Just how I see it

[hambone]

Until the antler craze, starting in the late 80's, any "outfitter" I was aware of, were mostly in some exotic hard to reach place, offering a chance at game exclusive to the area. Most would only ever dream of hunting those places. Now, there are "outfitters" lined up along 2 of the fences surrounding my small property, in MISSOURI! There were very few deer in our area, from extirpation to the 1970's. As time went on, we learned to hunt deer, because they became accessible and are a way to feed our family. I realize there are some people who have little time to go through the motions of learning the critter they are pursuing, yet they still want to participate at some level. Some of the people in those shoes, feel the need to utilize an "outfitter" to make up for their lack of time or ability. To each his own, as long as they stay on the other side of my fence.

[Whitetailaddict]

I will agree I take more pride in a deer I've worked hard for that anybody else could have harvested on public but that doesn't detract from others accomplishments. There definitely is a sense of satisfaction I enjoy but don't blame others with limited time that seek outfitters. Some outfitters I believe will let you scout and hang your own stands. Also if someone wanted to hunt in Canada I believe you need a guide. I have always thought it would be cool to do a hunt in Canada so I'd likely have to hire a guide to do it. I think at the end of the day we only need to satisfy ourselves and not worry about others opinions.

[Jonny]

As long as you are happy, then do what you gotta do. I know I am trying to make connections to local people just to expand my area. Haven't found access to any private in wisconsin, but I know my summers helping some buddies sod and fence was all worth it when I got invited to hunt private ground in wyoming for elk this upcoming year.

Best thing I ever did in life was stop trying to impress others, and start trying to impress myself. Nothing more gratifying than that, at least in my eyes. And one thing that really impresses me, is seeing others impress themselves. Some guys do that by working overtime all year to pay for their trip to an outfitter. Some live and breath swamp water and do it that way. Either way, the result is really the same to me. If you are happy with yourself, proud of what you got AND how you got there, then you have my respect.

Would I be happy shooting a big buck at an outfitter? It depends. Some see it as lazy since you aren't putting in the work scouting. I don't see it that way because you put the work in a different way. Why does it matter if you scout 200 hours a year to get your chance, or dig ditches for 200 hours to get your chance? Either way, the work was put in to get there.

If I was given a free hunt, and shot a 160" buck, it would be a 160" buck* to me. Always knowing that I really didn't put the work in for it. But if I bought myself a guided hunt in kansas or somewhere and worked 70+ hour weeks shoveling asphalt all summer to pay for it, I will be very proud of it.

Its all about the journey and how you got there to me. When I impress myself, that's when I get that big smile on my face.

[Southern Man]

I won't say I'll never do it, but right now a guided whitetail hunt doesn't do much for me. Not against it at all, but I can kill deer, we have a bunch of them. They may not be as big as what could be killed with an outfitter, but they'll do for now.

As far as the experience, I don't think it's any less satisfying for me, just different. Just like hunting with different weapons. Rifle hunting is not bow hunting but still hunting, just a bit different. Back in mid December my sons and I went to Arkansas to duck hunt with an outfitter for a weekend. We had a blast. We stayed in their lodge, ate good meals they cooked, and got drove to the blinds in a side by side and killed ducks. Quite a bit different than hunting a local WMA packing in our own decoys and doing it ourselves, which we do quite often. Not any less satisfying, just different. We'll probably do it again next year.

A few years ago I looked into going on a guided hunt for Mule Deer & Antelope in Wyoming. I ended up not going but now I wish I would have. It would have been fun. I probably won't get the chance again. Something like that I wouldn't be able to do on my own. I don't have the time.

I don't care what others do, as long as it's legal.

[Stanley]

I have mentioned it before, I was born drop dead handsome instead of Rich. So it's grunt and hunt for me.

[magicman54494]

How I see it:
I wish I was so filthy rich that I could hire Dr. deer to plant the food plots and set out the trail cameras and hang the stands and manage my 100000 acre private estate.
That would free up my time to focus on the real important things in life like my smoking hot, plastic, trophy wife. I could eat my caviar while sipping on my 100 year old bottle of chateau lafite. I could roll up $100 bills and use them as matches to light my Gurkha Black Dragon cigars. I could then buzz my 21 year old Swedish personal assistant and have her set up an appointment to see my Porsche dealer. I've always wanted a candy apple red 910 Spyder.
I would insist on walking the last 100 Yards to my stand and carry my own weapon because after all I promote myself as being a DIY guy. My camera guys would catch all the right angles and lighting to make me look larger than life while strategically avoiding the high fences. I would pass on that slightly quartering 25 yd shot at that 185" drop tine because a true sportsman wouldn't take that shot. In the end after "hunting hard" all season I would smoke a monster 194" genetically altered buck that I hand fed the last 6 years. During the photo session I will appear humble while I pimp every product that anyone would pay me to shamelessly promote.
I would hit the hot tub with my wife and personal assistant and sip Cognac to unwind after a tough day in the field while someone else processes my deer.
Later on in my trophy room / man cave, me and my buddies would joke about how all the poor people stroke their egos bragging how they are die hard DIY guys and by claiming I'm not a "real" hunter.

[Boogieman1]

The part I find confusing with our views on outfitters and such. Is our main argument with the anti hunters is its not about the kill it's about the process and Journey. Then we leave that pep rally and say I hate scouting, hanging stands etc... I don't have time for that crap, I just wanna shoot something. We gripe about Tv hunters showing unrealistic hunting with outfitters. Then tell others who use them great job u really did great. If we are fine with our own friends using them why do we complain what celebrity hunters do. Seems we have came to a place where it is widely excepted to just buy your way out of doing any of the actual work. Yet, the rich kids son on your kids little league team who never shows up to practice plays in every game cause his dad is very generous is said to be teaching bad life lessons. In this case buying your way in is frowned upon.
Not trying to come off high and mighty on the subject. Infact in a bit of the same boat. I want to get a bear with my recurve. Mainly for the sole purpose of I want one in my den. I know nothing about bear hunting nor do I want to put in the time and effort to learn how to hunt one. So I'm looking into getting someone else to do the hunting part and I just take care of the shooting. The confusing part is how this is a valid option

[mnswamphunter]

Wake up magicman you are dreaming. You are going to have to chase you bucks done track by track.

