Guided Hunts,....What do you want?

[GobbleNut]

This time of year, there is always a lot of talk about out-of-state hunts and outfitters/guides and such.  Those discussions always leave me wondering about want hunters expect when booking hunts.

Mostly out of necessity, I have gone on a few "outfitted" hunts.  A couple have been exactly what I wanted,....access to land with turkeys and the freedom to hunt them as I wanted,....and a couple have been a total disaster in terms of what I expected to be able to do.

Personally, if I am going to fork over a bunch of cash to go somewhere to hunt, I want to actually HUNT.  I want to be able to test my hunting and calling skills against the gobblers that inhabit the place I go to.  I have no desire to hunt somewhere that the guide/outfitter leads me around by the nose, wants to do all of the calling and strategy, and then feels like he/I accomplished something when I shoot a limit of semi-tame gobblers that didn't have a clue.

I would rather hunt for a week and not kill a gobbler (I have done this) in a place where the turkeys were a challenge than kill a truck-load in a couple of days (I have done this, too) where I was doing nothing more than pulling the trigger behind some joker that thought he was God's-gift to turkey hunting.   

Okay,...so now that I have got that off my chest, what are YOUR expectations for an outfitted (and probably pretty costly) hunt somewhere?

[Spitten and drummen]

I want plenty of birds to chase , good gobbling , lots of room to wander and someone point me in the direction and get out of my way.

[land cruiser]

That's not a guided hunt, that's paid private land access.

I agree, guided is overrated and unnecessary.

[Happy]

Doubt I will ever pay for a hunt. If I did it would be for property access only. I want to be left alone to go hunting. I don't want anyone calling or even tagging along with me. I have no problem hunting with others and trying to help them get a bird but when I am hunting for me I prefere solo.

[Gooserbat]

If? I'm paying I want ample bird numbers, a hot shower and a place to sleep.  If I'm going to dyi I'll sleep in the truck. 

[Yoder409]

If I pay money, I want exclusive access (for my time slot) to a good number of birds.   I want a shower, a decent bed and one hot meal in the evening.

[Tail Feathers]

I'm a turkey hunter like you GN, I want to hunt.  An outfitter should have a good population of birds.
I want a good description of where the birds roost, move and the property lines and let me go.
If lodging is part of it, let the place be clean and the food be good.

In return, I'll try to leave nothing but footprints and a maybe a few flop feathers.

[mtns2hunt]

Access to private property, a place to sleep that at least keeps the rain off. I have slept in tents, plywood shacks, lodges the guides house. Don't really care. I like to be provided information on the lay of the land, turkey concentrations and movement. Food does not really matter: I've had good and bad plus a lot of baloney. Finally and most important birds. I like to do most of my own calling but will frequently have a guide help or call behind me if necessary. There are different kinds of hunts fully guided and semi guided. I prefer semi guided. Once I hunt each subspecies with an outfitter I prefer to just pay for access. Will hopefully collect my Florida bird next month with an outfitter. Just my two cents. Plus I am still learning this turkey hunting game. Another reason I like paying for access is that there are enough rude and inconsiderate hunters at home on public land. Most of whom never seem to harvest a bird but don't want anyone else to either.

[GobbleNut]

it appears that many of us have similar expectations,...a place with adequate numbers of turkeys and the freedom to hunt them as we would like. 

So, here's another question:  How many of you have paid for that and ended up with the outfitter/guide insisting on being "in the way" on your hunt?  Surprisingly, I/we have had that happen,...even after clearly explaining to the landowner/outfitter that we not only were not wanting that, but that we expected to be left alone to do "our own thing".

Granted, that has only happened once or twice over the years, but it can occur...

[TauntoHawk]

I don't want a guided hunt, I would consider semi guided only if land access gained myself or public land was not an option or time constraints.

[Rapscallion Vermilion]

You asked specifically about guided hunts, so I'll keep it to that.  Access to private land or relatively untrampled public land and good birds.  I enjoy meeting and bs-ing with other turkey hunters, so an operation run out of a camp or lodge is a plus, but I don't want to be competing with them for birds, so that means lots of land.  Interesting terrain/cover to hunt.  Absolutely no feeder trained/patterned birds.  Don't mind if the guide calls (unless he sucks), but I want to call as well.  An ethical and law abiding guide is a must.  Prefer to hunt without fixed blinds or decoys.  Ideally the guide knows more about turkey hunting and calling than I do, so I can learn something along the way. Good guides have lots of stories to tell and are the sort of people I'd enjoy hanging out with anytime. The amenities come last as long as I can stay warm and dry, sleep and eat well.

[dirt road ninja]

I want a honest outfitter who will do his best to meet or exceed the expectations laid out prior to the hunt. I've been on good, great and horrible.

[MK M GOBL]

As most have said solo access to the property while I'm there, a few insights to where birds are and if this was part of the package a good bed and 1-a-day meal in the evening. The rest I can handle. Now I have never been on a guided hunt of any sort but have "guided" a lot of turkey hunters in different ways over the years, pretty interesting read here. I would guess a lot has to do with that hunters experience level...

MK M GOBL

[dejake]

I want the outfitter to do the homework that I can't, in other words, know where birds are.  I paid for a hunt in Kansas.  Outfitter dropped me off, pointed to where he thought birds roosted, and off i went.  was a great hunt.

[GobbleNut]

I want a good description of where the birds roost, move and the property lines and let me go.

This brings up another interesting point.  I haven't been on that many private property hunts, but I have been amazed at how often the landowner/outfitter has failed to provide maps,...or even a half-way clear description as to where the property boundaries are.

A  couple of us got in "hot water" once because the landowner told us that we were good as long as we stayed inside his fenced boundary.  With that information, two of us went one direction and ended up on an adjoining property,...never crossing the proverbial fence. 
After the suspicious looks and condemnations, we went back to the landowner and told him there was no fence where he said there was.

His response,..."oh, yeah, now I remember,...I had some guys doing some work on that side of the property and they took the fence down". 

...Uhhh, do you think it might have been a good idea to remember that and tell us before we were accused of being trespassers?....