Posted: 11/15/2025 5:47:19 PM EDT
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My wife and I are considering an Ohio trip next fall for a guided or semi-guided whitetail hunt. We are both very casual hunters, we have a small farm that we hunt our back pasture, and have permission to hunt a larger property a few miles away. We use either tree stands or ground blinds and are fair weather hunters for the most part. I take my oldest son out with me when I can. We don't scout in the off season, use food plots, track and name certain deer we see, etc. We hunt for food, not trophies and between the 2 of us, we usually prefer does. We both get guaranteed 2 doe tags each, plus a buck tag each. We use the meat for our family as well as for raw dog food. I've just started dipping my toes into looking at outfitters and one thing has me puzzled and a little worried. They all have a rule of some sort about shooting a certain "score" of a buck, and if you shoot something smaller, they fine you thousands of dollars in some cases. I completely understand the rule and why they do it and have no problem with it. I have no idea how to score a buck nor would I be able to tell, especially at distance, a 110 scored deer from a 150+ scored deer. Do these outfitters give you information on how to tell? If it's a guided hunt, will they give you a "go/no go" on a certain deer? I don't want to spend the kind of money these places charge and have to worry about something like that, especially since its a hunt, not a guarantee of a nice buck. Obviously, as I get more into researching outfitters, I'll be asking these questions to them directly but as its mid season, most are not answering emails and are busy with this years season. |
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I do not know, but I would think that is a conversation to have with the outfitter. To me, a guided hunt says the guide is with you, and tells you what to shoot or not shoot - it's on him and if you can follow a direction. semi guided ? They may set you in a stand and you make the call - then they need to educate you well in advance I think. (I have a nephew who has done some hunting with an outfitter, I will ask him.) |
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I've done 5 semi-guided whitetail hunts. 3 in Saskatchewan, 1 in SD, and one in IL. All had different levels of guide input/interaction. Saskatchewan was getting dropped off at a blind before light and picking you up after dark. There were size restrictions on one of those SK hunts and the guides gave everyone a brief lesson using shed antlers on what it takes to make the 150" class. It was up to you to make the judgement call in the field. If 150" is the goal then the buck generally needs the following to get there: long main beams that are out near the nose, 10 points, decent mass (the deers eye is roughly 1" diameter and can be used as a gauge for mass), and long tines mean more than spread. a judge for antler length is the deers ear at 8" tall. If 130" class is the goal an 8pt frame can get you there fairly easily, but a 10 point frame is safer. One thing that the SK guide said when being asked how can you tell if a buck is 150" he replied "you don't have to do math to know a buck goes 150. You just know because he looks so different than the 130's". I've found that to be true. Some outfitters are lenient on the fine for an undersized buck and some aren't. Most won't be making you breakout the checkbook if you're off by just a couple inches, though some will. Best to sort that all out ahead of time. Fully guided (to me anyway) is when the guide is with you the entire time you're hunting. Less common in blind hunting whitetails, though not necessarily unheard of. My SD hunt I had a tag that was good for either a muely or whitetail and I chose to focus on mule deer at 1st. That was strange "hunting" as all we really did was get in the guides truck and drive around glassing. You'll also want to talk about field dressing, butchering, and caping as well. Feel free to @me if you have more questions. Good luck! |
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| I hunted with an outfitter in IL that had a $1000 penalty for shooting less than a 150. I let several bucks walk that might have been 150+ just because of that penalty. Generally most 8 point bucks will be less than 150 unless they have very long tines with a ton of mass. Even a 10 point can fall short if the tines are short, spread is narrow and lacking mass. A 10 with more than 16" spread (wider than the ears by a good bit), good tine length with the main beam projecting to near the nose from a side view, and mass at the base close to at least 1.5 or 2x the diameter of the eyes is about the baseline for 150". |
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