Guided General Deer????

I know there is money in the field of guiding, especially in limited-entry draw units. There are people, however, that would also pay to just go out and hunt every year, even if the chances at a big buck aren't as high as say.....the Pansagaunt. If there is any intrest in hunting a general hunt but being guided, I am very interested. I have thought of doing this for several years now, but still am unsure of the intrest showed in the field. I would love to guide, especially close to home for guys that just want a chance at a good buck, but would't be disapointed if they just got basic four points. Does that even intrest anyone at all????

Shedhunter, this is a hard question for me to answer. Being as I don't make the big money, I can't afford the fees charged by most guides (I guess I could afford it but then I would not be able to put in for draws, pay for out of state fees, gear, etc). I guess you'd have to say that prioritization is the key. If I could afford to pay for everything, every year and I was hunting an unfamiliar piece of land then sure, I'd pay for a guide. On the other hand, I really do enjoy just getting in the field and doing what I love to do, regardless of the ultimate outcome. Don't get me wrong, knocking down a big buck is always the ultimate goal, but is not necessary or expected all the time. Besides, there is a bit of self satisfaction knowing that you have taken a nice buck without any outside help.
The other side of the coin however:
The one bonus I have is that being in the military, I get the chance to meet people from all parts of the country and I usually make some pretty good hook-ups that way. I went on my first black-tail hunt here in California last year and was helped out by a friend of mine who put me in touch with relatives of his in the state. They provided me with private land and his brother-in-law acted as my guide for the entire trip. He put me right on the deer and I came away with a beautiful 4x4.
Conclusion: If I can get a guide for nothing or minimal price then I'll take it. If not, no skin off my back...I'll go it alone and enjoy every minute of it.

Howdy All!!!
it has been a few weeks since my last post, i was excited to see a new post with an excellent topic, i might add. paying to hunt general deer, hummmmmm, let me see! i think that i would pay to hunt on a general deer tag. i have big expectations when i hunt, and that would be even more so if i was paying to do so. not only in the size of the deer but the guides demeanor, experience, knowledge, and stability. i would not expect anything from a guide that i would not expect from myself. meaning, if the guide was willing to work hard and be friendly and a joy to hunt with i would for sure pay for a general hunt. however, i have read quite a few stories of bad guides, not only lack of knowledge but with alcohol problems and other such silly things. if i am paying with my hard earned dollar, i would expect nothing less than perfection. call me crazy that is just me. i respect my dollar to much to waste it. personally i have had pretty good luck so far not paying, however, there are a few areas just in wyoming that i would love to hunt, which in turn also means i would be paying.

My vote is/was for "do it myself". Having said that, I'm not against paying a guide for a nice buck. However at the moment I'm happy with my own scouting and bucks. Down the road I might pay someone to chase around some nice bucks. Everyone wants a monster, but I'd be happy with some nice 4-points in bow range.

Of course the price is huge for anyone and I'm not a millionare yet.

Good post and question though.

To answer the question directly......Sure I would if there was the possibility of a trophy buck AND I had the money. :wink:

However, in all my years of chasing trophy mule deer with a bow & arrow, I have yet to hire the services of a guide or outfitter. I prefer the public land, do-it -yourself type bowhunts. To those who choose to hire a guide every year and shoot fine animals, I say if you're having a good time and hunting for the right reasons...more power to you and have fun! Just remember ol' BOHNTR when you need a bowhunting buddy for a fully paid invite. :D

BOHNTR )))------------------>

LOL....Man BOHNTR, not too proud for charity ay? Throw me in there too.....if it's free, it's for me!

Do it myself is the answer. That's what makes the trophy on the wall a true real trophy. The other way wouldn't be a wallhanger for me.

Chawk me up for "do it yourself."

Interesting question though.. Had to think about it a minute!

