Hi!
My question for y'all is which is better given this situation for a guided vs. unguided hunt....
My Dad (60), Grandpa (90), and I (32), know a farmer with 2 landowner tags on his 640 acre private ranch, offering us them for $1,500 for a cow, and $3,500 for a bull. Place to stay for $100/night, use of quads, no meals, no guiding, nothing else. From what I've seen online, that seems expensive. Add up the cost of travel, food, beverage, state licenses... easily a $10,000 hunt. With me being the young one, guess who is doing all the work too! Rancher's land is 40 miles north of Cuba, NM. Supposedly last year a group shot a good bull off his land...
So, do we haggle that price down and stick to this private land hunt, or go with a fully guided hunt? I feel like I'm asking a stupid question because I'm leaning heavily towards the guided one after looking at the math, plus given the age of my Grandpa. Now, at 90 years old, he still pheasant, duck, and goose hunts every year in South Dakota with us. He gets around just fine and is healthy, but is in no way in shape for a true elk hunt, and neither is my dad. He will be happy to be along for the hunt however he can, but I'd like my dad to shoot the elk since I have had my chances and I'm still young.
What say you???
My question for y'all is which is better given this situation for a guided vs. unguided hunt....
My Dad (60), Grandpa (90), and I (32), know a farmer with 2 landowner tags on his 640 acre private ranch, offering us them for $1,500 for a cow, and $3,500 for a bull. Place to stay for $100/night, use of quads, no meals, no guiding, nothing else. From what I've seen online, that seems expensive. Add up the cost of travel, food, beverage, state licenses... easily a $10,000 hunt. With me being the young one, guess who is doing all the work too! Rancher's land is 40 miles north of Cuba, NM. Supposedly last year a group shot a good bull off his land...
So, do we haggle that price down and stick to this private land hunt, or go with a fully guided hunt? I feel like I'm asking a stupid question because I'm leaning heavily towards the guided one after looking at the math, plus given the age of my Grandpa. Now, at 90 years old, he still pheasant, duck, and goose hunts every year in South Dakota with us. He gets around just fine and is healthy, but is in no way in shape for a true elk hunt, and neither is my dad. He will be happy to be along for the hunt however he can, but I'd like my dad to shoot the elk since I have had my chances and I'm still young.
What say you???
