Guided Hunt Stigma.

c-fbmi

c-fbmi

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From several comments made over the years on this forum, it would seem that some folks think that somehow guided hunts are different, or easier than do it yourself hunts.

I have done a lot of both and I can tell you that "guided" does not in any way mean "canned". For most of my out of country hunts, guided is the only legal way one can hunt and harvest the animals on the wish list. Just because one is paying to use someone else's equipment, expertise and knowledge of the country and it's animals, doesn't mean you don't take every step that the guide/PH takes, doesn't mean you don't climb every hill and mountain that the guide/PH does and it doesn't mean your day is one minute shorter than your guide's.

Some of my most difficult hunts have been guided hunts and certainly some of the most dangerous have also been guided hunts.

So I'm just curious if others have noticed this "nose in the air" attitude and stigma some try to attach to guided hunts.
 
For having done both, they are easier in a sense that you just show up for the fun part. No scouting, no patterning, land prep, food plots, baiting, hours spent retrieving cameras, looking at pics, judging antler size, etc. No stand building or shooting lanes clearing either. I have way more respect for a guy that harvest a trophy on a DIY hunt than a guy with thick wallet and a room full of trophies.
 
I have no problem with guided hunts. But consider this:

Guy #1 gets a full curl ram in a GOS by himself or with a partner after hiking in with their camp on their back.

Guy #2 pays a quarter mil and has a team of guides and is hunting on a former mine property and takes a giant ram.

Which one of this guys do you want to have a beer with and hear about the hunt?
 
Bellero..........I did every bit as much work building blinds and clearing shooting lanes while leopard hunting in Zim as did my PH and tracker. The same goes for my lion in Zambia, and I never did get to see a lion in Zambia. There are no guarantees !! I suppose that I wasn't really obligated to help but it sped things up and I don't mind working for my hunts. I have also helped to gut and load animals on many occasions.
As I also said before that to legally hunt and harvest many species from other countries and even some within our borders, there is no other way to go about it. Although my polar bear was taken in Canada there is no way for myself to access a tag without going through a guide and a guided hunt. However let me tell you, I worked as hard as my two Inuit guides, I drove one of the 3 sleds, I helped to unload and set up camp, just as though I was hunting with a couple old buddies. At the end I helped to skin and cut up the bear and then to load everything back up and head the 130 miles back to Tuk. When we broke a komatik I was there lifting and sawing and hammering to patch up the broken runner.
My point is that it isn't always just the rich fat guy shows up and shoots an outstanding trophy.
 
Yes there is a difference between guided and canned hunts. As you stated some places a guide is a must. Contracts and permissions alone for an out of country hunt would be crazy without an “outfitter” service or even an out of area hunt.
 
Not sure why there would be such attitude. How else would most of us get to hunt in different provinces or counties without a guide? I would love to do a guided hunt in the Rockies for just about any animal just for the experience.
 
I’ve done both and will say I do have more respect for DIY guys that put in the time and effort and take good animals. A full trophy room not always just means a thick wallet but generally you work for them or not it still takes money to do a lot of these hunts.

I want to do a lot of international hunting and am saving up for it but I still won’t be able to do everything I’d want but that’s just being realistic.

Dad turned 60 and always wanted to hunt northern BC. I booked us a guided horseback trip and we had an amazing time. Didn’t take any game so that proves right there it isn’t always just pay and show up. But we put the effort in and we had a great hunt.

I know for myself I don’t get a lot of time off work in my field. So I’m not afforded the ability to go scouting or have time off to go to new areas. So booking through a guide is more realistic. I work hard so what little time I have off I can afford to spend my time wisely and better my odds.

Next trip will be Africa. Wild Africa, Zim, Zambia, Moz etc sure it’ll cost more then SA but when I look back I know the types of expierence I want to have. The proper way to hunt and go on an adventure.
 
c-fbmi said:
From several comments made over the years on this forum, it would seem that some folks think that somehow guided hunts are different, or easier than do it yourself hunts.

