GR8atta2d

Since Quicksilver brought this up in the "Do you care what a buck scores?" thread.

QUicksilvers Quote: In a nutshell, I would be 10 times more proud of a six point taken on Pennsylvania state game lands than I would of a 180-class baited-in-with a foodplot Saskatchewan buck that is only available to those willing to fork out $3000 to go shoot one.

What do you guys think of guided hunts? Now NO I AM NOT talking about high fence hunts, please don't take this thread that direction!

But an honest to goodness fair chase guided hunt. Does that Trophy buck carry an asterick in your mind, because it was, for lack of a better term, easier. It required no scouting or real leg-work on your part. Just pay and go where they tell you.

Personally I have made 1 trip to Texas and it was great. Certainly a different style of hunting than in Ohio or PA. The memories are terrific and the stories from that trip are many. At that time it was the biggest Buck I had tagged, I have since tagged a bigger one in PA on State Game Lands! So there are opportunities everywhere.

I plan on going on a hunt next year..somewhere and the memories of that trip will (i imagine) be very special also.

I just wonder where the majority stands on these types of hunts. Obviously most of us watch them on TV.
Is this as simple as: Those that can afford to go are for it, and those that can't are against it? Hmmm not sure, let's hear it.

Buck Huntin Girl

I have nothing against it, and I can't say that I wouldn't do it, but I would have a different "feeling" about the "trophy". To me, it's not "hunting" if you don't have to HUNT for the animal! You know, thinking about it, I don't know if I would hunt in that way, I would LOVE to go out there just to view the animals, but it seems to take the fun out of it all when you haven't done your own scouting and you haven't strategically placed your stands, ya know?

OntElk

Do it in a second! Would love it and cherish the experience. Nothing against it at all. If I had the time and extra few grand lying around I would be booking my hunt right now.

Does it have an astererisk?

I would say most definitley. If I took the exact same animal in my own area that I scouted and picked my stand location, everyone would know that it was ALL me .

HYDE

IMO I wouldn't get any satisfaction out of a guided/gamefarm hunt. I enjoy the HUNT that we all enter the woods for every season. Having someone bait/find a deer for you is not hunting. Hunting is seeing that elusive buck/bull and coming close to bagging him but having to wait until tomorrow and hopefully you will find him again. I personally wouldn't pay to hunt I enjoy the hunt too much to pay and have it end in one day over a food plot that I have never seen before. It's not HUNTING.

Bees

Well unless you hunt all by yourself all of the time, than you have been on a guided hunt of one kind or another. Anytime you ask a hunting partner about where they are, how to hunt it, or what do you think, It's like a guide.

I have a friend Lives out of state, every year I go hunt with him over thanksgiving. When we hunt on his farm from time to time, he tells me where to go, when to go there, and what I can expect when I get there. He is a good friend and a good guide. So I like guided hunts, especially when they are free.

quiksilver

I guess I got on a bit of a rant there.

If I was to say that a trophy buck that I paid to shoot wouldn't carry an asterisk in my mind, I'd be lying. Don't get me wrong, I'd go on a guided, pay-hunt, and I'd get a deer and be proud of it. I just think it strikes a nerve, in essence, you're getting the glory for somebody else's legwork.

I equate it to hunting livestock. On a pay-to-hunt ranch, wild game is de-facto livestock, bred to be big, protected from outside hunting pressure, nutritionally sound, etc. I just think that such animals, in my eyes, lend themselves more toward the majesty and growth potential of the animal and less as a testimony to the hunter's skill and cunning.

I won't be going on any pay-hunts anytime soon.

rybohunter

The way I see it, a guided hunt trip is about the experience of the situation. In my life I would like to go on hunts for elk, pronghorn, and hogs, as I do not have the ability to hunt them in PA. I really doubt I'd go on a whitetail hunt. I can hunt them here. Shooting a big buck on a guided hunt would be cool and all, but unless there were some other circumstances besides just being dropped off and shooting what comes by, I'd have to say it wouldn't feel as sweet. If I was on a spot and stalk, or rattling them in off the ground, or even if i was presented several stands and I picked which one based on terrain, trails etc, then I would be proud and leave the asterisk out

adams

For me hunting is a total experience, Not just a kill. With that said I enjoy every moment from the day this season ends. From late season scouting to shed hunting through the end of winter, to planting plots and scouting in the spring and spotting through out the summer, I love it all and it's a passion of mine.

Having someone say climb that tree and shoot a deer may me exciting when the moment of truth arrives or when a half a dozen 130"+ deer cruise by it would most definately in my mind carry an * next to it. I'm sure it would be a great experience and I won't knock those who hunt with guides but it's not my style.

If I had 1500$-3000$ to spend on a guided hunt I'd rather spend it on a lease in Big Buck country(If I could get a lease for that) in a place like Pike Co or the like.

cardeer

I would if I had the money.

bscofield

buck huntin girl, this isn't so much a contradiction to what you said but a qualifyer. I had a friend this year who shotgun hunts in Illinois. He did what he does every year, which is to go out and sit on the ground on his property and wait to see a deer. No prep, no scouting, no nothing. a few hours into the hunt the larget 12 point he's ever taken chases a doe right in front of him. He had the "no work" hunt that you describe for the guided hunts...

Personaly, I'd love the experience. I think I'd always know that I shot the deer for money and all that. But nobody I see on camera ever seems to be unhappy about what they shot. What I'm not sure about is if I'd pay that much money for the experience...