cost of guided hunting
 

a good friend of mine got a guided hunting trip in utah for a bull and cow for himself and his son.the cost was $19000.is that normal ?ive always done it myself but wow thats spendy

Did you say 19 thousand? Or is that suppose to be 1900?

$1900 would be cheap for two elk and two hunters. 19,000 would be insanely expensive.

It depends on. Riding horses into a remote hunting camp, sleeping on a cot in a canvas wall tent, one guide for two hunters, dutch oven cookery -- $3000 to $6000. Living in a luxury ranch house, eating meals prepared by a gourmet cook, being served a bottle of excellent Chardonnay at the end of the day, hunting on private land, riding out in a humvee to hunt. Maybe that is going to be a bit pricier, paticulary if that specific piece of private land is known for producing exceptional trophy elk.

I've seen 35k for utah elk hunts...

anytime you can buy a landowner tag for a unit/area that is highly prized and draws are very difficult...ie public land etc...where 400" roam tags get costly.

if they both were hunting....so that's 9500....would make sense that it's a quality hunt, if its just him and his son is tagging along, then I'd say he booked one of those specialty type elk hunts...

i have seen gov. tags for elk sell at actions sell for that kind of money. but a father/son guided hunt?????

Not at all insanely expensive if you go check what 1x1 guided premium elk hunts cost these days with guaranteed licenses. A premium higher end 1x1 guided trophy bull elk hunt will run you $8,500-$10,000 and that allows only a bull to be taken. It is a little high for a 2x1 guided hunt but then again most hunts don't offer a bull and a cow each so maybe that is what has the price bumped up. Most premium higher end hunts are 1x1 guided only.

Just looked at Utah's web page yesterday, Out of State Tag alone in some of the "Trophy" units is $1500. Or I think they call them "Premium" units. I believe those are only limited entry drawing tags. But if you had Private Land tags in same unit, I imagine you could command a pretty decent price.

Well, maybe $19,000 is a going rate for some hunts. Too much for me. I could take my family on 5 tropical vacations for that much.

First nothing against you, salukipv1 -- you are simply articulating a fact.

I do not consider myself to be a trophy hunter and am dubious about trophy hunting as a sport. As suggested above, taking a bull elk with trophy sized rack becomes a paying proposition. Large racks become commercialized, value gets extracted from large racks. While an above averge rack is . . . above average, so what? It seems people take rack size as almost a measure of hunting prowess or skill. In a bet on who would score the larger rack, I would place my money on the novice hunter able to pay $35,000 to hunt in a trophy unit assisted by a highly paid guide against a 40 year elk hunting veteran hunting on normal public land any day. Is skill the differentiator?

I think regular hunters somehow get swept up in this rack size thing without really thinking about it. I think it is a distraction and leads us away from the true nature and honest pleasure of hunting. It also makes us vulnerable to the marketeering of businesses. Can you take elk without laser range finders? Yes. If you were hunting for Mr Big and your only chance of taking him might involve a long shot where determining range is critical to making a hit (of course, highly practiced shooting skills would also be critical in addition to ranging), would a a laser range finder POSSIBLY give you an advantage? Yes. If you are dead set on bagging Mr Big, the laser range finder just wouldn't be important -- you would shoot another elk.

If a trophy elk is defined to be a bull elk having a rack in the upper 98th percentile of bull elk taken, what does this imply? That 98 percent of elk hunters are losers? They didn't take the bull with the exceptional rack.

Winterhawk Outfitters, Colorado- White River National Forest- Flat Tops- units 25 & 26. $4,000 for Guided hunt. 1 guide on 2 hunters. Base camp is cook building, canvas wall tents w/cots for hunters, Horseback to hunting spots, they provide everything but your license, and your gear, plus costs whatever tipping you wish to give. I've been there 2x's, very professional family run outfitter, been in business for long time. Been on Outdoor Ch. w/Wild Outdoors, Babe Winkleman, Outfitters Journal, and most recently this wk Archers Choice. Larry & Laura Amo's are first class people. I'm leaving 9/7 for my 3rd trip w/them. www.winterhawk.com, they'll send you a copy of their dvd, and info if interested.