salukipv1

Can't imagine paying $4-5k for a decent/avg. mule deer hunt. That is a guaranteed tag/WY hunt, so perhaps burning some points and getting an outfitter would be cheaper or at least a higher quality hunt?

Could buy a landowner tag and DIY.

or could not burn pts and find a tag somewhere and DIY, which would probably mean MT, ID, or a CO-2nd choice tag?

Have 9pts going into NV in 2016, any good options for mule deer in NV with 9pts?

I don't think I want to burn my CO, AZ, WY(max), UT deer points.

Muley Hunter

Even if I won Powerball I couldn't bring myself to pay more than the price of the tag for a hunt.

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Anyone that would spend $4-$5K for a mulie has feathers for brains. For that amount you can do a 5-7 say plains game hunt in RSA including trophy fees.

I'll stick with deer hunting on my own. Later this week I return to my native CO with 2 private land plains deer tags and I intend to fill both of them. All I'll be out is the cost of the tags and the gas money from TX to get there.

kellyguinn

Forking out money for a guided hunt does sound crazy to some people but not everyone has the time or knowledge to go and DIY. I have been looking into mule deer hunting as well as antelope and elk. I find it hard to pull the trigger to gain a guide but I still look all the time. Givin I only get maybe a week to take off for a hunt the driving for a day just to go scout is not an option. In the long run a guide as long as they are reasonable may actually be the cheaper route buy the time you spend gas getting there or plane tickets there and back scouting (as public land is the way most would have to go). Most hunters are reluctant to let an outsider in to harvest an animal off land that they have been managing and I don't blame them one bit. For me being in Oklahoma we have all the game I mentioned but you have to be drawn for the antelope and the elk. I have been putting in for 20 years and have yet to be drawn. We have muleys but they are scarce. So without the help of a guide or someone that knows what they are doing I find it hard to lay down the cash to just go figure it all out on my own.

I have paid for the services of a guide but that was more of a learning experience as I had been hunting whitetails for 7 years without a harvest. I picked his brain and learned all I could and ended up making a friend in the process. Now I would more than likely never pay for a guide to hunt whitetail again but its getting to the point where in a lot of states you do have to pay a land use fee (lease), that is if you want to have a chance at a trophy.

All I hunt here at home is public land and I have no problem helping out other hunters that come in from out of state and have even helped a few out from this site. But alot of the "trade a hunt" folks dont want to hunt public so that kinda leaves me out. Like most hunters I have a long bucket list of USA native animals I would like to have the opertunity harvest before I travel abroad but don't get me wrong if I ever get the chance to go to Africa or New Zealand I will figure out a way to make it work,

Muley Hunter

DIY on public land is all I could, and have done. I find it more rewarding, and i'm not trying to please anybody but myself.

I guess a trophy hunter will do anything to get a head on the wall. Even if it means letting someone else do the hunt for you, or hunting on private land. Money will make you appear a good hunter, but it doesn't fool everybody.

kellyguinn

Not all guided hunts do the guides do the work for you. I'm not asking for a tied up buck to go try and hunt but when you spend thousands just going to public land that you do not have a clue about, why not spend some money to pick the brain of someone that knows. If you hunt Canada you have to have a guide.. If you go to Africa same thing. Everyone has there preference.

Don't get me wrong the kill is not the highlight of most of my trips but if I'm going out of state for a hunt I would like a reasonable chance at something so that I am not just throwing money away. Maybe if I was retired and had more time to devote to it I would think differently but as it stands now having help whether that be a guide, freind or someone willing to take me out and give me a hand with their knowledge of the game and land would be the way I would have to go. Like I said i have helped several people with what I know about public land here but its been hard to get the same in return when all I can offer is public.

Muley Hunter

My post wasn't pointed in anybody's direction. Just expressing how I feel about it.

kellyguinn

No worries. I'm 100% with you that a DIY hunt on public land is more rewarding. Thats all I do here at home with the once and a while invitation to hunt private for a weekend lol.

As I get closer to trying to go after a muley or game in another state I'll be for sure on here asking questions as to the how, when and where. But with less and less people willing to help its not making it easy.

Topgun 3006

While I also prefer DIY hunts on public land there is no way I could have done the mule deer hunt in Region G of Wyoming this season without a guide who had good horses and knew the area. It was as close to wilderness that you could get where a guide is required for NRs in Wyoming and no way at my age that I could have even rented a trailer and horses to try a DIY. Therefore, I take exception to the statement about feathers for brains, LOL! PS: I also didn't spend $4K-$5K for the hunt, as it was much less than that after doing a lot of research and finding the right guy, and I also have never had any yearning to hunt in Africa regardless of the price!

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Top my old friend, we both know you do have feathers for brains! LOL