I have done a lot of both and I can tell you that "guided" does not in any way mean "canned". For most of my out of country hunts, guided is the only legal way one can hunt and harvest the animals on the wish list. Just because one is paying to use someone else's equipment, expertise and knowledge of the country and it's animals, doesn't mean you don't take every step that the guide/PH takes, doesn't mean you don't climb every hill and mountain that the guide/PH does and it doesn't mean your day is one minute shorter than your guide's.

Some of my most difficult hunts have been guided hunts and certainly some of the most dangerous have also been guided hunts.

So I'm just curious if others have noticed this "nose in the air" attitude and stigma some try to attach to guided hunts.
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For me, I could give a pinch of poo but don't.

I am spoiled for access and choices here in BC, and am not needing the services of a guide for what I want to do. I have had similar options pretty much in every province I lived in long enough to hunt.

About my only negative thing to say about guides and guiding, is that I am aware of a couple incidents where guides trying to 'protect' their area from the rest of the public, have gone out of their way to make those 'intruders' unwelcome. On Public land. In at least one case I am aware of, this resulted in the guide's camp infrastructure burning while he was away. No, it wasn't me. That guide doesn't work there any more, either.

I sorta agree with who I would want to hear from about their hunt too. I recall reading about a fellow in the States who paid an outrageous amount for a Elk Tag, then hired a group of guys to essentially follow one around and keep tabs on it until it was legal to shoot. Yeah, he got a monster Elk. Does it seem to me that he actually did anything but shoot a tethered animal? Not so much. No respect for the effort, eh.

On the other hand, when you look into the details of how many fences got run over by the truck while chasing down the Biggar Whitetail buck, I feel about as respectful towards that too.

Lots of folks don't have the options many of us do, paying an outfitter is about the only choice they have besides doing without. Service varies, but I sorta figure if you are paying for the outfitter, most of the times, that includes more than just being pointed in the general direction of a particular hill and being told to go for it, eh?
 
I would have to agree with you, there seems to be a stigma attached to guided hunts. I suspect this is mostly by people who have never been on one.

I always liked the observation by the naturalist, Aldo Leopold - the most rewarding hunts are either where you kill an good trophy in a heavily hunted area, or you go way back in the wilderness and hunt where no one else has easy access. Guided hunts often fit this second criteria.
I have been on one guided hunt in the Yukon. Since I am from the flat lands of Saskatchewan, I looked at it as an excellent adventure. An opportunity to see the mountains and its wildlife, an opportunity to train and push my physical limits and finally an opportunity to get proficient riding a horse. It was a combination hunt for mountain goat and caribou. While I did kill a nice caribou, we didn't have an good chances on goat and I went home empty handed. I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. However, when I look back on that hunt, ten years later, it was some of the best money I have ever spent.

Interesting topic. Thanks for posting c-fbmi.
 
Guided hunts aren't for me, but I have a lot of time to scout and prepare in advance. I can imagine a lot of people don't have the time for that.
 
c-fbmi said:
From several comments made over the years on this forum, it would seem that some folks think that somehow guided hunts are different, or easier than do it yourself hunts.

I have done a lot of both and I can tell you that "guided" does not in any way mean "canned". For most of my out of country hunts, guided is the only legal way one can hunt and harvest the animals on the wish list. Just because one is paying to use someone else's equipment, expertise and knowledge of the country and it's animals, doesn't mean you don't take every step that the guide/PH takes, doesn't mean you don't climb every hill and mountain that the guide/PH does and it doesn't mean your day is one minute shorter than your guide's.

Some of my most difficult hunts have been guided hunts and certainly some of the most dangerous have also been guided hunts.

