Finding a good pheasant hunting guide can be a way to create a memorable pheasant hunting experience. The Internet abounds with information on numerous outfitters, which offer professional guides as part of their pheasant hunting packages. Each hunting area offers different types of guide services. A pheasant hunting guide is usually native to the area and knows the terrain very well, as well as the climate conditions and local quirks of the landscape and weather. A pheasant hunting guide can offer a personalized tour of the land and is able to answer questions about the habitat, bird behavior and also provide tips to improve hunting success. When enlisting the help of a guide it is advisable to obtain references to ensure their honesty and capabilities.
For hunters wanting the aid of a professional pheasant hunting guide, guides can be part of a package deal including lodging, home cooked meals, air and ground transportation, bird dogs, cleaning of birds, shotgun shells and licenses. Numerous businesses offer customized service in all areas of the country to visiting hunters; information can be found online, and packages can be customized to the customer’s requirements. Providing hunting services has become a thriving business for many landowners and entrepreneurs, giving a much-needed boost to struggling local economies while helping boost conservation efforts to benefit wildlife.
Usually, hunts accompanied by a pheasant hunting guide are limited as to the number of hunters in the group. Often the guide will take two hunters, but some guides will allow three if the hunters are safety conscious and have skill with guns, while having the expertise of being comfortable handling them. If the hunters are paying for the number of birds released rather than for each person, some hunters may prefer to hunt alone with the guide. If the hunters have not brought their own dogs, the dogs provided in the hunting package will be managed by the pheasant hunting guide.
For hunters who would rather not hunt with a pheasant hunting guide, but would like the other services provided by hunting packages, self-guided hunts are also available. In North and South Dakota, a system has been developed by hunting businesses to provide lodging and large tracts of excellent hunting habitat, at an affordable fee for self-guided hunters. The arrangement with the landowners providing the hunting areas enables them to use conservation measures on their land that they might not have been able to afford before receiving the funds provided by the hunters. Landowners are now financially able to leave fields with crops that provide winter survival vegetation for the pheasants, and a portion of the farmland can be planted and maintained for the benefit of wildlife to ensure future hunting of quality and quantity.