What do you look for in an outfitter service?

I live smack in the middle of the elk restoration zone in eastern Kentucky. My wife and I have been helping veterans take their elk for the past 3 years free of charge. In the 2012 season we plan to open a small outfitter service. The plan is for every paid hunter we take a veteran free of charge. The hunters that have to pay will cover the expenses for a veteran or a child. I can't think of anyone more deserving than a United States Veteran for a free hunt. After all if it wasn't for the men and women who fought and died for our freedom we wouldn't be free. I plan to have a huge reclaimed strip mine leased for hunting and set up canvas wall tents for an elk camp. I want to make it a truly relaxing and enjoyable atmosphere for everyone involved to leave with big mature animals and memories that will never be forgotten. I personally have never been on a guided hunt. What do you guys expect from an outfitter? Any and all advice is appeciated, good or bad.

 

friendliness,professionalism,good equipment,good food,good quantity of game

 

Never been myself, but if price is right I'll come find out :D

 

Honesty, Quality of game and equipment. Work ethic is very important to me.

 

I look for a guy that is willing to give me the names/numbers of ALL of his clients from the previous year. If he is willing to do that, I figure he is going to be a great outfitter. I also expect that there may be a few guys that won't say the outfitter walks on water. When the outfitter is giving me the names of ALL of his clients, I expect I will hear different stories than if he gives me a cherry picked list of clients.

The bigger outfits have nice brochures with 20 big bulls on them, but if they sent home 10 other guys disappointed the 20 bulls on the brochure don't look quite so great. I would rather hunt with a guy that is looking to provide a great experience to everybody, not just get a few good heads for his next brochure.

I'd rather go with an outfitter that gives me names of ALL of his clients because that means the outfitter is proud of what he does, knows that he needs to take care of all of his clients, and has nothing to hide.

I also prefer to hunt with the owner of the business because we have all heard stories about getting put "with that guide" that was sub par.

 

I have never tryed to get into a guided hunt career before. But i did manage to start a screen printing business when i was just 17 years old and made 10,000 dollars in profit selling assorted gear for sports teams in my school, but thats all beside the point. I would recommend to you is either investing some money on going with guided elk hunts in your area to get use to what you need as a consumer and what the guides offer. The best way to find out there tricks of the trade is to call them and act like your an interested costumer. Ask about there gear what they offer, prices ect. Also build a base of costumers to have as a portfolio, you could offer this in several ways, discounted hunts, donating a hunt to a local charities to raffle off, great way to get our name out to alot of local people also. Or maybe have a agreement like if we cant get you in range of a shoot-able bull elk during a hunt (maybe like 5 days or so not really sure how long people normal go on them for i have never done it before) offer to let them come back for free next season to try again. It seriously instills a deep confidence in a person if you offer them a garentee, ( i must have given away 300 dollars in free stuff because fedex could not get stuff to my door in time and my 5 day promise ran up). Just a few ideas i feel like im rambling off now as im very over tired. If you have an questions just shoot me a massage if i dont see it here!

 

The elk tags here in eastern Kentucky are by lottery winning only. My wife and I have helped take 9 elk this year, 3 last year and I think 1 the year before. So far we have had only 1 hunter who didn't fill his cow tag. He froze on a 150 yrd shot with a modern rifle. He only got to hunt a few days before work forced him to go home. I would be willing to give up the contact info of all hunters including him. In fact I always ask them if its ok if I use them for reference for next season. I've never been paid for taking any hunter. This year hopefully I will be paid by some hunters so references may change but I hope not. The plan is to take a veteran or child or disabled hunter free for every paid hunter I get. We are doing this because we love helping people and hunting. Not to get rich. Leasing land, fuel and equipment are not cheap. The paid hunters are for covering expenses is all.