Thread: Whats included in a guided hunt?

Just wondering what technically should be covered by the guide, and what remains for myself to do.

Couple things such as the obligation of the professional guide from start to finish, such things as travelling documents, items to bring, and so forth..

As far as the trophy fee is concerned, is it only paid once a trophy animal is identified by the guide and shot by me? In such instance, if the guide states that the animal is a trophy (over a certain score) and once on the ground, what obligation do I have to pay for the non trophy? Would I have to pay for the "non trophy" which was wrongly identified by the guide as a trophy.

After securing a "trophy", what can I expect from the guide in terms of animal preparation, as I have no experience with caping/headskinning an animal?

What is the consequences of completely missing an animal (I understand that the trophy fee will have to be paid if I wound an animal), but a complete miss? As if there is such thing, I would rather not attempt shooting an animal at a long distance. Would there be a fee, if lets say I completely miss an animal say two or three times at long range?

Lastly, upon doing some research, the guide states that he is a "proud member of New Zealand Professional Hunting Guides Association Inc", but isn't listed on the NZPHGA website as a member..

Cheers guys/girls!

Where to start................ everyone is different, but basically there are all inclusive "packages" which include everything from airport to airport (Trophy fee, accom food, guiding etc). or a daily rate plus trophy fee when sucessful. All guides should be able to cape your trophy in the field and get it to a taxidermist for mounting or expiditing.
Generally, wounded and lost, you will still have to pay the trophy fee on private land. On the public you will probably just keep hunting. A professional guide shou;d be able to tell you pretty close to the actual size on the hoof, if there is a problem it is normally that you shoot one that is a bit bigger than you agreed on, but you should NOT have to pay any extra for the bigger size. But this mostly happens overseas, (Spain and South America for example).
Being a member of the NZPHGA means little, (even tho I am a member). There are also good guides who are not members. Bottom line, get some recent references from guys who might not have got all the animals they came for and ask them for opinions. Best advice that I give to clients when they ask for it: Work out as soon as you can whether or not you can trust your guide or not. PM me if it is an overseas operation, I know alot of them around the world.
Good Luck!

AAhh sorry, I see that it's a NZ operation. Good luck +10!!!

In looking at a giuded Alaskan hunt i found it helpful to be completely up front about what i expected from the hunt when i first approached several different outfitters. I wanted great scenery, a great hunting experience, as few people as possible involved, great food, tramping and hiking a camp into position was fine, travel to and from anchorage included, trophy preparation and field care included, cost included for my father to come along as a non-hunting companion, guide was to sort field accommodation and food... oh and of course i wanted a representable animal with a great quality coat.

Once i had a short list of guides (2 in my case) i asked for recent hunting references (both successful and unsuccessful). I started asking around people i knew who had been to Alaska before to get their opinion. I checked out a couple of references from the guides.

After deciding on a guide i made sure that the guiding contract put in place reflected exactly what we had discussed and agreed. In doing this i had the guide modify his contract to better reflect what we had agreed.

If you have questions for your guide about what is invloved in a hunt with him then just ask him. If you discuss something specific just make sure it gets into the hunt contract.

WRITTEN CONTRACT end of story, if they cant produce one. dont go!

Even getting references can be dodgy in this day and age, you may in fact be emailing the guide, and he will say wonderfull stuff about himself, show videos and the like and its all done with a hand shake and cheesey smile once they have your money the deals change and change and change, Difference between a bullshitter and a liar... how good their memory is!
Never pre pay for trophies.
You owe it to yourself to contact a reputable taxidermist to get an understanding of how the capes and skulls etc SHOULD BE PREPARED for export,if you are bringing it in yourself have a firm understanding of the caping process,washing, fleshing,turning ears, lips, salting(never iodised and 1kg salt per 1 kg skin), drying,boiling skulls, packing (not in plastic bags!!) other wise the results can be disastrous!! TO THE POINT THAT MAF/BIO SECURITY WILL DESTROY YOUR TROPHYS IF NOT CORRECTLY PREPARED.

Shooting and missing, hmm a hard one and at the disression of the guide I suppose,if I was a guide and someone took 20 shots at 20 different animals and missed, yeah Id want to be paid, maybe not the full amount but, I had done my job, however as the guide changeing tact for your customer maybe a more better approach. missed a couple times, politly give the customer shit about their piss poor shooting!! and try and close the gap, However Im still collecting day rate, a very awarkward situation,but if its contractual and both parties agreed cut and dry.

Underestimation of trophy, written contract springs up again! I would expect an reptuable guide/outfitter should have a detailed contract to cover any event.

oh yeah one last thing IF IT SOUNDS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE IT USALLY IS!!!

sadly somethings in life we learn from experience

RUNAS

As for me, it would pisses me off big time if anyone openly claimed that they are member of any Proffessional association which they are not. Surely, any Proffessional association would not allow their good name to be abused and tarnished! It would be False Advertising and would that possibly ended up with CBT?

Originally Posted by Grasshopper

It would be False Advertising and would that possibly ended up with CBT?

A CBT ? hmm this is all that Google brought up,Cock and ball torture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia if this what it means no man in his right mind would do it !!!!!

Much better then the Criminal Breach of Trust I was implying.

I would like to think that some places around the world have no dodgey bastards in the game, but unfortunately this business is full of them..............

Wow, looks like I have a heap more info/research to do before embarking on this. RUNAS, seems as though you've had a pretty bad experience with a guide huh? Will flick you a PM just to make sure I'm not gonna hunt with the same guy! Cheers for all the advise everyone!

Make sure there is not another animal behind your target.
I got 2 in 1 shot when I was in Texas in May - that was EXPENSIVE! LOL

Guide's fault there Spanners! (Unless you were in a blind by yourself of course.....................)

How much do these things set people back??

It depends really? Where, who, what your hunting? couple of hundred or couple of hundred thousand.

If you get a line like "some people Ive been guiding for years have pulled out so they have lost out on their deposit" or some such line.... beware!!
Just more pearls of wisdom I wish to pass on, so hard working people dont get their pants pulled down.

RUNAS

Originally Posted by Dougie

How much do these things set people back??

Sky is your limit really Dougie. Anything from $100 for a meat/cull animal + day rate for guide to say $2000 for a representable stag (+ day rate for guide) all the way $25k+ for a guided moose hunt in Alaska!