Rates of guides
- Thread starter rookie wing shooter
- Start date
Food for thought here as I guide word of mouth for Walleyes in the Dakotas. I get $600/day to do so. A majority of my clients want to learn a new technique or body of water, so only book me a day or two and then do it on their own, which is fine. Some are business/family trips where they are in town and want something to do and enjoy the memories. I drive from Omaha to do this, so figure $300 in truck gas, $300 in boat gas (minimum) plus lodging and food for a long weekend. By the time it is all said and done I basically made MAYBE a couple hundred bucks.
Some of the folks just want a great day on the water and don't have the money invested to have every single scenario covered, which is where a guide comes into play at times. $50-100k boat, $20k in electronics, $10k in tackle...it does make a difference.
We did a full day in the Key's this year and paid $1600 for a full day. The night before the guide mentioned we would be making a longer run if we were ok with it due to fishing pressure. We went 60 miles off shore and watching his fuel usage it was under 1 gallon per mile. 120+ miles round trip and almost $5 marina fuel...do the math. We had such a great time, when we got back we tipped an additional $400.
I am not a rich man, but sometimes it is just nice to not worry about anything but showing up and killing birds/catching fish.
Some of the folks just want a great day on the water and don't have the money invested to have every single scenario covered, which is where a guide comes into play at times. $50-100k boat, $20k in electronics, $10k in tackle...it does make a difference.
We did a full day in the Key's this year and paid $1600 for a full day. The night before the guide mentioned we would be making a longer run if we were ok with it due to fishing pressure. We went 60 miles off shore and watching his fuel usage it was under 1 gallon per mile. 120+ miles round trip and almost $5 marina fuel...do the math. We had such a great time, when we got back we tipped an additional $400.
I am not a rich man, but sometimes it is just nice to not worry about anything but showing up and killing birds/catching fish.
My group hunts west river, every year, on a farming family’s properties. They have a really nice, fully furnished farm house we stay in. Everything is there for us to use except our food, drink, and hunting gear. We bring our own dogs and portable kennels and crates and they stay in an insulated barn that’s behind the house. We clean and package our own birds.
The farmer takes his own pickup and goes with us every day. He takes us to their various places, gives advice on how to hunt the place we’re at, and then drives to where we’ll end up. He will get out and block for us when we get within 100-200 yards of him. He’ll be carrying a shotgun while blocking and usually takes a bird or two each day, which he’ll take home. We then all load up ourselves and the dogs in his pickup and he hauls us back to our rigs.
We each pay $350/day to hunt, which includes everything previously described. When our week of hunting concludes, we settle up with him and each of us gives a generous tip. I bring a couple of cases of good beer and a mesquite smoked brisket I’ve cooked as gifts for our farming family hosts.
I look at it like this, my wife grew up on a dry land cotton farm in west Texas. Farming is hard work and not very profitable. The family we hunt on supplements their income by doing pheasant hunts, and I’m happy to pay for that privilege.
I’ve got 7 good pointing dogs, and I don’t mind paying for good hunting and lots of wild bird exposure for my dogs. I don’t play golf, I don’t gamble, and don’t drink much. My annual trip to South Dakota is my big extravagance of the year, and I look forward to it all year. I plan on doing it until I physically can’t do it anymore, and am happy to pay for it.
When I quail hunt with friends and family around home, I’m in charge of everything, and I want everyone to have a good time and get some chances at taking some birds. It’s nice to go on one trip per year where somebody else has to worry about things and I can just hunt.
The farmer takes his own pickup and goes with us every day. He takes us to their various places, gives advice on how to hunt the place we’re at, and then drives to where we’ll end up. He will get out and block for us when we get within 100-200 yards of him. He’ll be carrying a shotgun while blocking and usually takes a bird or two each day, which he’ll take home. We then all load up ourselves and the dogs in his pickup and he hauls us back to our rigs.
We each pay $350/day to hunt, which includes everything previously described. When our week of hunting concludes, we settle up with him and each of us gives a generous tip. I bring a couple of cases of good beer and a mesquite smoked brisket I’ve cooked as gifts for our farming family hosts.
I look at it like this, my wife grew up on a dry land cotton farm in west Texas. Farming is hard work and not very profitable. The family we hunt on supplements their income by doing pheasant hunts, and I’m happy to pay for that privilege.
I’ve got 7 good pointing dogs, and I don’t mind paying for good hunting and lots of wild bird exposure for my dogs. I don’t play golf, I don’t gamble, and don’t drink much. My annual trip to South Dakota is my big extravagance of the year, and I look forward to it all year. I plan on doing it until I physically can’t do it anymore, and am happy to pay for it.
When I quail hunt with friends and family around home, I’m in charge of everything, and I want everyone to have a good time and get some chances at taking some birds. It’s nice to go on one trip per year where somebody else has to worry about things and I can just hunt.
Wind River
Well-known member
I tip my hat to you Larry. God look after your family and friends, enjoy the bounty the Dakotas have provided. The people we meet in our life's journey make it special. Another chapter in your book is ahead of you. Again, God bless 
agraham20
Active member
I don’t think guiding and pay hunting causes a demise in any hunting at all. I do think it gives people the opportunity to hunt and enjoy the outdoors that otherwise might not do it, in the process creating more sportsman and women that purchase licenses, and support local economies. For some they may only hunt with guided services and for some it may just help them get the foot in the door.
