Outfitters and Guides

The success of a big-game hunt into those areas requiring a guide or outfitter depends largely on his skill and dependability. This is especially true of hunting trips into the most remote and inaccessible of our remaining wilderness areas.

It is also true that the hunter has a corresponding responsibility. He must bring to the hunt his own enthusiasm, the proper equipment, and a fair degree of hunting and shooting skill. He must be willing to adapt to unfamiliar living conditions, and he must expect a certain amount of hard physical effort.

But despite the hunter's part in the hunter-outfitter association, the guide or outfitter either makes or breaks the hunt. The choice of a guide or outfitter, therefore, is one of the most vital the hunter has to make. And one of the best ways of making a sensible choice is through a basic understanding of the viewpoint of each of the parties.

The outfitting business is relatively new and its origin is easy to trace. It wasn't too many years ago that hunters in remote areas bordering on farmlands simply rented available stock from ranchers to bring in their downed game. Hunters at that time hunted fairly close to home, and, due to slow transportation, meager sports dollars, and relatively few hunters, the sport of big-game hunting was not the big business it is today.

With the gradual but increasingly heavy boom in hunting came a thinning of the larger, most prized species of big game in marginal areas. Agriculture ate up other fringe lands. Game herds moved farther back into more remote regions and were harder to reach.

While this was taking place, means of transportation speeded up, leisure increased, and sporting dollars became more numerous. The appeal of red-blooded recreation to urban people became stronger. The result was a great upsurge in nonresident big-game hunting.

Today, it is fundamentally as easy to hunt out of one's own state, or even in another country, as it once was to hunt ten miles from home. This transformation has occurred within the present generation.

In any activity, sport or otherwise, when strangers come into a region there is need for local services from those familiar with the area. This is especially true of big-game hunting. It was but a single step from renting a horse from some local rancher to carry out a deer, to the natural question, "Why not hire somebody to do all the arranging on this end of the hunt?"

So outfitting was born. The use of the professional guide came about in a like manner.

THE OUTFITTER

Like a fence, the guide-hunter relationship has two definite sides. An understanding of this vital association might well begin with some of the professional outfitter's problems.

Today's big outfitter, catering to hunters in such remote areas as the hunting country of the West, Canada, and Alaska, has an investment of anywhere from $30,000 to over $75,000. This generally includes horses and mules averaging from $100 to $200 per head; riding gear (saddle, bridle, blanket, etc.) which will cost at least $100 per rider; and pack saddles, completely rigged, at another $70 each.

The transportation end of outfitting also often includes light aircraft and motorboats, jeeps, bush tractors, and trailers.

Other necessities include cook and dining tents of enormous size for base camps; smaller tents for camp personnel and hunters; dishes and cooking equipment; stoves; rope; horseshoes and horseshoeing equipment; canvas for mantas and coverings; axes, saws, camp tools, and all sorts of small items.

This overall tonnage has to be transported, including the pack and riding stock, to and from the hunting country each season. This necessitates heavy trucks, pickup trucks, and automobiles as a part of the investment.

Personnel is another expensive item in the large outfitter's operation. Help includes guide, cook, horse wrangler, packer, and all-round flunky. These are largely professional services. Cooks who can feed and keep happy gangs of hunters eating from before daylight to after dark every day for a month cannot be employed for the same amount as a cook back in town. Neither can guides who usually work from before daylight to any time during the night they happen to get in.

Food for hunters and personnel adds up to a prodigious amount, since appetites are pronounced. Feed for hard-working animals includes high-priced baled hay and oats, truck-hauled great distances over mountain roads.

But perhaps the biggest expense of the large outfitter is unseen by the majority of hunters. This is the very real expense of feeding, storing, and caring for the pack stock and equipment for the other eleven months of the year after hunting season is over. Usually, caring for the animals and gear of an outfitting operation involves ownership of a ranch, costing an additional $50,000 to $100,000. Repairing and replacement of broken equipment during the off months also runs into money. Just as a small example, one outfitter told me that annually he had to replace one in seven of his riding and pack animals—that's the mortality rate for good animals. Another said the previous winter he had repaired and replaced nineteen riding bridles which dude hunters, unfamiliar with how to care for such gear, had broken.

Depreciation and wear on all such outfitting equipment is severe, to say nothing of equipment that is somehow lost. Worse is the increase in the cost of equipment. Rope, as one example, costs just double what it did a few years ago. Trucks, horseshoes, camp tools, cooking equipment, and anything made of metal is correspondingly higher.

But the saddest fact in the hard life of today's outfitter is that all this overall increase in his cost of operation must be balanced against a con­stantly decreasing number of days in the annual hunting season. Where once it was several months, the hunting season now, in many areas, is an average of six weeks or even thirty days.

From this short period of time, the professional outfitter must recover enough cash from his clientele to support his operations for the entire year and make a profit if he is to remain in business.

