R Guided & Private Land< Really Hunting ?????

[tufferthandug]

Who nose what Moosie's talkin bout.

If I had the money I would go on guided hunts all fall long!

A BC cougar tag-$20 bucks. Mr Wild sounds like he's from Alta. though.

 

[sneakem]

You can't just lump everything together as much as we would like to...different strokes to different folks..

For instance, Sometimes hunter's are better than their guides, other cases they may be worse...Some outfitters private ground gets hunted harder than public ground..etc. etc...what about friends that tag along that are great hunters??? what about premium unit with lower tag allotments, that's kinda like hunting private land in some aspects...

Too many variables IMO....

Personally I'd never want to hunt with a guide, but don't condemn it....Probably just a bunch of high school drop outs wanting to hunt for a living anyhow..

 

[tufferthandug]

Many variables....

I guess I should say, "I would like to have someone to gut my animals and pack em out for me all fall long"...LOL.

It's just part of my winning the lottery scheme.

 

[Nut]

Is it being guided if you go to a unknown area and have a friend show you where to hunt?

Isn't it basically the same as paying for a guide?

 

[BuzzH]

Bowedark,

I think you need to rethink your "logic" on guided hunts.

While I tend to enjoy the challenge of doing the entire hunt myself, I personally wouldnt call guided hunts "easy".

I've been on exactly one guided hunt in my life, in Alaska for white sheep. As you know, if you want to hunt white sheep, you cant (without a guide) unless you're a resident of AK, have kin there, or you're a resident of a Canadian province.

Heres the quick and dirty on my "easy" hunt for white sheep...that wasnt "really hunting".

My buddy Doug and I booked the hunt on a 2 hunters one guide deal, intending to maximize the time we spent afield. Our first attempt to get into sheep country, our outfitter/guide/pilot (Dan Montgomery) took off from Wasilla with some of our gear to shuttle into a remote area. We drove one of his vehicles to an airstrip closer to the sheep country to be picked up. The sheep we were intending to hunt had been seen earlier in the year by another sheep outfitter at the head of a large glacier. That outfitter told Dan where he'd seen the ram(s) and proclaimed them "unhuntable". Dan said, "That biggest ram is going to be dead in 3 days"...

The day he flew in our gear, he landed on a glacier and he hit a crevace in the ice and badly damaged a strut on his airplane. He was sure he could take off, but was unsure how the strut would hold up on landing...so he opted to wait until he saw another airplane and radio them that he was in trouble. Long story short, he eventually got ahold of another pilot, who picked him up at another landing spot which he had to hike several miles to. He bought some plane parts, caught another ride into the airstrip, fixed his plane and the next day, we were back in business.

Since our hunt was running short on time, Dan decided to have me go with one of his guides while he and Doug tried for the "unhuntable" ram.

Dougs hunt was pretty tough, required roping to each other, and crampons for about a mile or so of hiking across solid ice. Living up to his word Dan and my buddy Doug killed the "unhuntable" ram...

Meanwhile my guide Ed and I were having our own "piece of cake" hunt.

We landed at a remote strip and soon found a group of rams at the top of the little hill in this picture. There were 2 legal rams and one 3/4 curl.

We watched the rams all day the day we flew in and planned our attack for the next day. The rams fed over the top of that little hill in the picture and we found them about noon. The trouble was, there was NO way to get closer than 600 yards. We made the decision to wait them out as they were all bedded. Finally, about 2 hours before dark, they got up to feed. We made a quick run of about 500 yards and located them again at 200. I picked the ram I liked best out of the two legal rams and killed him. The ram dropped and just laid there...then its muscles relaxed and it rolled completely out of my sight. I could hear it still rolling and tumbling. We followed the rocks, hair, and scuffed dirt until we found my ram. It didnt bust itself up too bad (thankfully). By this time, there was about 1 hour of good light left. By the time we took pictures we had about 45 minutes of light left. I only had about 1/2 of the ram caped and Ed had about 1/2 the meat cut up and bagged before it was dark. We made the decison to stay the night on the hill, not wanting to take the chance of losing my sheep to bears. Not to mention it would have been next to impossible to get back to camp that night, way too steep, rocky, and downright dangerous. We spent the night at this deluxe lodge here:

It was great! Complete with rocks, ice, and a garbage sack stretched between our rifles. The routine was to jog across the glacier for a half hour or so, warm up, then try to sleep an hour or so through a nice 34 degree rain/snow mix with a nice cross wind about 20 mph. I've never spent a more miserable 7 hours in my life.

