im watchen bulls gone wild a mossback movie and i dont think these gyes are hunters at all. they look like shooters to me they pay a few thosand bucks and follow 3 gyes around a mountain and get told what bull to shoot. in my opinion i think a  hunter should do all the work himself the scouting the spot and stalk and the tracking if needed, thats hunting payin abunch of guys to do it for you isint huntin. im suprized none of these guys dosent have doyle moss give them  piggy back rides up the mountain. i think guide services should have to operate on there own property or private property and not be allowed on blm or public lands.. that must suck to be putin a stalk on a monster bull or buck on public land just to find out theres guides posted all around him that have been watching him for weeks....  for some client in "new york city". just my 2 cents whats your thoughts?

When you hire a guide you are hireing him for his knowleage of the area and the animals that you are going to hunt.  They are the ones that should know what a trophy once in a lifetime animal should look like and that is why you are paying him the money for the hunt.  So for a person that is unable to do the scoutting of an area and has limited time a guided hunt would be the way to go.  Not to mention that some states and Canadian providences require a guide for certain animals.  Now for what MossBack provides I have no problems with it.  He has the knowleage and the personal to find the trophy animal for you.  My only problem with him is some of the ethics of his spotters and the hunts.  He specializes on trophy hunts that usually run 365 days a year with any weapon.  Now the problem that I see with that lies within the state DOW's as far as the time of the hunts. 

As far as guides are conserned when I turned 19 I took my savings from 5 years of hard work and went on a Alaskan Brown bear hunt.  The hunt itself cost me $6,000 and the rest was around $4,000 for transportation, clothing, and taxidermy fees.  There is no way that I could of done it by myself and was quite grateful to the guide that put me in a posistion to harvest the bear. 

yeah i hear you about the state requiring a guide for certian animals here in nevada non res have to use a guide for sheep i belive. but as for payin someone for there knowlage of hunting, i dont know? i think hunters should do there own home work and get there own knowledgewhy pay someone for somthing you can do yourself. if they can get the tags they should be able to do there own homwork for the hunt. i dont make much at my work and i work for a unplessant employer but if i drew a tag somewhere in a diffrent state i would make time to go spot for myself. if i couldnt i have no buisness applying for a tag. im not tryin to start a fight or anything just searchin diffrent opinions!!!

I think you are being too judgemental about those of us who use guides for a hunt. Most of us do not live any where near most of the species we most want to hunt are found and it isn't possible to pick up and move to where they are found, especially if you have family to support.  I live in black bear country and and encounter lots of hunters using a local guide service. Most have an eight to ten hour drive just to get here, don't know the area and can't drive up frequently enough to bait a site. The guide puts in long hours setting bait sites, hanging stands and scouting. His expenses for bait, wages, fuel, license, stands (of which he has several stolen each year), and lodging for his clients, gives him a very small profit margin. He sure isnt getting rich and guides more for the love of the sport than the money he nets.

I have been on three guided big game hunts in Idaho and Ontario and they all sucked!!  None of the outfitters delivered what they promised, and i don't mean the game necessarily. Bad locations for the camps, lazy guides, inadequate food, poor equipment, transportation problems, Ect.  I have to save hard to afford a guided hunt and feel that I have been ripped-off all three times. BUT I can't pull any of these hunts off on my own, so I have to hire a guide!

well now, if i where to drive to colorado it would take a day and a half to drive there im guessing. i could go there and back 5 times or more before it would equal the cost of $5000 dollars for a guide. if one is worried about suporting a family then why even go on a  expencive guided hunt? the idea about fillin bait barrels dose make sence though!!! and on a DIY hunt you dont have to worry about a crappy experiance being cuased by "another", you can do it your way!!! i have driven to kalispell montana from reno and im shure the distance is about the same from reno to colorado a lot longer than 8 to 10 hr drive, the cost would still be less for me to do my own scouting a few times then it would be if i hired a guide.....  im still convinced guided hunting is lazy hunting "except for state required guided hunts."  

i have thought about this topic long and hard and your right old professor i am being too judgementle, i shouldnt judge people without steping in there shoes. im shure theres all types of reason's people hire guides.  i should have re-worded my original topic alittle better the point i was really trying to make before steering off course was, i dont think its right that the avrage joe hunter who puts in alot of hours scoutting has to compete with guides and outfitters who use public land and sit on the record book animals for there clients. im all for guides and outfitters who have there own ranches or private land to guide on. i have herd stories of hunters being pushed off animals or runn out of huntin spots by guides or have road blocks set up by guides keepin other hunters out of a area, weather there true or not i dont know im shure its happend though.