Guiding public yes or no??

[Stick-Launcher]

I have a feeling that if he is local to the area he can give you a much better shot at getting on deer than you showing up and hunting blind. I mean if you are going to all the trouble and expense of going to Kansas why not spend the $400 dollars. You will quickly know if he was worth it or not... Also, it will give you an opportunity to get to know the area for the next year.

Honestly, it is a calculated risk but I would definitely pay the $400 dollars. At least it gives you a place to start...

[gonehuntin68]

I think it's worth it if the guide does his homework. The best example I can give is when I lived and hunted in California. My buddies and I over a 20+ year period had about a 99% success rate on public land bow hunting killing two bucks each year because we knew the public land very well since we grew up there and always had buddies that still lived there and hunted even after some of us moved away. The success rate for bow hunters in CA was only 8% to kill one buck and that was public and private combined. I think it's safe to say if we would have had people pay us $400 to guide them it would have been more then worth it for them but we were not into guiding people. We knew of public spots to hunt that most didn't know were public so we were the only ones hunting those spots. Also even if you don't kill this year, you can always go back later without paying for the guide if you feel it's worth it to go back.