How to choose an Illinois deer outfitter.

Why the price on the website is not the price

The first thing to establish is what a week actually costs, all in. A hunt advertised at $2,500 can land anywhere between $2,500 and $5,000 once lodging, meals, a nonresident permit, a trophy fee and a tip are added. Ask for the total, in writing, before you compare two outfitters against each other. If lodging and meals are not included, add roughly $150 a day to their number before you do the comparison.

For reference, every hunt on our board includes lodging in the lodge and meals cooked there, and the prices are published rather than quoted on a call.

How many hunters share the ground in a week?

Acreage on its own is a vanity number. Eight thousand acres hunted by six people is a completely different product from eight thousand acres hunted by twenty five. Ask for hunters per week, not acres, and then divide.

Ask a follow up too: how many stands does the operation have, and how often is each one rested? An outfit that hunts every stand every day is burning its own ground by Wednesday.

Has my guide hunted this specific farm this season?

This is the question that sorts guided hunting from stand rental. A guide who has been running cameras on a farm since July knows which setup is right on a north west wind in the second week of November. A guide handed a map on Monday does not, and no amount of acreage fixes that.

What happens if the wind is wrong?

The honest answer is that you get moved. If an outfitter tells you every stand hunts on every wind, they are either not paying attention or not telling you the truth. Ask what their process is when a forecast turns, and listen for whether the answer involves moving you or involves hoping.

Do you charge trophy fees or have antler minimums?

There is no single right answer here, but there is a right way to find out: ask directly, get the number, and get it before you book rather than after you have shot something. Some outfitters run minimums to protect young deer, which is defensible. Some run trophy fees that add thousands to an advertised price, which is a different thing entirely.

What is your success rate, and how do you define it?

Treat any success rate quoted without a definition as marketing. Opportunity rate, shot opportunity, deer killed and "hunters who saw a shooter" are four different numbers and outfitters quote whichever is highest. Ask which one they mean, and ask what the number was last season rather than an all time figure.

Where do I actually sleep and eat?

Read the reviews on this one specifically rather than the website. It is the part of a hunt that occupies the most hours and it is the part hunters write about afterwards. Of our own twenty six Google reviews, ten mention the lodge by name.

Who handles my permit?

You do, and any outfitter claiming otherwise is worth a second look. What a good outfit will do is tell you exactly which permit you need and remind you before the deadline. Illinois nonresident deadlines land months before the season, and the combination archery lottery closes on June 30. There is a full breakdown on our permit guide, and the fees themselves come from the Illinois DNR.

What is your deposit and cancellation policy?

Get it before you send money. Ask specifically what happens if you cancel, if they cancel, and if weather makes the hunt unhuntable. The answer does not have to be generous, it has to be clear and given up front.

Can I talk to a hunter who booked last season?

A confident outfitter will hand you a phone number. If the answer is a wall of testimonials with no last names and no way to verify them, that is information too.

How is my animal handled after the shot?

Field dressing, cooling and processing are not glamorous questions and they are where a trip goes wrong. Ask whether the guide dresses it, whether there is a cooler or an ice machine on site, and who they use locally for processing and taxidermy.

Are you licensed, and can I see it?

Outfitter and guide licensing in Illinois is administered by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. You are entitled to ask, and it is a fair question to put to anybody taking a four figure deposit.

The one question nobody asks

Ask what happens if you want to pass on a deer. A good outfit will tell you it is your tag and your call. An outfit under pressure to book a success rate will push you to shoot, and you will feel it on day three when a guide starts talking about how the week is going.