What Outfitters Expect From Their Clients

Photos: Ben Coulter

From any angle, guiding and outfitting is a major service industry. Those who work in the trade know the unique experience they offer their clients is what builds the reputation that will bring future business. But just because someone runs a successful outfitting business does not mean that their camp will be a five star day spa – guides and outfitters alike expect their clients to know what their in for when they book the hunt. Follow these guidelines for what basic expectations you will meet when you arrive in camp.

BE HONEST

No one wants to be called out for being a novice, and hunting camp is no different. But being up front and truthful with your guide and outfitter is a crucial part of making the most of a guided hunt, explains outfitter Jacob Moore of Kansas Whitetail Addictions & Moore. He expects his clients to know their effective shooting range so that he can do a better job of putting them in the right place at the right time.

“Just being straight up with me,” Moore asks of his hunters. “Tell me what their effective shooting range is, and if I can make it happen and get them the deer they’re looking for in that effective shooting range, I would expect them to close the deal,” he says. “It doesn’t always happen, and it never will always happen, but I’ve done my job at that point.”

Jerry Blake, owner of LOH Outfitters in New Mexico, agrees when it comes to his own clients’ abilities.

“The expectations of the hunters and the guides often don’t really meet up,” says Blake. “If a hunter goes on a guided trip, its up to the hunter to know how to kill the animal and know how to do everything involved. It’s the guides job just to show them the country that they’re unfamiliar with, where the elk or the animals are.”

“My expectation is that they have the instinct of a hunter and a killer, and I don’t have to hold their hands and I don’t have to tell them what to do and I don’t have to range their animal for them. They should be able to do that themselves.”

BE PREPARED

Blake runs his outfit in a handful of units throughout the vast wilderness of southern New Mexico, and the rugged landscape is not for the faint of heart. When his clients book their hunt, he makes sure they know what to expect – and in return he expects them to prepare accordingly.

“First and foremost, I want you to know your weapon. I don’t want you to buy a new weapon three weeks before the hunt. I want you to practice with it all summer long, and practice at short ranges, average ranges and long ranges that you think you’d never shoot,” he says.

Physical preparation for Blake’s backcountry elk hunts is equally important to accuracy.

“What I tell people is to be in the best possible physical and mental shape that you can get yourself into, and it will make your hunt that much more enjoyable,” he says.

“When you get out there and you’ve got lack of sleep and you’ve got hills to climb and that kind of stuff, if you’re feeling better than you normally feel then you’re not going to say ‘Oh man I wish I would have got myself into better shape.’”

“I don’t have to have somebody that’s totally fit,” Blake continues. “I’ll take a guy that is old and overweight and out of shape. But even with that guy - I don’t expect him to go and do Crossfit - but I want him to train.”

“A guy that is average, I want him to start hiking, do a little bit of hiking with a backpack on, do some conditioning and get himself into better shape.”

Moore agrees that it’s the client’s responsibility to prepare themselves for the conditions they may face during the hunt, even if that means spending a full day in the field.

“Mid-day hunting can be when it happens a lot of times,” he says, especially during the rut. “Its just weird how many guys you get to pay that kind of money to come and hunt for five or six days, and they want to hunt a couple hours in the morning and a couple hours in the evening.”

HAVE FUN

No matter where the hunt or what the season, both Moore and Blake agree that keeping a positive attitude throughout the experience is the best way for clients to guarantee a successful hunt.

“We’re going to chase giant deer,” Moore says. “You know, some weeks are tougher than others. Some weeks we knock a bunch of them down; some weeks we don’t knock any down. That’s just the way it goes fair chase.”

“If they come into camp expecting to kill a Boone and Crockett buck, they’re probably going to get their feelings hurt,” he explains. “But if they come in expecting a good time, and listen to what me and the guides tell them, they’ll have a real good hunt.”

“You should be looking forward to having an enjoyable experience, not coming and expecting to kill something,” Blake adds. “If you come and you’re expecting that you’re going to kill something, and your going to be mad if you don’t, then you should just go hunt a high fence. You should come for the experience, and know that killing something is an added reward.”