Hunting guide???

[Elk97]

A friend of mine told me today that his son applied for a hunting guide position in MT, and got the job. Pretty decent base monthly salary and room and board, plus tips. I don't know where or which outfitter. The kid (20-30?) has never set foot in the state of MT before. And.... he's never hunted anything, ever, anywhere.
I've never used an outfitter before but I'm hoping this isn't the norm. I always figured anyone that's guiding has a fair bit of experience and knows the area well. Maybe he won't be on his own with clients, hope not. Not fair to someone paying out big bucks for their dream hunt.

 

[WeiserBucks]

Happens all the time.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Everybody stars somewhere. Billy molls is literally one of the best Alaska guides out there and has never lived or gotten residency in Alaska. Yet he shows up every year and you can’t find a bad review about him.

 

[Agross]

Everybody stars somewhere. Billy molls is literally one of the best Alaska guides out there and has never lived or gotten residency in Alaska. Yet he shows up every year and you can’t find a bad review about him.

love watching his videos. didnt think he had ever shot an Alaskan big game animal either himself.

 

[def90]

Depends on what kind of outfit it is. Could be out with another guide all day until tney decide he knows enough to handle it himself or it could be the kind of place where a cousin of mine hunts in Colorado where they have access to private land and they know where the elk are at every day and the guide basically drives the hunter down a gravel road to the herd, hunter gets out walks a quarter mile and shoots elk, guide drives pickup over to elk and picks it up then proceeds to drive back to lodge.

 

[Mosby]

A friend of mine told me today that his son applied for a hunting guide position in MT, and got the job. Pretty decent base monthly salary and room and board, plus tips. I don't know where or which outfitter. The kid (20-30?) has never set foot in the state of MT before. And.... he's never hunted anything, ever, anywhere.
I've never used an outfitter before but I'm hoping this isn't the norm. I always figured anyone that's guiding has a fair bit of experience and knows the area well. Maybe he won't be on his own with clients, hope not. Not fair to someone paying out big bucks for their dream hunt.

Outfitters are like a lot of businesses. They hire people unqualified for the job because they can't find people that are willing to put in the work or they don't want to pay for it. There are some really good experienced guides out there but you go through the outfitter to get them and they normally end up with repeat customers.

I hired an outfitter for my first elk hunt in Idaho years ago and I learned a valuable lesson. I learned the food was terrible, some of the guides knew less than me and I was better off spending money on equipment and doing my own hunt.

 

[dtrkyman]

A good outfit will use him as a spotter and helper for the experienced guides.

If he lives at a camp a couple weeks and is hard working and has some hunting instincts it’s not that difficult to keep tabs on animals.

Dealing with clients is the real skill!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[alecvg]

Very common. The outfitting industry is like everyone, you can’t find any help. Finding someone who knows the country you are hunting well, and has tons of experience, would be next to impossible. From my experience, if they hire someone who has a good head on his shoulders, especially if they know how to hunt, they can turn into good guide pretty quick.

 

[WCB]

Be interesting to see if he actually got the job as a guide, or another position. Most likely he will be a camp jack or helper. I know a few guys that said they were "guides" but just did daily camp work and were actually assistant "guides".

Or there are always the Midwest Whitetail "guides" that basically set up stands and drive people to and from them and don't know their ass from a hot rock.

 

[Elk97]

Interesting. I figured for the high cost of a guided hunt you'd get an experienced guide. Guess I'll just keep doing my own thing.

 

[Stubborn_bowhunter]

Be interesting to see if he actually got the job as a guide, or another position. Most likely he will be a camp jack or helper. I know a few guys that said they were "guides" but just did daily camp work and were actually assistant "guides".

This is probably what the first season, or more would be.

Depending on terrain, I'd be less worried about him knowing anything about elk. I'd be more worried about him getting a client injured, or killed if he really hasn't ever hunted.

 

[WCB]

Interesting. I figured for the high cost of a guided hunt you'd get an experienced guide. Guess I'll just keep doing my own thing.

That is why you do research on an Outfitter. Many of them have very experienced guides that know what they are doing. If you don't want to go with Outfitter/Guide that is fine but it is not the "norm" for well established reputable Outfitters to have guides that have never hunted.

