Guided Hunt Stigma.

[GOUMFACH]

I started moose hunting on my own, with only what I had read in magazines as information, I had zero experience hunting anything but whitetail and small game. My partner also had zero experience. After a few years of not filling tags we decided to use the help of a guide to speed up the learning process. With our jobs and families, time in the field is limited and we just didn't have the opportunity to learn enough on our own. Fast forward a few years, we now have made good friends, opened doors to new opportunities and have learned much more following a guide through the bush for a week a year than I could have ever learnt from books or interweb. I never felt once like we were cheating or working any less than our guide. It truly felt like teamwork. It comes down to what you want out of the experience, I can't understand limiting your opportunities to backyard game based on a notion that using a guide is any less of a thrill.

 

[BigUglyMan]

I have guided some real entitled D-Bags. Maybe that's where the stigma comes from.

Also guided some great, tough as hell dudes who were excellent.

But they all fully expect to be shown game to kill. And that's the difference. Especially with sheep hunters. They don't pay big bucks for hiking/photography trips .

And on the flip side, I've been on DIY resident hunts with ####-knuckles that had me doing the math on how likely it was that someone would find their bodies in the mountains.

They're on both sides of the aisle.

 

[medvedqc]

It has been quite a while since I have done it and I suspect things aren't quite as simple as they were when SA was under white rule. Zim the same, they both treated a firearm as a firearm period. When I landed in Jo'berg they issued me a permit for concealed carry right at the airport where they checked my firearms through. However when I tried to enter Namibia with my Coonan they seized it......I got it back upon exiting the country, but it did take some doing and about 4 hours.
Last trip to Congo, I arranged to have a handgun made available. It was a Beretta 92 (I think) in stainless 9mm......not my choice but beggars can't be choosers, as they say. No threat in the bush in the Congo but the check stops along the way can get a little tense, my Beretta pretty much lived in the glove box. The only time I packed it was when we went to the little village to get some fuel and grub. We left the truck across the river and took a water taxi over to the village so we were on foot.
I had more problems and grief getting back into Canada than anywhere in Africa......despite the fact I had all the correct paperwork. Canada Customs was absolutely flabbergasted and incensed that I had the audacity to travel with a handgun...It was one of those "who the phuck do you think you are" moments.

i had a 1911 in CAR. do not remember the paper involved but having the head of the bangui police as a neighbour helped a lot in those days ...