Montana Bob

Still no positive plans have been set. Talked with some guy's working up in Anchorage who are locals and said I didn't need a guide and they would take me out anytime.
There is about 2 years worth of work in Anchorage and Wasilla and I will probably take them up on their offer when I go up to work.
Trying to get a day off here in Billings and brush the dust off the 22-250 as the gophers here need some attention.
When I get home I'll look you up and maybe look for a Bear or 2.

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PaRu

Not trying to take out of peoples hunting experince just trying to help with a little knowledge of the area that people want to hunt and they can't get out to do any scouting, they are still going to have to hunt the animal on their own they just won't know the area with out being able to come out and do a little scouting.

SpyroAndes

I see nothing wrong with the service.

There are different variations of this for different areas and states.

Personally, I have never used one...

However, there are a few things that I would do a little differently.

1) The scouting report would be for the unit.

2) Pictures and/or Video of the bigger bucks found in the Unit.

3) Road closures, road conditions, trial conditions and etc.

4) GPS #s of the glassing sites.

5) GPS #s of good campsites.

6) Any other important info about the unit.

7) Provide an addition 'back up area' in the unit that will get them away from other hunters.

8) You would provide topo maps w/ all the info on them.

9) I'd sell only one per unit and have it up for auction (starting price based up deer quality).

This is nothing new...

Heck, the stuff I listed above is pretty much what Tony Grimmett provides for Arizona Antelope...

justhuntitall

Yes I would have to agree with SpyroAndes. I wish I would have had somebody just piont me in any direction 10 years ago it might have saved me alot of time.

I think there might be some pepole that would use this service I think first time NR that have never been out west could real use some one like you to just fill in there blanks and give them some confidence on an area.

PaRu

Now thats what i talking about

txhunter58

Sorry Alaska, but I couldn't dissagree more. Have you ever had a friend find or scout out an area and give you the heads up? Tell you the best trail to use, game he saw and lend you the maps he used? Not really any difference. Or have you always found all your hunting spots without any help from anyone and not helped anyone else?

Personally I think it is a great idea that is catching on. I used a service in Colorado for a mule deer early season wilderness hunt. From the service, I got a location of a "honey hole" that the guy had found for big bucks. He supplied me with some maps and a detailed description of how to get there and where to concentrate my efforts. From that point, I was on my own. My brother and I backpacked into the wilderness and set up our own camp 4 miles from the truck. We arrived 2 days early and did some scouting on our own. I then killed a 29" 8x7 mule deer over 5 miles from the truck and carried him out on my back.

A far cry from someone tying him up to a tree for me near a road, don't you think?

If you want see an already successful business doing this, you can visit the website of the guy that helped me. His business is called antlerquest: http://members.aol.com/antlerquest1/.../business.html I think he still has a picture of my buck. I am the one with the goofy grin, a thumbs up, and a velvet buck. And by the way, all the game at the top of his website (live animals). Those are pictures he took himself.

I knew where to go, but it was certainly not a guaranteed hunt, and I had to get it shape, figure out what I could carry in in the way of tent, sleeping bag, groceries, etc. I still had to be a good enough hunter to find a mature/wary buck above timberline, shoot it and get it back to the truck on my own, well, with a little help from my brother!

I burned 8 preference points for that hunt and didn't want to waste my time stumbling around trying to find a good spot. I wasn't dissapointed.

Yes, I think it is a great idea. Go for it. WHat areas of Colorado would you be concentrating on?

txhunter58

One more point. I think you would absolutely have to be exclusive with the info each year. In other words, when you sell info to someone, you agree not to give this same info to anyone else that season. Of course, you can provide info on the same area for each different season (archery, gun, etc) but only one person per season gets the info on that area.

I think the real forte of this kind of service is the hunts that take a few years to draw. If you do it for normal areas that are OTC (in the case of elk) or deer units that can be drawn every year, sooner or later, the 'honey hole" will become well known and overrun with hunters. At least that is a potential problem I see.

Not sure about hiring the guides either. First, I am not sure you can make enough money to justify paying them unless you charge way more than what is already being charged. And second, it may be a conflict of interest for the guides. As an outfitter, would you want your guides to be giving out info about the areas that he/they hunt? This kind of business probably works best as a 1-2 man show.