I don’t hate on anyone taking the opportunity to enjoy the same sport we all do as long as it’s done in a safe and responsible manner.
A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
I agree with this to a point. But I think reality may vary greatly by location. In SD I think pay hunting may provide some of those "foot in the door" type benefits...for non-residents. I think it discourages most residents, having the opposite effect, because the days when pay hunting was rare weren't that long ago. We remember them. Very fondly. In the last 40-50 years, resident license sales have been cut in half, while non-resident sales have increased 3 times.
Also, depending how frequently "hunts" occur, many/most pay hunt operations are forced to release birds to maintain shootable numbers, whether they're technically a preserve or not. A wild population on a given piece of ground simply couldn't handle such a massive harvest. Consequently, any wild birds around quickly make themselves nearly unshootable, similar to wild birds on public land, leaving ONLY flare nares to shoot, which don't at all provide the same educational experience for hunters as wild birds do. Their learning curve, at least in terms of "how to find & get a shot at a wild pheasant", is pretty much flat. So when they eventually think, "I'm ready to go hunt wild birds on public land," they strike out bigtime, in some cases incorrectly believing wild birds are nearly nonexistent. And back to the preserve they go, completing the circle.
I'm all for a person choosing how to "hunt" & how to use his land. But I believe if pay hunting in SD continues to bloom, it will eventually mean the end of traditional, wild pheasant hunting as we once knew it. To me, that's really sad.
agraham20
Active member
I agree with a lot of what you are saying to an extent as well, and I can see your concern. SD residents and govt has created the situation tho. It has marketed itself as a pheasant Mecca and has made it to where its own local economies rely on the hunting tourists and the income they bring. It has provided farmers with ways to supplement income and created the need for the land and good land management to try and produce healthy numbers of birds. Unfortunately in the process they have created so much tourism that they needed to supplement bird populations. If hunters come to SD and don’t shoot birds they won’t come back. The avg hunter doesn’t know the difference between a pen bird and a wild bird.
I wish we had close to the bird population and land access you have in SD. In SE MN where I am there is very little public land and most is hunted very hard created extremely low bird numbers. Western MN is getting better but it is slowly adopting practices such as SD creating better bird populations but also attracting more hunters.
It’s probably hard to find that balance in reality. If farmers didn’t make money managing the land for bird populations then they would probably put more back into crops which would hurt in the long run. Habitat creates birds, but costs money. Now besides all that, I would say the main clients of guides are people that may not have the ability or time to have a dog or train a dog, or it may be cheaper and easier for them to pay that guide for their 1 pheasant trip a year then it is to keep that dog all year. Everyone’s reason to pheasant hunt is different. Some like the challenge of hunting wild birds, some like watching their dog work, and some just want to shoot birds with buds. Done with long rant
Goosemaster
Well-known member
I've only pay hunted twice.Both times in South Dakota, and my dad paid for everything. The first time, we stayed in this farmers house, and hunted his land.He only charged us 250 dollars for 3 nights, and meals that were great.We cleaned our birds,knocked on a few doors, hunted a few walk in areas.That was a fun hunt.Wild birds, because in 1992 nobody had heard of pen raised birds.In 2005 we hunted a fancy farm that charged 450 dollars a day!! Hunted in march.Pen raised easy birds.Maybe there were some wild birds in there. It was near Gregory. They didn't let our dogs in the house.It was owned by some blue blood from Indiana. It was the kind of place that I'm putting a thumbs down on.My dad paid,I didn't spend a dime at that place.After 3 days, he wrote that place a fat check.It was interesting, and the hunting was easy for a guy like me.I don't think there was a limit.
Bob Peters
Well-known member
I think a big dichotomy you see in this thread are these two sides.
1. A farmer/land owner allowing a few groups a year to stay in an old house or trailer and hunt his ground for a fee. Good for everybody. He keeps a little better habitat around, helps the wild life, and some people from areas devoid of wild birds get a good hunt.
2. An operation that has gotten a little taste of this, and decides to go "whole hog" into the pay hunt business. Suddenly you have entire fields groomed to perfection with milo and corn food plots. There are MOWED paths right through all the fields at evenly spaced intervals. Pen raised birds are released throughout the year, and most often 30 minutes before a large group shows up. Limits upon limits are shot here, day after day. Juicy steaks and old bourbon are consumed on a nightly basis. This I would call a glorified game farm. And not real hunting in my eyes.
1. A farmer/land owner allowing a few groups a year to stay in an old house or trailer and hunt his ground for a fee. Good for everybody. He keeps a little better habitat around, helps the wild life, and some people from areas devoid of wild birds get a good hunt.
2. An operation that has gotten a little taste of this, and decides to go "whole hog" into the pay hunt business. Suddenly you have entire fields groomed to perfection with milo and corn food plots. There are MOWED paths right through all the fields at evenly spaced intervals. Pen raised birds are released throughout the year, and most often 30 minutes before a large group shows up. Limits upon limits are shot here, day after day. Juicy steaks and old bourbon are consumed on a nightly basis. This I would call a glorified game farm. And not real hunting in my eyes.
