becoming a guide
 

Does anybody have any tips for me. Iam interested in becoming a big game hunting guide. If anyone has any tips or ideas for me please reply back or e-mail me at [email protected].

Thanks

RE: becoming a guide
 

Don't hook-up with USO. Good luck.

RE: becoming a guide
 

MS..
I am in alberta, we have an association that deals with all the outfitters, I am not sure that B.C. has the same kind of deal, I have a link for you of outfitter info. I woud suggest that you look through them see who is in your area, what they hunt, and call who ever you are interested in, quite offten guys will pick up rookies, in the hopes that they will stick with them for a few years. finding guieds can sometimes be very difficult.

Good luck with your search.

RE: becoming a guide
 

You might want to check out the college in Vermillion, Alberta. My one buddy is currently attending a guide course there and really seems to enjoy it. He is taught tracking, dressing, packing, horse care etc. Basically anything a big game guide may encounter. If you have quite a bit of knowlede already this may not be needed but it sure looks good on a resume.

RE: becoming a guide
 

Does anyone know any outfitters in BC or perferable Canada who might need guides in the future?

RE: becoming a guide
 

mooseslayer, perhaps you have already done this, but I encourage you to evaluate being a guide. Spend some time getting to really know what it means to guide. Your hunting season will be nearly non-existant, pay is pretty lousy, and the hours are terrible. You must be in top notch shape. I don't want to discourage you, but I would really spend sometime researching this kind of life. When I graduated highschool my goal was to move to the west, go to guide school and spend the rest of my life in the mountains. After I researched I decided the agony outweighed the glamour.

RE: becoming a guide
 

That is why I will never guide for a living.

RE: becoming a guide
 

Just knowing that I would have to guide some whiney, big money, lazy, wanna-shoot-the-biggest-buck city slicker would keep me from wanting to do that for a living. Yeah I imagine it has some rewards, but I don't think I could deal with all the lazy people.

RE: becoming a guide
 

Out here where i live, you don't really need a guide unless its to help you FIND a spot to hunt lol

RE: becoming a guide
 

Guiding probably is not a full-time job. It would tend to cut into your personal hunting time, I would think. It has to be hard on the family life -- not being around to help your kids with school work, watching your kids play in their baseball/football games, not seeing too much of the wife --during the hunting season. Then again, I suppose some people find that guiding provides a supplemental income to other various money accumulating activities. Maybe a ranch hand can guide during slow work times?

Guiding would not be for me. I agree you ought to think this through carefully and separate the imagined glamour from the reality. Also, think twice about doing something you love for money. When money gets involved, things sometimes change and not for the better.

RE: becoming a guide
 

Let me put my two cents in as I am an outfitter/guide..

You guys are right, it's not for everyone, and I won't even bother trying to convince anyone they should do it..
but for a months worth of work, you can make 5 thousand playing in the bush.
if you have to take time from your regular job, not such a good deal..
But for new, or young hunters, it is a great opportunity, to hunt with other guides, and outfitters that will teach you all you need to know about animals, locations, survival..
where else can you learn all that real quick and get paid for it.
I can teach a new bear hunter, more about bears than he could learn on his own in 5 years, so it does have some value.

I would say if you don't have much experience, and want to learn, spend a season or two guiding, you will be set for life.

my two cents..

RE: becoming a guide
 

BDOA:

Would a young, inexperienced hunter have much chance of getting hired as a guide? Isn't the expectation that the guide be a well seasoned hunter-- know the country, know how to care for downed game, cape out heads, etc.?

RE: becoming a guide
 

BDOA i am 15 and im thinking of being a guide soon and i know a guide in bc and i might go be a wrangler where he works. can you tell me what a wranger does and what the pay usually is .

RE: becoming a guide
 

and i live in edmonton alberta

RE: becoming a guide
 

How can you even be considering becoming something and you don't even know what it is? All I'm saying is step lightly with such matters. I have a couple buddies here who did some guiding, and never came close to 5 grand in a month.

RE: becoming a guide
 

Wrangler/Camp Jack: stays in camp, cut firewood, wrangles & saddles horses in the morning, feed horses & mules, haul water, help cook clean up after breakfast, re-stock fire wood in tents, packs out meat & any other job/task that may pop-up?
The pay is low but the job satisfaction can be worth the cut in pay. If I could make half of my current wage as a guide or wrangler, I would consider doing it full time.
My current job allows me the freedom to ride into the backcountry & help a outfitter friend of mine. I try to do this trip twice a year.

RE: becoming a guide
 

That is what a wrangler does, and you should get paid upto $100 a day, depending on experience.

As for the other stuff..

I would hire someone green to work for me, I would not give them the full go ahead to guide a paying customer right off the bat, I would start them off as a camp hand, and teach them the ropes. But deff., I would hire a rookie.

I don't know where your buddy worked, maybe he sucked as a guide.. but my guys will make 5k in a month..

RE: becoming a guide
 

[quote]ORIGINAL: muley69

You could consider being something that you don't know much about, and lay off the 15year olds.. The kid asked an honest question, I am sure you knew everthing at 15..

RE: becoming a guide
 

Alsatian..

You are correct, but we all must start somewhere, and without someone giveing you a chance it's hard to get that start. As for the heads.. We don't skin the bear heads in my camp.. My guides job is to find bears, and get hunters those bears.. My taxidermist has the job of skinning heads, and paws. That is included in his price to the hunter, so might as well get him to do it and free up the guides to GUIDE.

