Guided vs DIY - Your experience

[CaliWoodsman]

My background: Lots of experience hunting out west, but limited to mule deer and antelope. Every hunt I’ve ever been on has been DIY on public land. Bump into the occasional elk here and there but really haven’t spent any intentional time around them.

I’ve got a bunch of preference points in Colorado and Utah. Enough to draw a very high quality unit. My instinct is to want to go DIY. But with zero experience hunting elk, I’m also realizing that I may need to hire a guide, or else risk losing decades of points to my complete inexperience.

My concern with hiring a guide is that the experience of the hunt itself is going to be diminished. I don’t want to feel like I’m just following another guy around in the woods while he hunts for the elk, and I’m just there to shoot. I hope that makes sense.

So my question to those who have done DIY hunts and guided hunts - was the experience diminished with a guide? Did you still feel like you were really hunting? I would welcome any input or wisdom or experience you might have.

Ideally I suppose I’d have an opportunity at the bull of a lifetime while learning a ton from the guide about hunting elk so that I could DIY elk hunts in the future.

 

[WeiserBucks]

If I ever draw a killer tag with decades of points I'd go guided without a doubt. Find an outfit that suits your desired experience and knock yourself out. Those kind of tags only happen once and I'd want to maximize the experience in every way possible.

DIY sounds awesome until you waste half half of the hunt trying to figure out where to hunt vs where not to, but DIY guys kick ass every year on the big bull tags.

 

[Ucsdryder]

Once in a lifetime tag and never been on an elk hunt? Nope!

If you truly want to go DIY I’d go for some diy otc or leftover hunts for a couple of years to get the feel for it.

When you add it all up, cost is probably a wash.

 

[philos]

What I believe will weigh heavily into your decision is how much time you will allow for your hunt. If you can scout ahead of time and/ or allow for sufficient time to find elk a DIY can make sense. If you’re limited on time a guided hunt may make more sense.

Elk hunting is a bit different and you can learn a lot from a good guide to use on future DIY elk hunts. I had this decision recently to make on both mule deer and elk recently and I did a DIY on the mule deer and hired a guide for the elk. Both worked out very well for me.

Also, your expectation should weigh in on your decision. If you must have a certain size elk then a guide on private land would make sense. If you can temper your expectations and are happy with pretty much any elk a DIY may be the way to go.

 

[Tod osier]

I wouldn't go with a guide, for the concerns you cite. I would not hunt rather than go guided, but that is me.

If you can make the time to scout the hell out of a tag and hunt the entire season, do that. Looking at a decent bull on the wall that you found trumps a slammer that someone else found for you. I have put myself in the position where I have the time and money to do things as I see fit and I appreciate that I'm lucky to be able to hold a firm line.

 

[Throwin Darts]

If I'm burning all those points and don't have elk experience, I'm going with someone who does.

 

[Scoot]

First, you have made several mistakes getting into the position you are currently in. Second, if you are a DIY guy (like me), you probably won't get nearly as much out of the experience following a guide around. If I were in your shoes, I'd a) read, listen to, watch everything I can about elk hunting (do the elk101 course and listen to everything elknut as ever made at a minimum), b) scout the heck outta the unit you are going to hunt, c) go on at least one elk hunt before you go on those high point hunts, d) make sure you have a lot of time to hunt, and e) possibly find a buddy who knows a lot more than you about elk and get him to join you.

I encourage you to put in a bunch of time educating yourself and do it on your own. You won't regret it!

 

[Indian Summer]

If you don’t know anything about elk hunting, you have no idea how much you don’t know. With that many points do yourself a favor and hire someone who knows what they are doing. Especially if you want the monster bull of a lifetime.

If you truly want to do a DIY hunt, just make sure you draw a unit where the numbers and access are really good. A place where Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder could find a bull. Don’t worry about quality just worry about your success rate. You can kill a bull and have a self rewarding on on your own. But if you want to make the most of those points, I’d book a top quality outfitter. And don’t book a private ranch hunt. You won’t learn anything about public land elk hunting on a hunt like that.

 

[CAElkhunter]

your perception of guided is off in my opinion. When you hire an outfitter or guide you can be passive and just follow him and shoot if that is your wish. What you are really hiring an outfitter/guide for is to make your experience better and suited to what you want. They know the area. They have scouted it and in most cases have hunted it for years and know where the elk tend to be. They will have a lodge or set up a very comfortable wilderness camp. They chop firewood. They cook you warm meals while you are sleeping or out hunting. If horses are used they do hrs of work you don't have to do. Most important...they pack the elk out for you. I don't mind saying I don't need the 3 days Elk packing merit badge anymore. Been there done that.

When it comes to hunting my experience from 30 + yrs of using outfitters is I am very interactive. I tell them what my expecations are. We have an ongoing dialog during the hunt as to what we are trying to accomplish.
In my opinion it is like having a very experienced hunting buddy. We discuss strategies and have fun together.

for reference I am an out of state hunter for Elk. If I lived in Colorado, MT etc. I might be more inclined to DYI.
But for the 1 week I spend Elk hunting. I prefer it to be elk hunting not all of the other non hunting activities that go into the week.

If you book a quality Outfitter I believe it truly adds to your Elk experience especially for special tags.

My hat is off to all DYI guys. I just don't have the extra time or interest to do it. I might add hiring an outiftter is not a guarantee of shooting an Elk. You still need to put in the work and make the shot. Even Outfitted the success rate is still less than 50% range for public land hunts.