It's an ego thing i guess. :)

I have to agree with 30inch, unless I did it myself it would be in no way a trophy of mine. I am totally aganist paying to hunt, I think it should be outlawed. If you think that you would really enjoy guiding people around have them fill up your gas tank and take them out! The more people that try to make money on the animals we hunt the less that will be left for the rest of us who hunt honestly.

oregoneric,

no offense to you, i have hunted hard since i was old enough to hunt. i have never paid to hunt and it would be a difficult choice to make. but, what the heck do you mean those of us that hunt honestly. because one pays for a hunt that makes him a dishonest hunter. is that what you are saying!!! :( like i said. for the most part i agree with you. but i will tell you one thing, many friends of mine, family members of mine and other such folk have paid good money to hunt and are some of the best hunters that walk the forest each and every year. most being the exact thing a hunter should resemble. so i have to disagree with you one that. if i had money to spend on things like that i am afraid i would rather see my money go towards a hunt than other things.

Well let me start by saying that the best hunters to ever walk the forests don't have to pay to hunt, they wouldn't need the assistance of guides. Secondly, you seem to be missing the main part of my post, it's money that ruins hunting year after year, too bad that you don't see that. Someday there won't be private land to hunt unless you want to fork out some cash. Or they won't let you on in fear that you will sue them if you were to get hurt, afraid that some greedy lawyer will end up taking the ranch. People are even charging money to shoot sagerats now, how far do you think this will go? It links right with the other post about the decline of trophy class deer, if someone is willing to pay guides to go sit pattern deer, he will. The fact is if you work hard at it and have some knowledge and time, it's not that hard to find these animals, and the more successful these guides are, the deeper they will go to find more money with horns. Do you really think paying someone to find your animal months ahead of season, to watch and pattern him, and then take you on a choregraphed hike and then point out a deer that you shoot and had no part in hunting is honest? Would it be honest to go to Harvard and take the entrance exam, answers in hand, from someone that has studied for weeks in exchange for money? Would you feel good about that? Would it reflect your skills? I hope not.

I agree yet disagree. Money is playing a big issue in hunting today. The fact of the matter is that the rich are harvesting big deer while the rest of us have to wait to draw and put in the man hours to harvest such an animal. A guide bust his rosy red cheeks to find bucks for his or her clients every year. This buck was not earned by the hunter, but by the guide. Guiding is a huge and growing market. If you could do what you love and get paid for it would you? I have seriously considered it! The animal itself is the beauty of the whole thing. Record books are as much crap as rich mans hunting. The books have a lot of honest everyday joe bucks, yet a majority of the entries lately have been guided. Do I think that a man should have his guided buck in the books? No. Should the animal be acredited to the guide and the rich man be left out? After all, who put in all the work to get the animal in the first place? I dont know how things are run in other states, but here in Utah a landowner can get tags for a species on the draw unit their property lies on. The tag is often sold to the highest bidder and they get to hunt the WHOLE unit. This is a topic that infurriates me! The private landowner tag should be good for the private land only, not the whole unit! Some people cannot afford very large quantities of land like the rich and famous. The average joe cannot afford the thousands of dollars spent on a landowner tag EVERY YEAR! There is one JOE inparticular that has repeatedly purchased several landowner tags year after year and got to hunt the units that many wait 15 years to hunt! On a video with some "raging bulls" in utah, one guy kills FOUR bulls! FOUR! Wheather this is one year or spanning over several doesn't matter. The fact is this guy kills four bulls while the average guy waits like everyone else does to draw. Oh, and the guy drew this year so maybe along with his draw tag he can purchase another so he can kill two "once in a life time" bulls this year. Guides have my respect, the men that hunt public land on a private landowner tag do not. Keep to the private land that the tag was given out for in the first place!

