ZEN

Is it just me, or does all the talk on TV and in magazines about how "if you want a Trophy animal, you have to get a guided hunt" starting to really make anyone else mad? I have looked at a few Outfitter's web sites and it looks to me that not too many people are really killing "trophies", but animals that you or I could kill if we just put in the time and effort. I got my first Bull Elk this year(a 6x6) after 3 years of hunting them. The most rewarding part was that I am the one that taught myself to hunt the animal, and finally got one....on Public Land! Anymore, all too many people just want to Kill, and not HUNT. I guess the feeling a self accomplishment and pride are not as important as getting that "Pig Buck, or Bull". If you really want the trophy animals stop shooting the first thing you see!! But if that makes you happy just to get that first one...then more power to you friend! At least you accomplished it on your own! Well will get off the soap box, I guess I just see these Guides and Outfitters and the downfall of the workin mans rights to public land (whats left) with out HAVING to pay someone to hunt what is already ours. So get out there Hunt, and Just Say No to Guides andOutfitters! I may never get a true Trophy, but at least everything I do get.....I got it on my own.

WYOWIRES

While I have never used a guide or outfitter, they do have their place much like hunting without a dog. It can be done without one but it is generally better with one. when using a guide or outfitter, it depends on the genetics of the area and time of year you are hunting. Wyoming has some areas that can produce large Bull Elk but only at certain times of year. TV is TV and they take what they get. Some have passed on shots and some haven't seen the deer they should. I think that is why they call it HUNTING. People don't watch the shows just to see someone go home empty handed all of the time, they want BANG. That is what sells advertisements.
Kudo's on your hunting alone, it just might not be feasable to others.
GOOD LUCK
WYOWIRES

tacogrande

3 years for an elk, congrats. Some take longer, some take less. Not everybody has 3 years to spend. I agree it is a personsl accomplishment and it is still hunting with and outfitter as well. Not everyone has 3 years to learn an area so they hire an outfitter and they also meet new friends in doing so. Sure you may feel more pride in your self doing it all yourself but chances are better with a little help. Some outfitters will let you hunt by yourself if that is what you want as well.

2eagles

My first elk hunting trip to northwestCO in 2004, I stayed at a lodge type place with maybe a dozen other hunters with varried experiance. They were hunting public ground and between the group, only had one nice buck. I was there for a private land cow elk hunt. Met a darn nice guide/landowner, had a great time and got my cow the second day. I've been back twice since and want to go again. Now, maybe this isn't what you mean by a trophy, but that cow sure was - is a trophy to me! Me coming from Iowa by myself and expecting to get a 6x6 bull is nonsense, so in my case, a guide is the only way to go. Jim

SILVERTIP-CO

6 yrs no elk. 6 yrs no mulies. But then I did it all by myself. No help, no friends, no guide. Weeks alone in the high country. I may forget my first two wives, but Ill never forget the mtns.

A guide may be a greeat help to a no luck guy like me.

As long as he didnt say 'now theres an elk, ok its legal, ok now load your big gun, ok now look thru your 2900.00 Swarovskis scope and shoot, ok now shoot again, ok now unload your gun, ok now put one foot in front of the other and walk to your guaranteed kill' like they do on the TV shows.

My take on it all is the guides and outfitters provide 'access' to places us ol folks osmetuimes just cant get to or arent allowed to.

Good luck.

ultimag

I think they have there place.But it does get discouraging when you start knocking on doors to ask permission and everything is locked up by outfitters.

frontier gander

I know a few places i could point out on a map where mule deer are. You just have to do your part and scout. You have to find the paths the elk make, where they cross and what day. I got one heard figured out already. If you cant find a mule deer in 6 years of hunting in colorado, you need to find a new unit or start walking more. A lot of hunters stick to the roads and think they will find something to shoot at and thats not always the case. I can see hiring a guide if you are in hunting moose/grizzly/ other not to common animals, but for elk and deer, its pretty much look for areas that have a high number kill % each year. Unit 35 and 15 are great areas for deer and elk and stay out of Ntl. Forest, Hunt the surrounding BLM that boarders. But hiring a guide for mule deer is plain silly. I got a nice 4x4 in 06 during muzzleloading, there was a way bigger deer next to him but he was behind a tree so i took the next best one. Im not a "trophy" hunting, whatever has horns or the right sex is going down if i have a tag for it. But when it comes to doe's, i do get picky and prefer to take the biggest. Just gotta do your scouting for fresh tracks with lots of trails and good food and youre set. Look for private land boardering BLM that has a food plot,. set up on BLM and wait for deer to come down the mountains and towards you. Got my area for this years picked out and this time im not going to shoot the first deer i see.