Specifically, the thirty-day hunt must be broken down into, say, four seven-day hunts. If the outfitter has been fortunate enough to "book full" and averages a minimum of four hunters for each hunt, then it boils down to the blunt fact that each dude hunter must pay roughly six per cent of the outfitter's annual investment, depreciation of capital, and profit. With fewer hunters, he pays more.

That is the fundamental reason why an outfitter's charges for an all-furnished hunt into remote areas after the more desired species of big game seem so exhorbitant. It is sufficient to say here that were it not for the fact that such outfitters cater to summer fishing parties, do summer dude ranching, or have some other source of income from their stock, they could not operate.

THE HUNTER'S VIEWPOINT

On the opposite side of the relationship is the hunter. Here are his basic problems:

First, the average hunter is not rich. In the United States, exclusive of Alaska and Hawaii, there are over sixteen million licensed hunters. A big majority of these are big-game hunters. This means that one of every ten people in the country is a hunter, and there are not that many rich people.

The average hunter must save his money, often for several years, in order to make one trip after really big game. This is especially true of easterners, who come to the West, Canada, or Alaska after several species on a combined hunt.

The average hunter, because of this, is usually middle-aged or more before he can afford to take big-game hunts involving outfitting operations into remote areas. He is often soft physically, unaccustomed to living in the country and under conditions involving hardship and discomfort, and has no real notion of just what a big-game hunt into wild country entails.

However, he has the enthusiasm and the money to take on the hunt. Above all, he wants to succeed in bagging the intended trophy or game. He feels, after the years of effort and saving, that he is paying the outfitter to make certain he accomplishes this.

In short, the hunter-outfitter association brings closely together two entirely different types of individuals: one who is physically soft, knows little of the outdoors and less about hunting; the other, a rugged individual who can lick the wilderness with nothing more than his Levi britches and a Dutch oven. Thus unfortunate misconceptions arise. And too often, through the failure of each to understand the problems and real contribution of the other, both the relationship and the hunt go sour. Yet, despite the dissimilarity of viewpoints, each has a real need for the other, and couldn't get along without him.

The best outfitters and guides are tolerant of their guests. The)' realize that while a beginning hunter may not know too much about horses, hunting, and outdoor living, he is successful and knowledgeable in a field about which an outfitter knows little.

In fairness I must say that in thirty-four years of big-game hunting and knowing many guides and outfitters, I have had dealings with only two who weren't reliable and who did not live up to their agreements. That is largely because I've dealt only with reputable, top-flight outfits. All except the two were fine men, skilled in their complex jobs, dependable, and went all out to provide a grand hunt.
During this time I must admit, however, that I've witnessed some gross mistreatment of dude hunters by the fly-by-night, chiseling type of out­fitter who preys on the reputation, often the areas, and the high prices the reputable outfitters necessarily have to charge.

These are the relatively few vulturelike outfits of which the big-game hunter must beware.

Fortunately, the situation is being overcome. In many states and areas, vast improvement has been made through newly formed packers' associa­tions and by the steady struggle of the reliable outfitters to clean out their own ranks.

CHOOSING A GUIDE OR OUTFITTER

As suggested in an earlier chapter, the best assurance of getting a good guide or outfitter is to begin arrangements early. One advantage of this is that the outfitter, once contacted, immediately puts the hunter's name in his little black book as a prospect.

Some of the best outfitters, who plan to build a fine repeat business and stay with outfitting exclusively, make annual spring trips about the country, contacting hunters who have hunted with them, as well as new prospects. They also show movies of their operations to local sportsmen's groups. These pictures, usually accompanied by a running lecture by the outfitter himself, give a fine indication of his hunting country, the general mode of his operation, and the game potential there.

An outfitter will often travel considerable distance out of his way just to make a prospect's acquaintance and offer his services. Even when a hunt isn't arranged at the time, chances are good that the two parties may come together for a future hunt.

Another way of learning about a guide or outfitter is by contacting a friend who has hunted with him, or arranging one's own hunt with such a friend as a partner. Contacts often are made by letter through business acquaintances and casual friendships acquired through travel. Once the subject of big-game hunting comes up in a group, information has a way of cropping up, and the alert hunter should take advantage of it.
                                                                            
The serious hunter, however, should not wait for any chance informa­tion. Once the region he wishes to hunt is decided upon, he should immediately write to the Fish & Game Department of that state or province and ask for a list of the licensed guides and outfitters operating there. Most states with sufficient big game to warrant the use of outfitters will not only have a list of such personnel but also require that the guides and outfitters be bonded in order to operate. The fact that an outfitter is bonded is some assurance that he will be reliable, since he is financially responsible to the state for what he does. The beginner who has no previous experience with outfitters should never settle for an outfit whose name does not appear on the accredited list of the state.

