5 Shot
Ten Pointer
For those who travel out of state each year which do you prefer, hunting with an outfitter or public land ?
For those who travel out of state each year which do you prefer, hunting with an outfitter or public land ?
yes, I was referring to hunting whitetails in the Midwest.What/where? Hunting whitetails in the midwest is different than Elk in the Mountain West.
That's a shame since it sure has opened many opportunities for me over the years, most landowners are used to door knockers, actually. Once your foot is in once, and you prove to be a conscientious land user, repeat trips can happen and often don't have to knock on any more doors. Dad taught me to always offer to help with labor they may need, too. Never did any labor, but that willingness could help open a door.I’m not going knocking on doors or paying a trespass fee (there are exceptions however).
My expectations are I don’t want someone bothering me at home unless it’s in regards to them doing work or letting me know something is going on/wrong, so I extend that courtesy to others. Personally I’m not going out of my way on an out of state trip to knock on some random persons door solely for the purpose of asking permission to hunt. That my own personal ethos, others may vary. That being said, I am certainly one to chat up locals when out and about whether at a local diner, while driving, hunting, etc. I’ve turned a casual conversation about what I’m doing for work into access to the backside of public here in NC. I let farmers know when cattle are out and have gotten invites to hunt if I’m ever back in the area. Those instances, like the above examples, if it turns to hunting then I have a way in but I’m not one to solely bother someone because I want to hunt their land. Just rubs me wrong I guess. No denying knocking on doors works though, especially outside Eastern seaboard.That's a shame since it sure has opened many opportunities for me over the years, most landowners are used to door knockers, actually. Once your foot is in once, and you prove to be a conscientious land user, repeat trips can happen and often don't have to knock on any more doors. Dad taught me to always offer to help with labor they may need, too. Never did any labor, but that willingness could help open a door.
makes me wonder what your exceptions are.
Got 3 points for Iowa now.You need to get busy and apply for permits and preference points. Too late in many states.
I feel like it's what you want out of the experience. Personally, I'd rather do something on my own unless I just have to hire a guide due to regulations i.e. Alaska/Canada, especially for something like deer, pronghorn or even elk. Nothing against guides or the people that use them, I just know what I want out of a hunt and how I want to go about that. Everyone will have differing thoughts on that. Now if I had the money and wanted to hunt NM elk every year I'd hire a guide in a heartbeat. Might even do it one day just to be able to have the opportunity there because as you said, it definitely opens up high quality access/land/trophy potential in a lot of cases.I personally rather hire a guide because it generally puts me on better quality hunting land over public land. In other words you generally get what you pay for. Its not cheating to hire a guide but it can be cheating yourself of out of quality hunting time to go the cheap route. Some people don't want to spend money on hunting...I spend a small fortune hunting in NC. In fact I can go on a really nice guided hunting trip for what I spend here. I been on 10 guided hunting trips in my life. With that said the best hunting I ever done was on a farm in Ohio that I leased until it was sold. I had it for about 5 years. Hard part there was keeping the neighbors off it.
I feel like it's what you want out of the experience. Personally, I'd rather do something on my own unless I just have to hire a guide due to regulations i.e. Alaska/Canada, especially for something like deer, pronghorn or even elk. Nothing against guides or the people that use them, I just know what I want out of a hunt and how I want to go about that. Everyone will have differing thoughts on that. Now if I had the money and wanted to hunt NM elk every year I'd hire a guide in a heartbeat. Might even do it one day just to be able to have the opportunity there because as you said, it definitely opens up high quality access/land/trophy potential in a lot of cases.
That is primarily why I hire Fishing Guides out of state. Then can go back during the same timeframe A year later or even the next weekend and have success.Guides are a great way to gain knowledge about the game and area and then you can DIY.