Thread: Why do people use a guide?

Same reason people pay to hunt private. In the near future i wouldn't mind paying for access to a block/farm that holds good fallow bucks. Ups my chances of shooting a buck when over this side of the island there isn't public land to hunt fallow

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

a newbie hunter,who doesnt know anyone who will take them out....will learn more from a paid hunt with a half decent guide than they will by DIY over half a dozen hunts.... and agree 100% with mikee on this.

This would be part of the reason I have used them in the past. And it has a few other things in its favour for me. I work shift work so my days off almost never line up with anyone else I know and hence I have to use leave to do anything that is not a solo hunt. I have hunted public land many times and have never successfully bagged anything except goats. I have hunted private land where I have occasional access, but there are no deer on that particular area.

The guided hunts for me provide ;
Local knowledge on where to go and how to get there safely
I have leant more from the guide than any of the books / videos that everyone tells me will help. Including field butchery, and assessment of animals.
Time- I simply cannot afford to spend trip after trip in the hills with nothing to show, I have so much other stuff that I need to balance this with.
Enjoyment- The Guide I know is a really nice guy and I have had no problem taking others with me when I have told them about my experience.
And as he operates on private land as has exclusive access we know that there are no other hunters there to bump into or disturb where we want to hunt.

I am not made of money and do not have cash to throw around, but I have found the guided hunts to provide real value for money, very helpful / educational and enjoyment.

Results is the answer.
Like anything in life it takes a lot of practice/experience to get good at something and even then its probably only a 50% success rate for public land hunts.
Id say half the people that like hunting don't have the time these days to get out and become efficient killers so choose the guide.
When you are new/inexperienced to hunting its all about getting an animal,I have found that as I have become a better hunter over the years(still only average)the hunts become more about just being out there and in turn success always seems to come easier.

Originally Posted by Tahr

Different strokes for different folks.

Sika are a good example - the best heads are on the front country and a lot of it is impossible to access. Some people hunt the Kawekas their whole life and never get a decent head (like me - too focussed on meat) and in the end think "bugger it, I will pay the money and have one last flurry". Its only my foolish pride that has stopped me from doing it.

Tahr I'm going to have to disagree with you on some of that, us sika hunters are so spoilt for choice with public land hunting access.
And as you say you have spent your whole life hunting the Kawekas focused mainly on meat, I'm sure if you had focused mainly on getting a nice tidy 8 point sika to hang up on your wall instead you probably would have. I say that as you seem to be an experienced hunter Tahr and have been doing it for a few years now!

I'll ask you this though, if you were to think in the end "bugger it" I'm going to go and pay for it and shoot me my trophy sika stag, would you be happy with yourself looking at your trophy each day hanging up in the house or shed and thinking man I'm proud of that and so deserve it??
I sure know that i wouldn't be. And that wouldn't change even if I won power ball tonight!

Have never paid for a guided hunt but about 14yrs ago won a Speights comp. where the prize was a wekend guided hunt/fish trip on Nokomai Station., Otago. Have to say myself and two mates thoroughly enjoyed it and we're all experienced hunters/fisherman.We got choppered to areas,guides were knowledgeable and friendly,game plentifull. I can see why people go down this route if they don't have time/skills or whatever to do it on their own and good on them. Personally I'm happy getting out most weeks for a recreational hunt and taking my chances.

Sorry my original post wasn't super clear, maybe I should have said "trophy stags" not just stags.

I'm not interested in using a guide for "meat animals or people's first animals". That could be another whole thread.

I wrote up what I really wanted to say a couple of times, chewed on it for a bit and deleted........a couple of times.

The guided hunting has it's place for a variety of reasons, always has. Maybe now it will become affordable until the overseas wealth is back and flexes it's monied elbows to shove kiwis back to one side again. Might take landowners a while to get a grip on adjusting cost to suit the new client base pockets though.

I would do it to achieve a specific purpose if pricing was aimed at kiwis, but I'd want a guide who knew his onions and wanted to be there doing hard yards if necessary. Till then, I'll bumble along keeping my freezer filled just as I always have.

Originally Posted by 257weatherby

I would do it to achieve a specific purpose if pricing was aimed at kiwis, but I'd want a guide who knew his onions and wanted to be there doing hard yards if necessary. Till then, I'll bumble along

AS will I. If our borders remain closed for as long as I think they will, maybe the guides who usually are out guiding cashed up overseas trophy hunters may re-adjust pricing to offer affordable meat hunts. I doubt it though.

Originally Posted by Huntn

Tahr I'm going to have to disagree with you on some of that, us sika hunters are so spoilt for choice with public land hunting access.
And as you say you have spent your whole life hunting the Kawekas focused mainly on meat, I'm sure if you had focused mainly on getting a nice tidy 8 point sika to hang up on your wall instead you probably would have. I say that as you seem to be an experienced hunter Tahr and have been doing it for a few years now!

