1) Experience – How long has he / she been a guide? More importantly is how long they have guided in that particular location. One of the most important advantages that a guide should have is knowing the area and moreover, knowing the quarry as species traits and behaviors can vary from location to location.
2) Know your prospective guide’s success rate. Don’t be afraid to be up front and request the info you need to make your trip a success.
3) References – Good fishing or hunting guides are a dime a dozen, great guides are hard to come by so if you are in the market for a great guide, ask around, make some calls and do your research. In many occassions guide services will have a website, but it may also be a good tactic to call around the local area and get the skinny from the gun store owner down the street or the fly shop worker on the corner.
5) Costs – Make sure you get the TOTAL costs up front and preferably in writing. Surprises of the sort that leave your wallet a little lighter are definitely not pleasant, so it is a good practice to gather this type of info on the front-end.
6) Shelter / Lodging, etc. – Having a place to stay is a definite must. So, unless you are planning on packing everything in and out for that wilderness elk hunt, make sure accomodations are made in advance. In many cases, guide services have a working relationship with local hotel / lodging owners so make sure you ask.
7) Solo or Group? – Knowing whether your guide will just be working for you or for a group is definitely something you need to know in advance and should hold weight in your decision to hire a guide service. In my opinion, there is nothing better than having that one on one time with your guide, because that is where a lot of knowledge transfer can take place that can be used later on in your hunting / fishing life. Another downside of group guided trips is that you may not know any of the other persons on the trip. Being a generally trusting person this is hard for me to say, but you never know if Joe-Schmo is on his first guided hunt and can’t locate the safety on his rifle or if your float-mate on a trout excursion has never picked up a fly rod. These are definitely good things to know and to keep in mind.
Well, by no means is this list exhaustive, but hopefully it gets the gears turning upstairs when going through the process of determining who to hire as a guide.
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