With forums like this and just the resources available today shouldn't be too hard to weed out the bad/inexperienced.

It is like any other industry.

 

[bozeman]

Good on him for chasing a dream......that being said, I've experienced opposite ends of the spectrum:
elk hunt: with a guide who had been working for that outfit over 5 years.....straight up, hard worker, had a blast
goose hunt in Canada: was told by the broker (getducks) that this outfit was top notch and had experienced guides.....guy in early 30's showed up in blue jeans and white NB tennis shoes....asked us how we thought we should setup the decoys and blinds (I told him wind direction and where the sunrises/sets)....took his call from him on the 3rd flock that flared. total waste of time having him there. broker blamed the outfitter, outfitter blamed the broker.

Wish him the best; also reiterate, we all start somewhere!

 

[GatorMike]

A friend of mine told me today that his son applied for a hunting guide position in MT, and got the job. Pretty decent base monthly salary and room and board, plus tips. I don't know where or which outfitter. The kid (20-30?) has never set foot in the state of MT before. And.... he's never hunted anything, ever, anywhere.
I've never used an outfitter before but I'm hoping this isn't the norm. I always figured anyone that's guiding has a fair bit of experience and knows the area well. Maybe he won't be on his own with clients, hope not. Not fair to someone paying out big bucks for their dream hunt.

Ive hunted in many states and with many outfitters , MOST have very inexperienced guides...outfitters dont care...ive hunted expensive lodges that were on Sportsman Channel and others that were Wall Tents...outfitters do not care about anything other than getting your money..they promise the world and when you get there, they all immediately change. Im still trying to find one honest Elk Outfitter ...not sure there is one out there....disappointing

 

[tntrker]

Hopefully, he'll just be an "apprentice" for a year or so, & doing the "low man" duties to learn from the ground up...

 

[GatorMike]

Hopefully, he'll just be an "apprentice" for a year or so, & doing the "low man" duties to learn from the ground up...

The "guide" I had this past year at a ranch from Sportsman's Channel....22 years old...1st year guiding...literally every guide in camp was in their early 20's except the head guide who was in his late 40's I think...and the only hunter that harvested an Elk...you guessed it..was with the head guide.

 

[The Guide]

In my opinion you are only using a "guide" or "outfitter" to get access to animals you couldn't have access to otherwise. This might be due to distance or terrain. It might be so you can access private land or land locked public lands. It could also be so you can obtain a license due to landowner tags or state requirements. You shouldn't be hiring an outfitter or guide to teach you how to hunt. There is so much knowledge on the internet now that if you do some basic research on what you plan to hunt and where you want to hunt them at that a person should be very well prepared before they get to their camp and meet their guide. Ask lots of questions of the outfitter before you get there and make sure you express your expectations and that they are agreed upon in written format before you make your first payment.

Jay

 

[GatorMike]

In my opinion you are only using a "guide" or "outfitter" to get access to animals you couldn't have access to otherwise. This might be due to distance or terrain. It might be so you can access private land or land locked public lands. It could also be so you can obtain a license due to landowner tags or state requirements. You shouldn't be hiring an outfitter or guide to teach you how to hunt. There is so much knowledge on the internet now that if you do some basic research on what you plan to hunt and where you want to hunt them at that a person should be very well prepared before they get to their camp and meet their guide. Ask lots of questions of the outfitter before you get there and make sure you express your expectations and that they are agreed upon in written format before you make your first payment.

Jay

I think you "assume" alot.

 

[The Guide]

I think you "assume" alot.

Did you just assume that I assumed something? That is very assuming.

Jay

 

[GatorMike]

Did you just assume that I assumed something? That is very assuming.

Jay

Well Dr Seuss...you said in your reply that "using guides or outfitters to access animals" and to "teach you how to hunt". You assume alot...there are tons of very experienced hunters like myself that hire guides for specific species either because they #1 don't have time to fly out west or to other countries and scout areas because we run large businesses or have jobs that cannot allow that much time off. As for a hunter needing to be experienced to hunt...that is subjective as I think it depends on the species. Anyone can find and shoot wild pigs here in Florida or Texas ...doesn't take much to do that...while whitetail or Elk are more challenging and require knowledge of the land, wind, and of course shooting ability.