BrownDogsCan2
Well-known member
lol reminds of a pay operation I drove by on Sunday. An attractive couple were walking a feed strip when I drove by All decked out and looking good. Looked like they were just getting started. Just up the road from them a rooster is low crawling it back across the road and trying to figure a way to get back into the bird pen
Goosemaster
Well-known member
Number 2.Big thumbs down.Not hunting, very easy. Number 1? Ok I get it.
Goosemaster
Well-known member
That place in Gregory had never seen a pheasant slayer like me before. Lollol reminds of a pay operation I drove by on Sunday. An attractive couple were walking a feed strip when I drove by All decked out and looking good. Looked like they were just getting started. Just up the road from them a rooster is low crawling it back across the road and trying to figure a way to get back into the bird pen
Bob Peters
Well-known member
I told a buddy one time, "let's go out to South dakota this fall for a pheasant trip."
He replied, "no I'm good, I've already done that. It's kind of dumb that after you shoot 3, you can keep hunting but have to pay extra for each bird. " I had a lot to say to him, but somehow couldn't find any words.
. I haven't brought it up with him since! 
. Deer hunters, I tell ya.
He replied, "no I'm good, I've already done that. It's kind of dumb that after you shoot 3, you can keep hunting but have to pay extra for each bird. " I had a lot to say to him, but somehow couldn't find any words.
. I haven't brought it up with him since! . Deer hunters, I tell ya.
Goosemaster
Well-known member
I'm wondering what happens to all these released pheasants???lol reminds of a pay operation I drove by on Sunday. An attractive couple were walking a feed strip when I drove by All decked out and looking good. Looked like they were just getting started. Just up the road from them a rooster is low crawling it back across the road and trying to figure a way to get back into the bird pen
BrownDogsCan2
Well-known member
This place has like 5 pens. Gotta be at least 25000 bids doesn’t it? I’m sure that’s small time
Homers think of all the money they could make if the could bill twice on all those missed birds
carptom1
Well-known member
Twenty years ago I used to go with a guy by Lincoln Kansas. It was a high dollar put and take place. He had clients that would come in and drop 3-4k and they would release a bunch of pheasants for them. For 50 bucks a day we got use of a house and we would do cleanup hunts on the leftover birds. It was a blast and I would go again tomorrow. Unfortunately the guy I went with decided his whiskey and bar fly’s were more fun
Gatzby
Well-known member
Last Saturday I was picking up some birds in wright county. The bird guy said he could only have 1000 birds per pen because of feed lot regulations. Unfortunately I don't know if this was a state, county or fed regulation.This place has like 5 pens. Gotta be at least 25000 bids doesn’t it? I’m sure that’s small time
Homers think of all the money they could make if the could bill twice on all those missed birds
agraham20
Active member
I do guided charity hunts for Pheasants Forever every fall, like youth hunts and DAV hunts. They always schedule guys in for scratch hunting right after the events get done. There are guys lined up for it almost. So they get like 25 a bird from the charity event and then sell the missed birds at another 14 a bird.
Matt D
Well-known member
I’ve written this before but it ties in with this thread some. I’ve been on a handful of the high dollar lodge trips before. Company we do business with at one time was doing 6-7 of those a year and I had an invite each year. I tell everyone I don’t call them hunts as they were more social type events. Fun for what they are but not so much for the hunting aspect. The industry friends I got to spend time with and that aspect was what made them fun. First year I went I was pretty dumb to the fact of what it was. It was far enough back and in an area that I believe the majority of our birds were wild. But as time progressed and the area changed so did the realities and it became that flush rates were about 90 percent or more roosters. Then one year we had fresh snow and it was funny that every field we pulled in to had fresh tire tracks going along the piece we were hunting. .
I will say that first experience was what really got me fired up about bird hunting so it is an example of someone getting exposed and then building off that. I’m to the point that if I want to shoot pen raised birds I’ll do it here locally and save a butt load of travel time. I do guide here on a hunt club and it’s the only way to get a high number of bird contacts for my dogs so it fills a need for both me but also for our customers to get to have some form of upland hunting experience.
I am to the point where I say fine to do what you want with your land. No worries from me.
. I will say that first experience was what really got me fired up about bird hunting so it is an example of someone getting exposed and then building off that. I’m to the point that if I want to shoot pen raised birds I’ll do it here locally and save a butt load of travel time. I do guide here on a hunt club and it’s the only way to get a high number of bird contacts for my dogs so it fills a need for both me but also for our customers to get to have some form of upland hunting experience.
I am to the point where I say fine to do what you want with your land. No worries from me.
dawgs14
Active member
"1. A farmer/land owner allowing a few groups a year to stay in an old house or trailer and hunt his ground for a fee. Good for everybody. He keeps a little better habitat around, helps the wild life, and some people from areas devoid of wild birds get a good hunt."
This is our scenario and has been since 1997 except we bought a house in town.
This is our scenario and has been since 1997 except we bought a house in town.