Guiding???

[Fowlquest]

Las year nobody hunted with my buddy Josh and I because they were so busy chasing deer. any way I was wondering what you guys think about guiding? I am 17 and Josh is 21 we started thinking about trying it last year but we never got around to it. How to you start out? What do you charge? Is it a pain in the neck? Tell me what you guys think? Thanks,
Charlie

[vah2ofowler22]

Guiding is fun and can be rewarding. I guided for a while my first few years of college. I saw the pros and cons of it. Most of the time i didnt carry a gun. Its hard to watch others when you are at a younger age. Gives you time to really work on your calling skills, and you can really watch the way the birds react because you aren't worring about shooting them. And for the most part the money was great. I think there was only one party I guided for that really let me down. I always worked hard and did, within reason, my best to please my clients.

As for starting your own guide service i cant really help you to much because i guided for for a club. However last year i donated a fully guided hunt to DU to auction off. To my susprise it brought $400.(and helped all waterfowl.) So maybe go you your local DU or Delta or waterfowl association and donate a hunt. Make business cards. Take some local business owner hunting. But also check your local laws, i would hate to hear that you ended up in jail over trying to guide

[ganderlander1]

I would suggest trying to guide for a club and then start your own outfitting service. There are lots of things you dont realize until you have taken paid hunters. I have been guiding for 5 years now and I really enjoy it but if you like to shoot it is hard. The money is good but the whinning when its warm and the birds dont fly is not. There are more positives than negatives from guiding, you get to meat some great guys and even build friendships. As for opening your own service I would try to find other outfitters that can help you. The hardest part is getting a clientel. I hope this helps in some way.

[Quickshot]

the clientele is a lot easier than finding places to hunt commercially. As a guide you are expected to do your best in showing your customers birds. If you don't have lots of places to hunt, it's really tough to be successful day after day. You can be a half ass guide or you can do it right. A half ass guide doesn't really care how many birds his hunters bag, so long as he gets his money. A good guide will get lots of repeat customers because he is doing it right. If you are going to guide goose hunters in fields, for example, you will spend more time scouting and getting permission than anything else. You will meet lots of great people, but you will also come on to the miserable side of people as well. Makes for a long day or days, until they go home.

[Keath Wetovick]

Guiding is all a game. You play it right and you'll come out like a hero, but play it wrong and its your worst nightmare. Alway begin the hunt be laying down ground rules, if someone has a problem with these they can take a hike, the safety of you, your dog, and fellow hunters isn't worth the price of some idiot. Next, never say the hunting has been great, say its just ok. So if you end up killin' a limit then your a god, but if not, well they wouldn't have expected anything better. That's the best advice I can think of right now. Anymore detailed questions, shoot me a PM. Hope this helps.