Dirt2

I don't think I would use an outfitter under any circumstance. I want that animal on my wall to be mine, taken by my skills, not something a guide got for me. If all I provided was the trigger finger at the end, what kind of hunt is that? I would take a120-class whitetail that I killed overthe new world record with a guide. I'll stand by that statement.

If I ever pay for a hunt, it will be a trespass-type deal, where I get access to a block of land, but no actual guiding. If it's a place where outfitters are required, then I guess I won't be hunting there.

A trophy is defined deep in our own hearts, not by the mathematical equation out of a B&C scoring manual.

NJheadhunter71

Zen, though I agree with some of your coments I think your dead wrong about guides and outfitters. Think about it, some places you can't even go without one like Sask, Labrador, Africa, and in my case anupcoming hunt to theWyomings Bighorn mountains (I can only hunt in the lower elevations due to restrictions)on and on ect....ect...ect. Also, do you really want some of these yahoo's that have never been in the mountain regions attempting to go it on there own? I think not. Besides it also creates an industry in areas where there isn't allot of work for people. Last year I had to go with an outfitter/guide on an antelope hunt because I failed to draw a permit on ado it yourselfer. I got denied2 times so when I talked to someone they told me of an outfitter that had 100% draw in the guides area so I went. But before you judge me it was because I had everything booked to go unguided such as plane, time off work, time away from my family, time away from my taxidermy business and so on. I think you see rich people paying for the animal and not really the hunt and it makes you sour. Well what about the hunter who sleeps in a outpost camp for 7 days in sub degree tempsand glasses valleys right along side his guide onlyto see the bull before the guide does? Is that not hunting? I can see you have been watching to much TVas not allguided hunts are like that.

ZEN

I agree that if I am going to Canada or Africa or any other FORIEGN COUNTRY, that a guide is not only a good idea but required by foreign countries that you have a guide because youor Iare not a citizen of that country!! But why do you think the state of Wyoming requires a US CITIZEN to hunt in its wilderness areas? Because they care about your safety.....no! Because they want you to be successful in your hunt....no! Its because they know they can tax the crap out of the Outfitters by requiring you to pay one of them to hunt on land......WE ALREADY OWN AS TAX PAYERS IN THIS COUNTRY! Most wilderness areas are federally protected lands. As far as people going into the wilderness that dont know what they are doing / getting themselves into, well I am nobodies keeper, if they cant survive then maybe they should not go out hunting in the first place. My whole thing is, I think that people have been so inundated with getting a guide and killing nothing but trophies, that the true reasons a guy or gal should be hunting has been lost by alot of the people going afield. It just saddens me, that people have become so LAZY! And now (Wyoming is a good example) the states are starting to see they are missing out on alot of possible revenue from leasing public grounds out to outfitters to charge us...The Workin Man/Women....to hunt on land that is ours in the first place. Yes I understand that people want to see big animals killed on TV..no problem. But what do they say after each one of those kills something like...."if you want the experience of a lifetime call """""outfitters!" when most of the time you will never see an animal of that caliber if you do book your hunt! you will be lucky to seean animal any one of us could see on a Do it yourself hunt, only you will pay between 3K and 25K to kill it. How many of us workin folks can afford that? I hunt out of state every year for elk and deer as well as in state, but yes i do sacrifice alot of other things to do it, BECAUSE I LOVE TO HUNT THOSE ANIMALS. I make the time to learn about the animals I hunt, learn how beat them in there living room....out of respect for the animal, when and if I am lucky enough to harvest one.