RandyA

I have several friends who guide, some are outfitters, and my #2 son has been a guide in Nevada for 5 years. I have also used outfitters many times. I am yet to meet one outfitter,USA, Canada, and Africa, that makes all of his money or his entire living from outfitting. And I have never met a single guide that makes his annual income from guiding. Those that do both, guide and outfitt, do it because they love what they do, plain and simple. My son guides from Sept. till Feb. He brings home about $8000 for his efforts. When guiding, 16 hour days are not uncommon. The best tip he ever got was $200 for a 180 class muledeer shot by a plumber from Las Vegas. The worst, $50 from a corporate lawyer from California, for his efforts on a 160 classs desert bighorn. Most of his tips run between those two figures.

He simply does it becuase he loves guiding. He seldom gets to hunt on his own any more as he is working most of the hunting seasons. His boss, the outfitter he works for, has to work other jobs most the year to make ends meet. My son works in the oilfield in the summer and hunts antlers all spring, guides in the fall and winter, to scrape up, at best $18,000 a year.


Hiring a guide and outfitter for hunting isn't quite the same as hireing a carpenter, electrician, plumber, or lawn care person. My hunting is my recreation. A good guide is deterimental to an enjoyable hunt. Not just the hunting, they answer your questions about wildlife, flora,weather, politics, they are a guide. I had an eskimo flabergasted once, as I was more interested in all the wildlife we were seeing and how he lived in the arctic than taking a caribou! He had never had a hunter that was content with the experience. And i reflected his sharing of his world, with a good tip. And when I left I recieved a hand carved statue of a walrus as a gesture of friendship.