[tgreeno]

OK...I want to straighten out a mis-quote from my original post. I used the word "work". The work I really should of used is "effort"!

Because in no way is anything I do hunting related considered "work" by me! It's a passion, and I fully enjoy every second I spend in the outdoors! The time I put into hunting, is so polar opposite of what I would consider a job, I'm not ever sure how that comparison relates?

So to those, that feel sorry for me because of all the "effort" I put in during the year towards my hunting, Don't! I love every second or I wouldn't be doing it! Being in the outdoors relaxes me and revitalizes me.

This was not meant to be an argument about outfitters. It was about how all of us with different views on "how to hunt", can relate to each other and still enjoy the same sport. Just because my views are different than yours, doesn't mean either of them are wrong or right. They're just different!

[creepingdeth]

dont matter to me...Personally, I would never guide hunt or lease...just me. I have no problem w/ ones who do. Not interested so much in posts like this or the typical hate your local DNR...Just winds everybody up and ends up in arguments. We need to respect others who think differently...we need to be unified as outdoorsmen to stay strong.

[wolverinebuckman]

To me it's like a lot of other sports out there. I want my team to win. Whatever sport it is, I want my team to be the best. Now, how they get to be the best is the question. Do they start with one good player, and over time keep adding New pieces to the puzzle until it's complete, say like the Jordan era Bulls? Or, like the Lebron Heat, do they go out and pay a bunch of money to virtually buy a winner?
I have never shot a big deer, but I did shoot my first deer this year. And that deer came after five long years of being in the woods and learning how to hunt, piece by piece. It certainly wouldn't mean nearly as much to me if I paid someone to bypass all the education and just set me in a position to shoot an animal. That seems to take the "hunting" out of it for me.

[Rob loper]

How I see it:
I wish I was so filthy rich that I could hire Dr. deer to plant the food plots and set out the trail cameras and hang the stands and manage my 100000 acre private estate.
That would free up my time to focus on the real important things in life like my smoking hot, plastic, trophy wife. I could eat my caviar while sipping on my 100 year old bottle of chateau lafite. I could roll up $100 bills and use them as matches to light my Gurkha Black Dragon cigars. I could then buzz my 21 year old Swedish personal assistant and have her set up an appointment to see my Porsche dealer. I've always wanted a candy apple red 910 Spyder.
I would insist on walking the last 100 Yards to my stand and carry my own weapon because after all I promote myself as being a DIY guy. My camera guys would catch all the right angles and lighting to make me look larger than life while strategically avoiding the high fences. I would pass on that slightly quartering 25 yd shot at that 185" drop tine because a true sportsman wouldn't take that shot. In the end after "hunting hard" all season I would smoke a monster 194" genetically altered buck that I hand fed the last 6 years. During the photo session I will appear humble while I pimp every product that anyone would pay me to shamelessly promote.
I would hit the hot tub with my wife and personal assistant and sip Cognac to unwind after a tough day in the field while someone else processes my deer.
Later on in my trophy room / man cave, me and my buddies would joke about how all the poor people stroke their egos bragging how they are die hard DIY guys and by claiming I'm not a "real" hunter.

You sure this isnt a kayne west or kim kardashian video?

[Rob loper]

dont matter to me...Personally, I would never guide hunt or lease...just me. I have no problem w/ ones who do. Not interested so much in posts like this or the typical hate your local DNR...Just winds everybody up and ends up in arguments. We need to respect others who think differently...we need to be unified as outdoorsmen to stay strong.

I agree

[Bedbug]

Think I my opinion might make me a loner on this thread.

I would assume everyone on the beast Considers themselves a very different hunter than one who pays for a hunt. I certainly do!
ASIDE from that part I'm starting to distance myself from the importance of hunting public only.
I'm on the outside edge of this public land craze. I just can't get myself to jump on the public only bandwagon...
Other being able to say you killed this Buck on public land. It means little to me as far as the value of ones hunt, experience, and accomplishment.
I do hunt alot of public land I enjoy it. Specifically being able to use pressure from other Hunters. It also always has a more natural feeling than most private.

But I'm a door knocker. I'm quick to try to gain access on private land I think I can get. The type of properties I am able get permission on are very seldom any easier to hunt than public land.

Oftentimes I work even harder on the small properties I gain access to then I would on public. Just because it's not open to the public to hunt it does that make the quality of the hunt less valuable???

Idk I just got a comment last year after shooting a buck. From a guy that's about 20 years older than I am. He hunted the public next to the kill site.
His words "yeah congratulations it must be easy when you have land like that to hunt on"
I was kind of put back by it. After scouting the public parcel this guy unofficially owns rights too. I pulled over to the neighbors and talked to a nice old lady gained only archery permission. After his comment I didn't say to the guy but all I could think was why haven't you tried to hunt this private land all these years.

[Twenty Up]

I've got close friends with 10's of thousands of acres where you ride up to your stand kinda deal. It's nice & convenient but my most memorable deer hunts were always on public. Maybe it's the long, grueling drags or briar infested walks that make it hard to forget. May not love it during our drags, but I enjoy 'earning' each deer.

Not to say killing a deer off a private isn't an earned deer, but hard work seems to make them taste better

I'll pay for a barrel burner dove or quail hunt, maybe even ducks... but not deer hunt