Rochester Goose Guide

[g'eye pilot]

I would beg to differ... I know most of the guides in the Rochester area. I can truthfully tell you $ is not the primary drive for most. There may be one or two guides that make all or most of their living by guiding. The rest of them just really love to hunt geese. Yes, they do put a few bucks in their pockets. But they are not getting rich by any means. They put a lot of the money back into the business, buying decoys, building pits, paying insurance, etc. What is gained beyond a little cash in the pocket? Being able to hunt the best locations with the best equipment, and sharing the experience with both clients and friends. It's like a hobby that supports itself.

If you think Roch is commercialized, you should check out southern IL. There is no such thing as a private hunt, and there are very few "public" guide services. Major hunt clubs lease (if not own) all the land. A membership can cost more than 15K, if you are lucky enough to get in.

You can see the glass half full, or half empty. True, it's increasingly difficult to freelance. But it can still be done - I have personally been able to freelance several locations around Roch this season with a knock on the door, and I know others who have done the same. Guide services or no guide services, people are paying money to hunt fields. The guide services contribute to that, but so are private parties.

[smalls]

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I would beg to differ... I know most of the guides in the Rochester area. I can truthfully tell you $ is not the primary drive for most. There may be one or two guides that make all or most of their living by guiding. The rest of them just really love to hunt geese. Yes, they do put a few bucks in their pockets. But they are not getting rich by any means. They put a lot of the money back into the business, buying decoys, building pits, paying insurance, etc. What is gained beyond a little cash in the pocket? Being able to hunt the best locations with the best equipment, and sharing the experience with both clients and friends. It's like a hobby that supports itself.

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And in doing so they exclude many many sportsmen. Plus, if they are guiding then they shouldn't be "hunting" anyway. Before you try and tell me that $$$ isn't their driver let me put my hip boots on so my pants don't get stinky.

[MattKeller]

Someone post up from Nodak. Especially around Devils Lake. How has guides affected your freelance hunting? Lot more posted signs right?

I'm not saying guiding is wrong. I do it myself but in a totally different manner. I just don't like how all this land is now leased out to the wealthy. It's not healthy for waterfowling.

[Dan Thiem]

It's not hust waterfowling that lease land has it's grips on. It's everything. Alot of landowners are finding out that they can charge money to let people on their land to hunt. They have been paying taxes on the land forever and now they see a way for the cash to help them out.

[lawdog]

And why wouldn't they? If I can do something for someone for free or the next guy wants to pay me a lot of money to do the same thing for them, it would be dumb not to take the guy's money. I guess that leaves us where then? The fault seems to be with the hunters and the guides who've brought business and profiteering into hunting!

[Kicker]

So the guide services have their set fields that they lease up. they take clients out there and they offer great hunts to these people who may be from out of town or out of state. something that they probably couldn't do on their own. You're telling me that if these guide services didn't have these fields leased up some other private hunting group wouldn't jump all over the opportunity to have some of these fields to themselves? I would bet my truck that i could hop in it right now, drive out of rochester 5-10 minutes and find a field to hunt and gain permission for it.

the worst part about guiding is that you have to have your pitted fields where the "blue jean wearing" clients can stay warm. they don't want to sit in layout blinds to shoot their geese.

be mobile, ask permission and shoot your birds. quit complaining about guide services. if you guys would take the time spent copying and pasting what other people write on here and forming your own complaints about what each person says and spend that time getting permission you'd probably have pretty good success. It feels pretty good when you do it yourself and shoot more birds than the biggest guides in rochester. give it a try!!

Kicker

[smalls]

Kicker, I have to imagine that "copy and paste" remark was aimed at me, fairly so. I don't quite understand your message as it seems a little contradictory. So I will explain.

Would a private group lease the land if a guide didn't? Unforunately, your probably right. I don't like that either, private clubs are no better than guides (my biggest gripe isn't with guiding, but rather the leasing of land). Don't worry, I spend plenty of time scouting and knocking on doors. I am taking half the day Friday off so I can drive 1 1/2 hours to a place that may or may not have birds. I can also guarantee that our crew does better than most guiding services.

Where I disagree with you is that someone isn't capable of showing up from another area and having success. If you know what your doing and you do the slightest bit of scouting, there is no reason anyone can't have success, even if they aren't from the area.

We see the guiding pinch here in Nodak. I grew up about 60 miles from Devils Lake, and although it is possible to find land to hunt on without paying access, it is a friggin clown show to try and hunt it. The quality of hunting in Nodak is going down the tubes and the sole reason for that is the outrageous leasing of land. I don't fault the landowner because what are they supposed to do when someone throws money (sometimes ALOT of money) at them. I don't think alot of sportsmen realize the consequences of their actions on our sport as a whole when they participate in leasing. If guys only realized that they DON'T often have to lease land to find a spot, then hunting in MN, ND would be that much better for everyone.

And showing up in the morning, handing a guy a couple of benjamins in your blue jeans to sit in a heated blind...that's not hunting, that's shooting. Hunting involves scouting, it involves outsmarting your quarry, it involves cleaning your game after the hunt.