if you've never gone on one of those hunts, knocking them seems out of line.
How many deer hunters wish they could shoot a 150 class or better deer? darn few would say i would rather shoot a spike and if they do its sour grapes speaking. well if your goal is 150 or better you got 2 choices; grow one yourself or pay to go where they have been managed. there is a lot more to it than just taking your money and sitting you in a tree.
land leases in areas that can grow those type deer are going for $50+ an acre and most of the lease isn't even huntable. figure 10000 acre of lease to make the math easy, thats a half a million a year. year in and year out if the landowners doesn't dump you for a higher offer. then there is advertising, housing for the client, food for the client, food plots and all that goes with that, insurance, guides to pay, cooks to pay, plus things i'm sure i'm can't thing of. so is $2700 for a true shot at a buck of a life time a lot of money??????? thats for each hunter to decide, but i don't think its a lot.
the outfitters are doing the work it takes to produce such animals where the average joe isn't willing to curb that urge to shoot the little/young ones, manage to what their areas needs are, so they too can have a real chance at the big one if everything is there to make it happen.
now it sounds like i'm all for these guided hunts and i am but its not as simple as being for or against. I've payed the coin to hunt HUGES bucks, IN ILLINOIS. it took about 4 years of planning to make it happen and its for sure not something i can do every year, not even close. was it what i thought it would be? yes and no. First i couldn't help notice that i was no longer a hunter, that had all been done by the outfitter, but i was more of a shooter. that sucked. But i was in the HUGE buck capital of the lower 48 and had a for real chance of a whopper. in fact i passed on a 140 class 3.5 year old because it wasn't much of a reach for better.
This is a discussion that has been hashed and rehashed, and written about, here and is probably good that the truth about the reasons we go on these hunts, shoot the deer we shoot, hate what we don't know, and conversely like what we don't know, and hunt period.
each of us has a goal in hunting, or we should, and that goal is different for everyone and can even change in a single hunter depending on circumstances. all are real and valid and shouldn't be belittled by a brother/sister hunter. Some people are willing to spend big money, they should or should not spend, to hunt big old smart bucks. Some people will uproot their families and move to areas that are more suited for their passions. some people are more willing to sit there and just take what they are given as opposed to making it happen. either way its all good.