My buddy and I are talking about going on a whitetail rifle hunt. Just a few questions for you fellas. We would be willing to spend anywhere from $2,000-(about)$4,000...hopefully more towards the 2K side. We want an extremely reputable outfitter with an opportunity to shoot a moster(150 and better if everything works out right). To us, this is a once in a 5-10 year hunt so we want a good one!! Location isn't an issue. Saskatchewon(sp?), Alberta, Ontario, Montana, Illinois etc... all the way down the line. Let me know what you guys think and let me know if you know of any REALLY good outfitters in the area. You can always email me info @ [email protected] if you have any info you'd like to share.

Thanks

i would say not to pay for a whitetail hunt. pay to go elk hunting or pronghorn or something. u asked for my opinion

no rifle hunting in illinios . bow shotgun or muzzleloader only. oh yea handgun season also

I wouldn't pay anywhere close to $2k for an pronghorn hunt either. You could probably bag 5 antelope and stay under $2k in WY and that's being an out of state hunter.

I would also suggest an Elk hunt for that price. If your set on big white tail you might be better off going across the border north.

Your best chance for a 150+ is doing a canned hunt. could go almost anywhere for that.

There are a lot of places to go and get a 150+ free ranging whitetail if you hunt hard, are in the right area and can shoot. Not 100% of the time sure, but tons of places where there's a strong possibility. No way in HE** I'd go on a canned hunt.

Thanks

glad to hear you are not a fan of the "canned" hunt. IMO i would go to canada, more of a remote location or maybe its just because i grew up in central illinois and am use to my surroundings. by remote location, what i mean is if you hunt illinois or the midwest you will be hunting relatively small sections of timber; there is an outfitter in my area who sets up guys on patches of 40 acres or less sometimes, and if i am paying that kind of money it isnt about shooting a huge buck, but its about the total experience.

T roy,

I for sure hear what your saying about the location of the hunt factoring into the total experience. For myself, I've never further west than S. Dakota. Sheltered? Yes I know I am. I've only been to Canada once and that was only 1 hour over the border from International Falls. So in part, this hunt is not only to shoot a monster....ok maybe not 20% of it...but to hunt in some area and drive into an area that I've never seen before and probably won't be back in for quite some time. I think my buddy and I have it narrowed down to Saskatchewon(sp?) or Alberta.

This is gonna sound like a total plug for TV shows here but you asked for my opinion. If you get the Outdoor Life Channel (I don't anymore, wah! and Spike TV took all the hunting shows off... where do I go for my hunting TV shows now?!?!?!?!). Anyway, before I got off on a tangent. Check out Buckmasters or Realtree Outdoors. Sometimes you get a good idea of the quality of deer and the style of hunts from the higher dollar shows. I'm pretty sure (don't quote me, I may make a liar out of you) they have links to some of the ranches on their shows. If you DO get the Outdoor Life Channel, they usually have links or phone numbers at the end of the show for the ranch they were hunting at.

Good advice John and I have hit up all of those websites for different links just for research, but haven't contacted any of them and probably won't. I wanted to pick the brains from "real" hunters to get some ideas and/or locations. Any outfitter will probably go 1,000% out of their way for a TV show like that because they know they are being put on TV and therefore getting plugged. Don't know if they would for "Joe Blow" hunter like you and I. Maybe they would....who knows?