ORIGINAL: SevenMag
for locals, yes, it DEFINITELY sucks that the guides are sucking up the land and charging out the wang for a hunt... which, as other mentioned, I'd never use a guide for game I can hunt locally or that is available for me to hunt without a guide...
however....... for guys like me that want to hunt Elk, caribou, 'lopes, or etc., well, a guided hunt from a reputable guide service is about the only way you can do it economically... think about it, me living in the chicago area I'd have to buy a very serious amount of gear to be used for a one week per year hunt... not to mention travel (by truck of course)... it would take me about 5-7yrs of unguided hunts to make up the cost difference... then toss in the very low success rates of people hunting areas/animals they are not familiar with, not to mention eating up at minimum 1-2 weeks worth of vacation days that I can use for other things since I can hunt whitey's fairly locally...
what I hear from the anti-guide hunters sounds a lot like "local's rule, tourists drool" kinda sour grapes... they want their land all to themselves and can't stand the fact that there is an entire economy in the area based on this...
guides are part of hunting now, whether we like it or not... I'm takin each of my boys to WY for a guided antelope hunt for their 12th bday, its something they cannot hunt locally... they will have taken whitey's by then anyway so this is kind of a special treat for them...
It would not take you 5 to 7 years of unguided hunts to make up the difference! My very first year elk hunting ran me about 2,000 bucks, the 1st year is the worst. All my hunts after that ran about 1,300 bucks. I'm sure it may cost abit more now, Its been 3 years since I've last went. Your going to double that easily and then some with a guide and trust me your not guaranteed an elk either, your chances may be better being your a 1st year hunter but that doesn't mean meats going to be in the freezer!