shedhunter and oregoneric,
you both make good points, espically you shedhunter. now, as far as oregoneric is concerned! i think that maybe you misunderstood what I was saying! I totally and 100% agree with you, there are many issues that surround a guided hunt that i do not agree with, so many i don't have enough energy or time to get into even half of them. but as far as the other side of the coin is concerned i think that maybe shedhunter explained it better than i could. I have nothing but respect for outfitters, as it is a line of work i wish day in and day out that i could afford to do it. that i feel would be the dream job, with no other even comparing too. i know enough after having guiding for a friend who was an outfitter that it is not all fun and games and it is a job just like everything else. but for me, i think i would pay to hunt private land without a guide, after all it is the thrill of finding a trophy animal that i strive for, killing the animal is not the best part for me. in fact after not really hunting for myself in a few years and just assisting people for the past two years i am some what at a crossroad in my hunting plans. i am really close to just buying some top of the line photography equipment and spend hunting season behind a spotting scope and a camera lense. the politics of all of it is getting ridiculous and it sickens me when i think about it. here is what i mean, for twelve years i have been putting in for one particular deer unit in wyoming, my home state. and for twelve years i have been unsuccessful. now let me say the odds of drawing this tag are around 44% as it is a good area but it is rough country, i mean super rough. now i have a buddy, yes he is still my friend, that has drawn the unit 5 times in 11 years, what gives? it ticks me off so bad that wyoming's game and fish can not come up with a better way to give everyone a fair chance of drawing. they claim that everyone has as good of a chance as the next person, but sometimes i wonder what he knows that i don't. many things go through my mind, the fact that he use to guide for a well known man in the state department, the fact that he works for the state of wyoming. i mean i know this is ridiculous to think about but after twelve years i begin to wonder.

hey,
im all about doin the huntin myself. goin up with family an friends an bein one with nature is enuff guidance for me. if i cant bag the big ol' muley myself than i shouldnt be up there huntin it. theres my thoughts

Yeah I know WYCOALMAN.... There are very few bighorn sheep tags here in Oregon, about 50 tags and about 3000 applicants. Last year three state bio's drew. I only know three, hard to say how many more got thiers as well. There are no preference points for sheep.....it's one of those things that makes you go hmmmm...............

forgot to log in...thought the dang thing was on auto log-in. the above post is mine.

HI BOYS...I HAVE PERSONAL FRIENDS THAT ARE GUIDES...THEY LOVE THEIR JOBS BUT THINK ALL OF THEIR CLIENTS ARE BIG SCHMOOZERS. THEY PAY A COUPLE OF GRAND FOR THEM TO TELL THEM WHERE AN ANIMAL IS AND THEN THEY HAVE TO CLEAN IT AND HAUL IT OUT FOR THEM...IF YOU ASK ME...WHATS THE POINT OF HUNTING WHEN IT COMES TO THAT. I DREW OUT FOR MOOSE ON THE PROPERTY THEY RUN...AND MY DAD AN I DID ALL THE SCOUTING AND WORK OURSELVES AND I WALKED OUT OF THERE WITH A 44 IN. WIDE ANIMAL. I GOT SATISFACTION OUT OF ALL THE HARD WORK I DID...WHAT DO THEY GET OUT OF IT???

Well put Bowgirl.

hey,
this yr i am spendin over 200 bucks for general tags in utah. i have my combination license, general bull elk, general mule deer and late season cow elk. i love the general public hunts, it brings more satisfaction out of the hunt when u do tag an animal. i would rather fight the hills with thousands of other hunters than spend thousands of dollars for a guided hunt. it's not hunting if you dont do the work urself. i love the thrill an excitement of public hunting, at times its frustrating but it pays off in the end. the experience alone is worth the troubles an heartache of public hunting. i rememeber a few years back when my dad shot a nice 3x4, he hit it in the front shoulder once than it went down in a gully an he shot it in the neck. it hunched over an kept climbin the hill. well once it reached the top another guy from the other side shot an tagged the deer. we were so heart broken that our deer got tagged by another guy but thats just one of the many challenges of public huntin an its makes it alot harder. all in all thats what hunting is about an im a do it myself kinda guy.