I'll ask you this though, if you were to think in the end "bugger it" I'm going to go and pay for it and shoot me my trophy sika stag, would you be happy with yourself looking at your trophy each day hanging up in the house or shed and thinking man I'm proud of that and so deserve it??
I sure know that i wouldn't be. And that wouldn't change even if I won power ball tonight!

Back to the different stokes buzz I think @Huntn me personally wouldnt be either I love the work took me years to pull the trigger on a redstag.but not everyone is going to like trip after trip of bad luck or shitters you decide not to shoot some people probably just want the job done. The bucket list thing stag do buzz gift from wifey all makes sence and remember trophies in the eye of the beholder guided or not to the beholder i bet its still an epic memory

Originally Posted by Huntn

Tahr I'm going to have to disagree with you on some of that, us sika hunters are so spoilt for choice with public land hunting access.
And as you say you have spent your whole life hunting the Kawekas focused mainly on meat, I'm sure if you had focused mainly on getting a nice tidy 8 point sika to hang up on your wall instead you probably would have. I say that as you seem to be an experienced hunter Tahr and have been doing it for a few years now!

I'll ask you this though, if you were to think in the end "bugger it" I'm going to go and pay for it and shoot me my trophy sika stag, would you be happy with yourself looking at your trophy each day hanging up in the house or shed and thinking man I'm proud of that and so deserve it??
I sure know that i wouldn't be. And that wouldn't change even if I won power ball tonight!

Oh ffs , this thread doesn't need another argument of public vs paid , if someone wants to pay for a hunt or to shoot a trophy good on them who gives a flying fuck there's so many different people out there with different skill sets or lack of and time restrictions or fitness levels , give it a break .
Iv just been looking up a spot I mite Tee up pretty good price , in a mint spot hut even has a shower and sweet fire place , mite be more a summer time thing seen as how for me the point of the exercise is for a family activity .

Originally Posted by 257weatherby

I wrote up what I really wanted to say a couple of times, chewed on it for a bit and deleted........a couple of times.

The guided hunting has it's place for a variety of reasons, always has. Maybe now it will become affordable until the overseas wealth is back and flexes it's monied elbows to shove kiwis back to one side again. Might take landowners a while to get a grip on adjusting cost to suit the new client base pockets though.

I would do it to achieve a specific purpose if pricing was aimed at kiwis, but I'd want a guide who knew his onions and wanted to be there doing hard yards if necessary. Till then, I'll bumble along keeping my freezer filled just as I always have.

So you want someone else doing all the hard yards for you so you can achieve your specific requirement for very little effort??

This is exactly what I have trouble with understanding. Where would there be any satisfaction in getting your trophy like this? To me it just seems like plain laziness.

Sorry not having a go at you personally 257weatherby but just my opinion.

Originally Posted by Boaraxa

Oh ffs , this thread doesn't need another argument of public vs paid , if someone wants to pay for a hunt or to shoot a trophy good on them who gives a flying fuck there's so many different people out there with different skill sets or lack of and time restrictions or fitness levels , give it a break .
Iv just been looking up a spot I mite Tee up pretty good price , in a mint spot hut even has a shower and sweet fire place , mite be more a summer time thing seen as how for me the point of the exercise is for a family activity .

Boaraxa who said anything about this being an argument between public vs paid?

There's many reasons someone would use a guide. Not all of them are going to be legitimate in a lot of our eyes but many are as well. None of us would hold it against an 80yr old to use a guide for the safety, physical capibility of dealing with an animal and maybe even just the friendship. On the other hand there's people who are just incompetant because they choose to use money to replace skill and hardship. I saw both sides of the coin when I worked in the guiding scene in Canada last year. Some salt of the earth types (an elderly couple who saved their whole lives for that hunt) and some I wouldn't want to see again (Multi-millionares spending $400K to shoot a record book sheep with a collar on it).

Every different type of person makes the world what it is.

I understand where you're coming from OP. Securing an animal with the help of a guide is a 'shared effort'. You're effectively purchasing an experience, in addition to 'buying the rights' to the trophy - but the success isn't solely your own.

However, success is hard to quantify, because it means different things to different people. You could argue that paying for a guide and securing an impressive animal is symbolic of 'financial success/independence'. Let's face it - if you can shell out the big bucks, you're doing pretty well in life, and it's worth celebrating.

Success may also mean 'suffering for your art' - making sacrifices in your life to completely dedicate yourself to a single craft. This is perhaps more in line with your values, OP. You want an animal to represent your dedication to learning the craft of hunting. And that's okay too (in fact, I fall in the same boat).

Originally Posted by Huntn

So you want someone else doing all the hard yards for you so you can achieve your specific requirement for very little effort??

This is exactly what I have trouble with understanding. Where would there be any satisfaction in getting your trophy like this? To me it just seems like plain laziness.

Sorry not having a go at you personally 257weatherby but just my opinion.

Not sure comprehension is your strong point - Lazy? you would die staying with me in difficult country in adverse conditions by the way.

Perhaps comprehension is not my strong point, so humour me: 1:What "hard yards" do I want someone doing for me"? 2: What "Trophy" am I after? 3: How am I being "lazy"?