RE: becoming a guide
 

I totally agree with BDOA as far as spending some hunting seasons under a outfitter as a guide to learn the trade. I would not recommend anyone going to a guide school. I've watched outfitters come out of guide schools with little actual knowledge of how things really are. Working for an outfitting is hands on training you can't beat that anywhere. Plus big bonus you get paid and not have to pay. hmmm think about that one a sec.

Being an outfitter for someone who really loves to hunt is a thankless job. Most clients can't shoot. Most clients can't walk. Most clients can't take the long cold hours. Your dealing with alot of hunters who come from a richer class of people that don't work that never do any physical work. Those people are best suited for private game ranches and ATV's (puke). I prefer the older hardened clients to today's modern rich youth, they tend to have some sand. The guys I like to take can barely afford an outfitter.

On the positive side forget about all that. Do it because you love and it's you way of life. I've spent my youth broke and barely making ends meet. But I'll tell you one thing most men spend their entire life trying to become financially stable to go hunting and fishing. Having that hair raising experience of a big bull elk 15yds in front of you bugling so loud you can't hear. But these men made a mistake. By the time they can do all that they are older and limited physically. I've been retired since high school. Sure I work but every year from september to march I'm up in the mountains enjoying my retirement. To me that's living. And who cares if I don't own a million dollar mansion. It's all about getting back to what makes your heart pump.

RE: becoming a guide
 

Ouch! That one stung a little.

I thought my guide liked guiding me last season. Maybe they get good at acting that way. Kinda like what a prostitute has to learn to do.

Take a guys money and then berate him for deciding to hire a guide. Wonder if he was just laughing as I drove away. Do they laugh even harder at a big tipper?

RE: becoming a guide
 

Ok, whatever. I know several people that guided at one point or another and never made close to what you are discribing. Every year there are a couple of outfitters looking for guides and paying 800.00/month plus tips. Simply cruising the net one can see the pay runs around 800.00-1000 month. I guess you just pay way above the norm, but 5K a month is definately not the average wage for a guide. Look, I'm not knocking guides, I'm just telling some of these kids to look real hard at what it really means to be a guide. The idea of guiding in the rockies is real damn appealing, but I know from experience that the Rockies are a tough, unforgiving place to hunt, and the mountain doesn't give a damn how old you are. Being a guide is not fun and games, it's hard work, low pay, crappy hours, and long periods away from home. I love to camp, but after two weeks of crapping in the woods, it gets real old. Having said all that, if a kid fully understands that it is hard work, and they know fully what to expect, then go for it. For me it was the lack of sleep that changed my mind. As a youngster I was sleeping 10-12 hours a day. I realized I simply wouldn't be able to function on 4-6 hours of sleep, I was a realist. Ironically, now that I'm older, I only sleep 6 hours a night anyway, go figure.

RE: becoming a guide
 

I was offered a guide job last summer. The pay was $100 a day plus tips. The outfitter was a friend of mine. He said the tips averaged $50 a day.

RE: becoming a guide
 

To give the kid an answer, do it. Hard work will never hurt you. It may keep you in shape for a long life. Also, there will be a ton of people tell ing you there opinion on what to do and not to do. Have no regrets try it young when you haven't the responsiblities. If nothing else chalk it up to an experience. A dollar bill is not happiness. It would be the same as going in the service low pay, but you have what you truely need to live, not all the stuff you get and have to work really hard to keep. Just remember you are getting advice from somebody sitting in a comfortable swivel chair sitting on there back side. It dark where I am. From dawn to dusk and sometimes later I keep moving, doing my thing. Live everyday as if it's your last!!!! HAVE NO REGRETS!!!!

RE: becoming a guide
 

Well here we go again, one can hardly post on this forum anymore w/o it turning into controversy or a pissing contest. The advice that I gave the kid was to research what it means to be a guide, in fact, I posted that I wasn't trying to discourage him, just pushing him to thoroughly research it. It does neither the prospective guide, or perspective outfitter any good to have hopefuls show up without knowing what it means to be a guide. Wild Work you sound as though everybody sits on their butt, while you are braving the wilds. Great, but that doesn't mean its true, nor does it mean that others advice shouldn't be listened to. I cannot see how it hurts to reasearch any position one is considering.

RE: becoming a guide
 

"$800-$1000 a month", I would be embarrassed to pay one of my guides that wage. Now this is in Canada but a standard range is $100-$200 per day, maybe the market is somewhat different than it is in the states. Most guides up here do it part time and for the most part for their own personal enjoyment.

RE: becoming a guide
 

200 a day is a decent wage for a kid just starting out. Here in Montana, folks would kill each other for 200 a day.;)In fairness, I don't really know if the guys I've talked to were up the mountain for 30 consective days either. I saw on some of the guide school sites they were quoting 1000 give or take a month.

RE: becoming a guide
 

I would not pay a rookie $200 a day, but a second year guy I would.

If they own a quad, they are paid another $250 a week on top.

There is deff. a difference, between outfitters, some pay less, none will pay less than $100 a day no matter what you know. I pay good, because I want good guides. Try and get a good guide for $100 a day.. not going to happen.

Better the guide = better the experience for the hunter = succesful business....