At day light we finished up taking care of the ram and began the hike back to camp.

Heres a view from the top, our camp was right near the lake in the picture:

We got back to our camp at 3:00 p.m. We just got our packs off when Dan flew over us, which meant we needed to break camp and hike another couple miles to the airstrip. I hiked to the airstrip with 1/2 the sheep and part of the camp, while Ed finished up breaking camp. I got there and about 45 minutes later, Dan flew in and picked me up, just as Ed arrived. Dan flew me out to an airstrip and I met up with my buddy Doug. We then drove 2 hours back to Dans house and finally got to bed about midnight. I'd been awake (except for 4 restless hours the night before we went after the rams and the catnaps in the deluxe sheep camp), for nearly 3 days.

It was worth it though and I'd go every year if I had the $$$:

So, while you can downplay guided hunts, I've never personally had any hunts in MT in the last 26 seasons (including moose, goat, and sheep hunts), or Wyoming the last 5, etc. that were any tougher than this one. It flat kicked my ass, and I aint afraid to say so.

 

[noharleyyet]

Good story & well illustrated Buzz. Ya guide usin' wus.

 

[wild canadian]

yes from alberta. cougar tag is about $35. its funny can hunt wolves all big game season without a tag but have to have tag for cougar!

 

[Erik in AK]

Buzz,
Great ram. Good, tough, hunt. Well done

Congrats

 

[elkfarmer]

Buzz, that was a great hunt. planes breaking down, steep country, no sleep and bears. and I bet if someone today asked you if you would want to go sheep hunting with a guide in AK you would be all over it.

 

[jmcd]

I don't know Buzz. That sounded like a pretty cushy hunt to me. Just kidding. Awesome story. I think I could stomach a guided hunt like that.

 

[ARCAT]

Believe it or not there are plenty of "RICH" guys who make lots of money, work hard, and like to hunt as much as anyone on this board. They just don't have the time. What time they do have they need to make it count. So they go guided, hunt the best areas, with the best guides, pay the most money and kill some nice animals. Not everyone has the time to learn an area or organize a hunt and pack in on their own. outfitters area llowed to wrok and earn a living helping people who like to hunt get theri animals. Its not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[waterboy]

Buzz,

Thanks for sharing your hunt with us. Thank goodness you got the "easy" one. Hunting in Alaska can be a logistical nightmare, and with the costs of fuel :BLEEP: , rental of gear, etc. a guide can be a great option. Even the unguided "drop camps" can be a good deal when all is added up...even for us residents.

 

[Roadtrip]

Glad to see the other side of the story. I've used outfitters before to drop us in the back country for a wilderness, public land hunt. After packing a huge bull out of the swamp all night long and finally passing out on a cot as the sun comes up, I can hardly listen to someone judge what is or isn't hunting without laughing my a$$ off. I'm into the more lightweight back pack style now, but I will use outfitters again in the future. I'd like to see someone pull off an African hunt by themselves. They would never clear customs. Anything other than a "high fence hunt" is work, you never know what might happen. With or without a guide. Me....I'm just happy to be in the field when the sun comes up.......

Cheers
Roadtrip

 

[Pedro]

R Stupid hunters, hunting in good areas, without a guide responsible for REALLY most of the big trophies taken? Do P&Y or B&C have an IQ qualification test for entry of animals?

 

[tufferthandug]

R Stupid hunters getting areas manufactured to be good areas? If so Pedro, wouldn't asking where a good place to draw be considered just the same as being guided? Therefore asking where to draw for a big buck or bull would actually be a smart idea proving that the hunter wasn't stupid in the first place. So does B&C need to have an IQ test or just an explanation on how you got the animal?

 

[mtime34]

is it about being recognized in a book that makes hunting so much fun? or is it the thrill of the hunt. if you are looking to just make the books then save your effort because thats not what it is about. yes big antlers are nice but hunt for hunting not for recognition.

 

[tufferthandug]

Just because Pedro and I mentioned the B&C book, it doesn't mean that's the only reason we hunt. In fact it was merely a fractional case stated in our typed opinion of "R Guided & Private Land< Really Hunting ?????".

 

[RockyDog]

Ill tell you whats really tough. Finding an internet hunting site that Bowedark hasnt posted both this silly statement and pictures of his 2004 montana bull.

Ive come across it posted on a hell of a loot of site, thats real persistence.

 

[noharleyyet]

Some of the sites won't touch it. Wonder why?