see if they are hit. You can realistically spend an entire week setting up on bear and then it's time to go home. I have done it both ways.

The only guided hunt I ever did was for WI bear hunting. I was limited on vacation time and not living in prime bear country makes it really hard to keep baits going properly on my own. It was a good experience and my guide was very helpful. Being that it was my first bear hunt I appreciated the guidance he provided and learned alot about the whole process.

When I get another tag in a few years I may do the same and see no shame on doing this when I can only get a tag every 6-8 years or so.

[rack addict]

I went to ohio a few years ago on a guided whitetail hunt. It was a great time and I'd definitely do it again. For alot of people this is there only real chance of bagging a quality buck. Your not guaranteed a buck so to me its not a thing where you wouldnt be any less proud of taking an animal there or any where else.

[whitebuck]

Unfortunatly there are more pour outfitters than good ones so doing alot of checking referances is important. I have hunted diy and have had sucess. There are places that no public land is available and you may want to get an outfitter to hunt there. Also time and or distance may make a guided hunt a bargin. Not all of us can put the time in to scout for a public land trophy. I like to say to BigHunt that guiding does not make a trophy any less a trophy you still have to make the shot and stay on stand. Its still hunting unless your guide has it tied up for you.

[dan]

I am not much into guided deer hunts... But to each there own. I think there is more pride ( at least for me ) in scouting and hunting the animal on its own. However, I used to guide hunters in Wisconsin and helped some larger outfitters in Illinois, and met some real cool ( and some not so cool ) hunters...
I think we should take a step back and think about what we are saying before we nock another hunter for the way he does things. I do agree, the achievement is different when someone else did the leg work... But all hunting is like that. Public land from Wisconsin to Iowa, or Michigan, or Kansas, is all different, and if we start talking private, one guy might own 40 acres, another owns 10,000... yet another person nocked on a door and got permission to hunt 400 and the next guy leases 200...

Bottom line, success varys and can sometimes be bought. We all buy it to a point. Wether its buying better equipment that others don't, or won't use, or its leaseing, or putting in plots... But we are all in this together.

If your going to make a comment, lets try not to point fingers, but rather state how YOU feel about your hunting.

[Jackson Marsh]

I did an outfitted fly fishing float trip a few years ago on the Salmon river with my Dad........had a great time, great food, great guides, good fishing

A few years ago I hunted Iowa on private land that my brother had been hunting for a few years. Sat in the stands he told me to and on the fourth day arrowed a nice 8 pointer, not much different than an outfitter hunt..........I thoroughly enjoyed it ...................I do have more satisfaction with my last two bow kills on public land that I scouted myself

[Elk2782]

I was a big game guide for 5 years out in Wyoming and in that area you have to have a guide or be with a resident because its wilderness same as some species in Alaska. So to say its not right to hunt with a guide isn't always a choice you have if going to certain areas or after certain species. The number one reason people didn't enjoy the hunt was due to them not being in shape. Where I guided we were 33 miles in on horseback very rugged terrain and steep country, The problem is people know this and don't train properly to go on a hunt like this. I have numerous times where guys couldn't walk more then a couple hundred yards with out hacking and wheezing cause they can't breath. I agree with doing as much research as you can on the area and getting tons of references. You have to remember just becacuse it is a guided hunt is still public land free chase and their is no gurantee of getting one. I try and hunt as much as I can on my own but certain times u are required to have a guide and its not a bad thing just need to do your homework.

[martin peters]

The basic question to ask a guide is simple, Can you get me on a nice bear ? A honest guides answer should also be simple, How good of a hunter are you ? The guide is responsible for having established baits, at least two per hunter, with good bait and the right stand set up. There should be shooter size bears hitting during daylight. Then it is up to the hunter to seal the deal. It's always nice to have day time pic's of the bears hitting the bait to show the hunter thats going into that stand. This can also help educate a new bear hunter on how to size a bear and when to expect activity at the bait. Take an expert hunter and put him / her on a well managed bait and they will shoot a nice bear. Take a novice or sloppy hunter on the same bait in the same weather conditions and they may only see small bears or no bears at all. Then there is the weather. One year I had a group of 5, who on opening day shot one bear and passed on several others. The weather was great !! That night low pressure came in and the weather went bad with high winds and heavy rain for the next 4 days. No more bear were seen. The morning that the first group left, High pressure had moved back in and the weather was again great. That morning the second group arrived. They got settled into camp, got their hunting clothes hung out, ate, showered and we got them into their stands. They shot three bear that afternoon, one the next day and one the following day. As we all know weather can make or break a hunt. I think its fair to ask a guide to see time / date stamped pictures of the bear hitting the bait your going to be hunting. How the stands are set up as far as prevailing wind direction, stand height, shot distance, stand approach, how many hunters he guides each year. etc,etc. Scouting, setting stands and sometimes multiple stands at a baitsite for camera man or for wind direction, hauling bait, taking hunters into and out of stands, taking care of bears is alot of work. One of the posts were right when they said you get what you pay for, I would look for a guide service that has the right amount of resources for the number of hunters they guide per year. A guide service with one or two guides cannot run 40-60 quality baits / hunters per year. Good luck in your search for a quality guide !!