Many of the best guides and outfitters regularly advertise, at least until they have built up a clientele. Some do even after there is no apparent need for advertising, simply to keep their names before the public and replace clients who can't make hunts every year. The very fact that such outfitters do pay heavy money for advertising is some assurance that they are not of the fly-by-night variety—especially those who advertise in the better outdoor journals.

A final way of making a contact in any hunting area is to locate on a map a town adjacent to that area and write to the Chamber of Commerce or similar civic group for information about reliable outfits operating in that region.

Once the guide or outfitter is contacted, the procedure for ascertaining his reliability, skill, and general standing is the same as in any other business transaction.

You write to him. You ask for references. You ask for a list of satisfied customers. Then you write directly to enough of them to give you a fair cross section. And from this variety of information you sort the kernel from the chaff.

There are definite indications in each of the above to establish an overall picture. The man's character will be indicated in his return letter. If the reply is neat, orderly, and gives forthright information, that's one indication.

His reply will usually include information about his hunts and operation, perhaps with pictures of equipment, game previously taken, hunting country, and base of operations. Also included will be a list of his prices. All these help to bring into clear focus the overall picture of the outfit, especially the fees. Any hunter should beware of prices which are in any way "cut-throat" competition with those more or less standard to other operators giving similar services.

In the hunter's original letter to any prospective outfitter, one of the most pertinent questions should be regarding the outfit's past record. That is, what percentage of all hunters booked scored on the various species of game—say for the past three or four years.

It should be borne in mind when asking this, that no outfitter can ever have a perfect record. Big-game hunting just isn't that sure-fire. But on an average, his record should show at least around fifty per cent hunter-success on the big species of game before I would be interested further.

Perhaps this high a success-ratio is rough on the beginning outfitter and the outfitting profession. But it is equally rugged on the hunter who must pay the top outfitters' high fees; and the records of the top-flight outfitters are usually much higher than fifty per cent.

In all such correspondence, facts should be looked for and promises disregarded, or the rash ones looked upon with suspicion. The big, established outfits, fine as their record of hunter-success is, can only promise to provide the hunter with good hunting country, good guides and other help, good equipment, a fine hunt, and a really memorable overall experience. The best ones, with few exceptions, never promise the hunter his game.

Any promises that the hunter will "surely" get his trophy are regarded by veteran hunters with skepticism, and usually mean that the guide or outfitter intends (for a price, of course) to kill the hunter's game illegally himself.

From the personal letters of past customers, the hunter gets a real indication of the outfit's true work. Replies from satisfied clientele generally will be specific as to game and general conditions, and direct in their recommendation.

All this close screening of guides and outfits naturally entails a similar obligation on the hunter's part. He should never expect an outfitter to be more reliable, honest, or dependable than himself. He should be willing to furnish the same type of reference for himself which he expects of another, and in any arrangement make his word as good as his bond.

FEES

It is difficult to list a set of standard fees for guide services or overall outfitting charges. Hunts vary according to species of game, distances, transportation, and equipment. However, a few current examples will give the beginner a fair notion.

At this writing, simple guide service (in which no equipment is fur­nished) for one relatively numerous species of game such as deer, antelope, or moose, will run $25 a day and up per man.

For furnished hunts after a single, fairly numerous and easily reached species such as deer, fees begin at around $30 a day per man. This is if the hunting country is close to the outfitter's base of operations and is easily reached.

Hunts after a really big species such as elk, or a combination of species such as elk, deer, and black bear, involving pack stock will average between $40 and $60 a day per hunter. Such hunts usually are for a minimum of seven to ten days and a minimum of four hunters.

Special hunts after a prized species such as sheep, where the hunter of necessity must go alone with a guide, not hunt as part of a party, often cost $75 a day.

Alaskan and Canadian hunts after a mixed bag of several species, and after such game as grizzlies, caribou, rams, black bear, and goats, currently cost from $100 to $125 a day per hunter. These hunts normally run three weeks and cost $2,000. Short hunts for one species, such as rams, are normally for ten days and cost $1,000 or a bit more. Coastal trips after brown bear cost around $1,650.

The standard charge for polar-bear hunts is $2,000. This usually in­volves airplanes, and is one case where some guides will guarantee the hunter a legal bear, not a cub.

Once the decision is made, all arrangements with the guide should be made in writing. All such important factors as dates, fees, equipment each is to furnish, and where the hunt both originates and terminates, should be written into the agreement and agreed upon by both parties before signing.

The normal arrangement is to deposit one third of the hunt's total cost with the outfitter upon signing the agreement. This the hunter forfeits if for any reason he cannot go on the hunt. The outfitter or guide refunds this deposit only if he cannot provide the hunt. Cancellation of a hunt by the hunter is no grounds for expecting his deposit back.

Hunting with a good outfitter in primitive country after the prized species of big game, when each of the partners has an understanding of the problems and joys of the other, is one of the finest experiences on earth.

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