 

[j_volt]

For me, the decision to go guided has always come down to time. My disposable income has always been greater than my available time. Coming from Missouri, I don't have the time to properly scout. I have been on 3 guided elk hunts. I have never felt that my experience was diminished with a guide, but I also did a lot of research in picking an outfitter. Each guided hunt did not feel like following a guy around. To me, it felt more like traveling cross-country to hunt with a friend that had local knowledge and the logistics figured out. I called in a bull on one of the hunts that I ended up shooting with my bow, and on the other two, I glassed the bull I ended up shooting with a rifle each time. I would have never been in those positions to call/glass without that guide, though.

 

[CaliWoodsman]

In my opinion it is like having a very experienced hunting buddy. We discuss strategies and have fun together.

That’s what I’m looking for!

 

[CaliWoodsman]

My disposable income has always been greater than my available time.

Exactly.

 

[CaliWoodsman]

A place where Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder could find a bull.

 

[CaliWoodsman]

I appreciate the input! Confirms what I was leaning towards as far as hiring a guide.

 

[wardl_3]

Me. 100% diy regardless of the tag. I like hunting/learning rather than paying $ to be a shooter.

 

[CAElkhunter]

once again I am not paying $ to be a shooter. I am paying $ to have them do everything I don't like to or want to do. Every year on every hunt I am an active participant in strategy and game plan. I even carry his pack up the hill, well maybe not that.

also to your point I have learned way more from every guide I have hunted with than you could possibly learn on your own. They are in the woods 8 - 9 wks every year hunting elk. They have seen way more than you could possibly see on your own even DYI.

I will agree that getting a bull 100 % DYI is quite a personal achievement. It is just something I don't have time for and I don't think guides diminish my experience at all.

Having said all that make sure if you do go guided you have a conversation with your chosen outfitter to match you to a guide that work for you. There are many guides that don't want you to ask questions. I don't get matched with them.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

Throughout history hunters have taught other hunters what to do. Some folks, especially many on this site, have forgotten that tradition and expect everyone to self-teach from scratch. Ignore them as their "figure it out on your own" attitude is pure bovine excrement.

Go guided with the primary goal of learning how to hunt elk; let the outfitter know ahead of time. You can significantly shorten your learning curve on hunting elk, potentially pick up some other hunting knowledge applicable elsewhere, and improve your odds of getting a bull let alone a trophy.

 

[Speck1]

Me. 100% diy regardless of the tag. I like hunting/learning rather than paying $ to be a shooter.

I have always been DIY up until this year. I drew a NM tag I probably won’t ever draw again. I was worried about going with a guide because I like doing things my way. Ended up being a great experience. He was a part time guide and the real benefit was him being familiar with the unit and access points. He knew about areas I would have never found on my own. The guy was absolutely relentless in covering country looking for elk. It really wasn’t much different than when I hunt solo except I didn’t have to call for myself and I had his help packing it out. I would do it again on a good tag as long as I was with someone like him.

 

[Jaquomo]

I have never hunted elk with a guide, but I have been a rifle guide for elk. I have also drawn the most coveted OIL elk tag in CO and hunted it DIY, and killed a 350+ bull with a recurve. My thoughts:

Every year guys draw coveted limited tags with little or no elk experience, thinking it will be like shooting fish in a barrel. It isn't. Every year people like that strike out, even in the very best units. Without deep knowledge of elk and elk behavior during the time of their hunt, they would be much better off hiring a guide, although the knowledge gained can be limited because hunting those units is nothing like hunting general units, low point, or OTC. But it can greatly improve the experience, and chances of success, of THAT particular hunt.

My partner and I killed great bulls on our OIL hunt, but between us we had killed 65 with a bow before we drew those tags, with a combined 70 years of bowhunting elk experience. We were able to scout in the summer and knew elk inside out. Even then, it was a serious challenge to find and kill two big bulls with recurves.

When I guided rifle hunters on a couple big ranches in an OTC unit, some hunters just wanted to pay their money and be led to the biggest bull on the mountain. These guys often told me all about their hunting prowess, which usually turned out to be all on guided hunts. A few wanted me to teach them as much as possible so they could apply that knowledge to their next DIY hunt. It was like a mentor-student relationship. I can honestly say that I worked a lot harder for those hunters than for the "lead me to a trophy bull" guys.

 

[HoytHntr4]

I drew a OIL type of archery elk tag in Utah this year and was kind of faced with the same situation as you. Have done plenty of hunting out west DIY but decided to hire a guide to make the most of the tag I had. Ended up having an incredible hunt and don’t regret hiring a guide at all all. I feel a good guide will be able to tell if you know what you’re doing in the mountains and that they don’t need to hold your hand about every little thing. If a guide doesn’t have to babysit a client, it should hopefully end up feeling more like you’re hunting as a team than just following him around the woods as a shooter. A guide will like it if he has a client who knows how to hunt and he can bounce ideas off to come up with a game plan for the day or help figure out the best way to work in on a bull etc. If you’re archery hunting it can also be extremely helpful to have someone there to be able to call for you. Picking an outfitter can be tough too, I suggest talking to a couple people who have been past clients on how their hunts went and how the outfit operates as a whole. Hopefully that all makes sense, I hope you pull one of those great tags you’ve built the points for