So I'm just curious if others have noticed this "nose in the air" attitude and stigma some try to attach to guided hunts.
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It stems from jealousy of not having the financial ability to experience the same in my opinion. The first post below Douglas’ opening post even alludes to it, no respect for the guy with the thick wallet. Pure jealousy!
 
the spank said:
It stems from jealousy of not having the financial ability to experience the same in my opinion. The first post below Douglas’ opening post even alludes to it, no respect for the guy with the thick wallet. Pure jealousy!
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Sorry dude, but having no respect for someone, isn't the same thing as being jealous of them. Two very different things.

There are LOTS of folks around that I have little to no respect for, and whose lives I wouldn't want. I am pretty sure there are a lot of folks around that feel the same way. It's not jealousy.
 
Sadly I think much of it is just petty jealousy. There seems to be an attitude that if they can't do it, it doesn't count. Rich bashing also never seems to get old. Does the DYI hunter really believe that most of the guys taking guided hunts doesn't also hunt on his own? Get real, most of the guys I know hunt everything available to them by themselves and do it quite well. The chances of them getting skunked are about zero, so maybe its a canned DYI hunt? So you built a deerstand; BFD. Others have built deerstands; then they built businesses and professions when they had a spare moment. The back-story on some well travelled hunters and how they got to where they are are more interesting than some of the hunts.

The thing is, the second you leave your home province the chances of hunting on your own drop to about nothing. Leave the country and its worse. Does that mean that nobody should hunt outside their own yards? Its just stupid to think that after exhausting or tiring of the opportunities locally they shouldn't branch out a bit. There's a big old world out there to be explored.

Some of my best hunts and definitely some of my worst hunts have been guided. I'm human enough to envy some hunts that I'll never be able to do, but not shallow enough to resent those that can. Mostly I'm happy I've been able to do as much as I have. There will be some that want to hear the stories, and a few that go "B B B But you had a guide" while #####ing and crying about how hard life is and bawling and blowing snob bubbles in their beer.
 
First off let me say i have nothing whatsoever against anyone who goes on a guided hunt. I haven't personally used a guide, but would have no problem doing so.

To the original question of where the "nose in the air" attitude comes from....I believe it can be seen by many as a shortcut to the knowledge and experience required to be successful. I certainly wouldn't say there is no hard work involved in a guided hunt...you still have to get yourself up that mountain, or 130 miles out on the ice as an earlier poster illustrated. You do not however have to spend the countless hours over many years to learn the particular animals behaviour, lay of the land (good spots) etc....thats a big part of what you're paying for.

Lets say i've been hunting elk for many years and have gotten pretty good at it, and have some really reliable spots. Along comes my good buddy who has never hunted elk before, I invite him/her along on the annual elk hunt....instruct on how to/ where to/when to etc,.... take him/her by the hand when we go out. after we walk into one of "my" spots and I call in a bull...he shoots it. Thats pretty much the same experience that is the essence of a guided fair chase hunt.....yet no one would poo poo my buddy who got a "guided hunt" from me for free cause we're buds. Yet their are many out there who will look down their nose on someone for the exact same experience because it was paid for.

Not sure I really see a large distinction between the two. Does the fact that it was paid for give it sort of a "prostitution" connotation??

JMO
Chris
 
MiG25 said:
I have no problem with guided hunts. But consider this:

Guy #1 gets a full curl ram in a GOS by himself or with a partner after hiking in with their camp on their back.

Guy #2 pays a quarter mil and has a team of guides and is hunting on a former mine property and takes a giant ram.

Which one of this guys do you want to have a beer with and hear about the hunt?
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Both, and if a third guy wanders in I'll listen to his story too.
 
I agree with the OP and Dogleg on this one. If I have the funds in the future I will do the same, although the experience has more value to me than the trophys. We can't all be good at everything, or have the contacts to get stuff for free that others pay for. I happily trade my skills and knowledge for others when I can. If a bit of craning, grading, or excavating gets me a big bore rifle that's ok with me. I do it at work for money, but JT takes a big cut.i
 
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