looking for feedback as an outfitter

What are you willing to spend on a 5 day "American Plan" guided bear hunt

  • $2000 - $2500

    Votes: 41 71.9%

  • $2500 - $3000

    Votes: 8 14.0%

  • $3000 - $ 3500

    Votes: 4 7.0%

  • $3500 - $4000

    Votes: 4 7.0%
  • Total voters
    57
OP , I did that for 10 years . My advice , if you've been running side by side with the current owners for 2 or 3 years then maybe consider it and that is the business end as well as the hunting end . Close to 40% of all of the outfitters and lodges in north western Ontario change hands every year and it's not because those selling the businesses made a fortune and are moving on . The average owner life expectancy of a hunting/guiding/outfitting service in north western Ontario is 3 years .
 
Funny thing it really isn't any different out west in the big dollar hunts, your base costs are simply higher and the numbers bigger. The guys with $60,000 Canadian sheep hunts paid $3 million for their area and operation, another $150k-250k a year on keeping it running, planes, horses, staff... Safe rule of thumb is a 10% profit margin, in most industries businessmen would choke at those numbers. You'd certainly get kicked out of the dragon den with skidmarks and boisterous laughter. But that's not the point, nobody gets into it to get rich, and even a mentor who helped guide me in (one of the $60k sheep hunt folks with a multimillion $ area) has a day job and lives more modestly than I do. I'm worried folks would read this as a sob story, it's not I'd make the leap again in a heartbeat, terrifying as it was at the time. But I suppose the real answer is ask me again in five or ten years, we'll see if I'm still there. So far, lot of fun and a lot of stress.
 
Ardent said:
Funny thing it really isn't any different out west in the big dollar hunts, your base costs are simply higher and the numbers bigger. The guys with $60,000 Canadian sheep hunts paid $3 million for their area and operation, another $150k-250k a year on keeping it running, planes, horses, staff... Safe rule of thumb is a 10% profit margin, in most industries businessmen would choke at those numbers. You'd certainly get kicked out of the dragon den with skidmarks and boisterous laughter. But that's not the point, nobody gets into it to get rich, and even a mentor who helped guide me in (one of the $60k sheep hunt folks with a multimillion $ area) has a day job and lives more modestly than I do. I'm worried folks would read this as a sob story, it's not I'd make the leap again in a heartbeat, terrifying as it was at the time. But I suppose the real answer is ask me again in five or ten years, we'll see if I'm still there. So far, lot of fun and a lot of stress.
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Hopefully you are and a bunch of us have been along for the ride.
 
blasted_saber said:
Thats because most of them are American operating in Canada. Is math really that hard?
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It's not about the math being hard.

It's the fact that a $5000 Muley hunt in 2015 was $5000 US or Canadian.

This year that $5000 Muley hunt is $5000 US/$6800 Canadian. If the outfitter is operating in Canada their local costs are in Canadian bucks.

So listing in US bucks basically tells me that they are not marketing or trying to attract Canadians - "they don't want or need our business" at least until the Yanks don't show up (like they didn't do for a couple of seasons).

There's another thread jumping all over some guy who listed something in EE in US bucks - the consensus is that, that is almost a crime - someone NOT to be dealt with, yet it's "ok" in this situation?
 
Ardent said:
What proportion of US gun buyers on the EE there galamb? ;) What proportion of US hunters booking the Mule Deer? It really isn't that hard to figure. Afraid we're making mountains out of molehills here.
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The original question was posed to Canadian Hunters on a Canadian Forum about hunting with an outfitter located in Canada.

In that light, I gave what "I" would be looking for under those circumstances.

If the target audience is "different" then they should be asked.

I do get it, but I wasn't asked what I think would be important to an American hunter.
 
Indeed, but we have been talking about the Mule deer outfitter unless I'm wrong, and why his posted US rate remained the same yet he didn't post an updated Canadian rate. The answer is extremely simple, if he posted two rates in different currencies American clients would immediately ask why they can't pay in Canadian dollars. He likely has 99% non-Canadian clients, and I suspect just like me if you contacted him privately and explained you're a fellow Canuck, there would be a favour if you're nice to talk to. But I don't expect him to adjust his posted US rate when his main clientele see no increase in cost, just because the Canadian dollar fell. It's not getting any cheaper to do this and good for him if his margins improved simply on an exchange rate. Again I feel mountains out of molehills. In summary if the OP intends to seek majority US clientele, as most outfitters must, he would be wise to do so in US dollars too. Selling rifles in US $ on a Canadian forum, I agree completely different ballgame. Americans aren't buying those.
 
Ardent.... I think we should do a trade. I will give you 4 black bear hunts for 1 grizzly.... All kidding aside, a Grizzly hunt is a bucket list hunt, and when I can pull the trigger, you will be first on my list
 
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