What questions do you ask outfitters references?

[HUNT]

I am looking to book an outfitted hunt in Alaska in the next couple of weeks and am getting ready to contact outfitters references.  I have never hired a guide before so I was looking for a little help.

For those guys who have hunted with outfitters before - what questions did you or should you have asked the references he supplied you? 

[h20hunter]

One thing I did was speak with clients that did not bag their animal. Were they happy with the effort? Did they have a chance even? Would they go back? Was the hunt conditions and type of hunting as the outfitter described? Do you feel the hunt was worth the money?

[Alaskan]

I totally agree with H20 Hunter. You can still have a great hunt with an outfitter and not bag an animal. Sometimes these are truly the best people to ask. Would they go back? Even if they ate TAG soup?

[lokidog]

Find out how long the guides have been in the areas they are working.

[RadSav]

Food? Number of animals seen? Quality of animals seen? Were the guides professional? Did the guides drink each night?  Could you see yourself becoming friends with the guide? Did the guides get to know you and hunt within your means or did you have to keep up or else?  What was your guides name?

It's easy to do your homework about a guides territory and the animals it produces.  I can make up my mind very quickly about territory.  But spending that kind of money to spend 10 or more days 24 hours a day with a drunken slob who could care less about making your "Hunt of a Lifetime" enjoyable is my biggest concern. 

Second on my list is food!  I've had great guides that I will no longer hunt with simply because I had no energy to hunt because nutrition was so bad and the food inedible.  Sometimes that just means I bring at least three days of my own food to suppliment the awful stuff.  One guide in BC was such a bad cook I had to use a knife to eat/cut a cheese omlette.  I liked the guy so I booked another trip, but told him I would do the cooking and arrange all the meals.  We are now best of friends and I was even invited to his wedding.

Especially when hunting up north with no roads and big bears I like to ask if the client felt safe the whole time.  Gun saftey, bear awareness all part of professionalism.  If they did not feel safe or had a tale to tell it's a good bet the guide was laking in preperation and professionalism.  In NWT we saw big bears almost every day and hiked some very nasty stuff.  Sleeping in a little tent with nothing more than a stick and a string there was never a moment I felt uneasy.  That's the kind of feeling you want to have with a not just a good guide, but a "great" guide.

There are no guarantees as many outfits change guides and have many on staff.  But if you ask the right questions of their references you will begin to notice a repetition of names.  Book early enough and you can usually ask for a particular guide.  Sometimes it might even be a good idea to extend your plans for a year to get the right guy.  If it's a once in a lifetime/hunt of a lifetime it's definately worth the wait.

I've taken some fantastic trophies with beautiful mounts in the house that I find I get no satisfaction looking at.  I have other animals many might not take a second look at that I look at almost every day with great joy and memories.  So often a good hunt and a great experience has less to do with the animal you harvest and more the adventure up to and after the kill.  I prefer to hunt by myself.  However, up north you just do not have that luxery most of the time.  So you are stuck with some stranger with hopes and prayers your personalities work well together.  I have yet to have a poor experience when at the end of the trip I say to myself, "I'm going to miss that guy."  Great animal or not.

Good luck.  Hope you have a great hunt!

[whacker1]

best of luck

[ICEMAN]

Great info all. Hunt, good luck!

[HUNT]

Thanks for the info.  Thanks for being so thorough RadSav-  I appreciate it.  It will probably be a once in a lifetime kind of hunt for me so I want to make sure I do it right.

[CAMPMEAT]

Success rate would be my first question, then all the others would follow.

[woodman]

Success rate would be my first question, then all the others would follow.

CAMPMEAT, I would agree with, this but some lie like dogs and have pretty good stories and videos to back up their tall tales. It cost me and four other guys $25,000.00 to find this out (glad to see you back)

[CAMPMEAT]

Success rate would be my first question, then all the others would follow.

CAMPMEAT, I would agree with, this but some lie like dogs and have pretty good stories and videos to back up their tall tales. It cost me and four other guys $25,000.00 to find this out (glad to see you back)

Thanks. $25,000 YIKES !!!!! Everybody lies huh !

[HUNT]

It cost me and four other guys $25,000.00 to find this out [/quote]

Exactly what I want to avoid....

[CAMPMEAT]

What are you gonna hunt ?

[carpsniperg2]

I deal with tons of of outfitters as it is part of making my living. A few extra things I can add into the mix. I always like to ask who I will be hunting with a get a chance to talk to the guide I will be hunting with. If you don't click with them it hard to spend a ton of time with them. Some people are great guides but have zero people skills. I have hunted with guides that have said less then 40 words the whole trip. A hunt is a experience and part of it, is the people that are around you.

Ask how many hunters they will be running threw camp and ask how many will be there when you are there. Find out a maximum number from the outfitter. It sucks to get into a camp and have 10 other guys standing around when you thought it was supposed to be more of a one on one deal.

Don't just get 1-2 references ask for several and like said ask for people that did not harvest a animal.

Success rate is a way over rated thing to ask about. Yes I just said that!!! The thing you need to ask is about shot opportunity!!! There are lots of guys that pass a lot of great animals holding out for big critters and never end up shooting one. That hurts a lot of the outfitters with honest success rate. I deal with a few high end outfitters that run around 60% success rate. Sure it sounds like crap but all there hunters will always tell you they saw tons of animals and had lots of chances to shoot solid animals. They just held out and did not shoot a mid sized animal that to some would be big. So ask about shot opportunity rather then a success %. As long as they can put you on the animals for you to decide if they are big enough they are doing there job well. A harvest number does not always tell the whole story.

[bearpaw]

I am looking to book an outfitted hunt in Alaska in the next couple of weeks and am getting ready to contact outfitters references.  I have never hired a guide before so I was looking for a little help.

For those guys who have hunted with outfitters before - what questions did you or should you have asked the references he supplied you?

Even though I am an outfitter, I have also hunted with many other outfitters. It's more important to me that I have a good time on the hunt than anything else.

Here's my best recommendation.
Ask people you know or hunters here on the forum which outfitter they liked for the species you want to hunt. Then contact the ones which are recommended to you as being good and ask some of the questions Radsav and carpsniper pointed out, they are good questions.

Hope you have a great time,
Dale