One of the hardest aspects of planning a hunting trip is just knowing where to begin. From coordinating travel logistics to finding a reputable outfitter, planning a hunt can become a tremendous headache and a costly mistake if you book a poor-quality outfitter or the trip does not live up to your expectations. It is for these reasons that hunting consultants can be a tremendous resource for any prospective hunter to consider as their depth of knowledge when it comes to recommending reputable outfitters, assisting in coordinating travel logistics, and providing you with the best pricing and opportunities on the market to ensure that your next hunt is one to remember. In this article, we shall delve into the work of hunting consultants and how they could be a valuable resource for you to utilize on your next hunting adventure.

What is a Hunting Consultant?

Hunting consultants, at their core, are outdoor professionals who specialize in helping and assisting clients in planning and booking their hunting, fishing, and outdoor adventures. Here at Shoshone, each one of our hunting consultants are specialized in different species of game, forms of hunting, and hunting locations in order to ensure that clients are getting the best, most informed information when it comes to the hunt that they desire to pursue. With every Shoshone hunt, both domestically and internationally, we have a Shoshone consultant that is thoroughly informed on the outfitter, the hunted game species, as well as the licensing and permitting rules and regulations of the hunting area to ensure that clients are not only educated on the full details of the hunt, but to further ensure that every Shoshone client is booking a trip with a vetted, reputable operation that will meet the client’s expectations on the hunt. As hunting consultants, we are all dedicated to providing clients with experiences that we, ourselves, would thoroughly enjoy and hold ourselves to a high standard when it comes to finding the best outfitters and operations to connect clients with.

The Benefits of Working with a Hunting Consultant

There are a tremendous number of benefits when it comes to using a hunting consultant for coordinating and booking your next hunt. To start off, the first and foremost benefit is ensuring that you are going to a reputable outfitter and operation. Of course, hunting is called “hunting” and not “killing” because you are not always going to be successful on your hunt. With any hunt you choose to go on, we will always work to ensure that you are going to operations with the highest opportunity and harvest success rate possible. Full transparency when it comes to opportunity rate, harvest rate, and trophy size expectations are core values of all Shoshone consultants and when you work with us, we work to ensure that you are accurately informed on the expectations of the hunt. Transparency with hunts does not just end at the expectations of the game you will be pursuing, financial transparency is another benefit of working with a hunting consultant as we are able to outline all possible costs to your hunt and detail what is included and not included in the pricing of any operation. This aspect of our service allows hunters to have a full understanding of what to expect in terms of costs on their hunt so that they are not hit with unexpected charges and fees upon arriving at their hunting destination. Another core benefit of working with a hunting consultant is coordinating logistics. One of the biggest headaches for any travel trip is figuring out how to get there and when to get there. Both domestic and international hunting trips are, oftentimes, in remote, hard-to-reach corners of the earth and figuring out how to get there can be a tall task. That is where we come in, hunting consultants work with outfitters to understand where their hunting operation is located and consult with them on how best to get clients to their operations. Some operations are easier to get to than others, but nonetheless we strive to provide clients with the most streamline and cost-effective means of getting to any hunt around the globe.Beyond just logistics, hunting consultants also provide the benefit of streamlining payments and fees with outfitters and operations. One of the biggest hesitations clients have with pursuing international hunts is figuring out how to pay the outfitter and coordinate wire transfers. Furthermore, when it comes to African safaris and added trophy fees, coordinating payments with the safari operations after the hunt can be a tremendous, time intensive pain. By working with Shoshone hunting consultants, we are able to make this process as simple as possible by handling all financial payments and fees for clients so that they aren’t worrying about payments while on their hunt, but rather the game they are pursuing. Finally, one of the best added benefits of working with a hunting consultant is getting the best prices and deals on dream hunts you have had on your bucket list. Here at Shoshone, we work with hundreds of outfitters around the world and are constantly receiving up-to-date hunt pricing, discount hunts, and cancellation hunts that can provide clients with unique opportunities to go on hunts that would normally be outside their price range. Every week, Shoshone releases the best hunting, fishing, and adventure trips to our clients via our North America and International newsletters. These newsletters are packed with the best deals and trips on the market and provide our customers with weekly chances to book the hunt of their dreams at an exceptional price.

The Qualities to Look for in a Hunting Consultant

When it comes to identifying qualities of a successful and reputable hunting consultant, it can be boiled down to knowledge and integrity. As hunting consultants, our job is to be as informed as possible when it comes to the hunts that we represent and book. It is a disservice to our clients and to our outfitters to not be constantly educating ourselves on the hunts that we offer and the game, location, and outfitter that are associated with each hunt. Of course, hunting consultants are humans too and sometimes we are missing details on a hunt or don’t know the exact information off the top of our heads, but we will always work to find the missing answer or information that our clients seek and communicate the information to them as soon as possible. Knowledge, in this regard, isn’t just measured by what the consultant knows, but rather, how hard they work to continue to educate themselves and search for the answers they do not know in order to provide you with the most informed, up to date information possible. This leads me into my next point of integrity. A hunting consultant that works to just make an extra commission or to just sell a hunt without conducting the proper due diligence is one that you simply do not want to work with. Hunting consultants should be motivated not on just selling as many hunts as possible, but rather ensuring that they are providing the client with a quality hunt that they truly desire and one that has been vetted to the best of their abilities. At Shoshone we simply do not sell hunts, our only goal is to find the client the trip they are looking for. If we don’t have what the client is looking for we communicate that to them immediately. For many clients, they are putting forth a large sum of their hard-earned money towards an experience or a dream they’ve spent years planning for. This is a tremendous responsibility that we fully embrace as we want every client to have the peace of mind that their hard-earned money is not going to waste and that their dream can finally become a reality.

What are the best practices when working with a hunting consultant?

Now, you may be wondering, “Why would they be writing a segment about how to best work with a hunting consultant?” The answer to this question is quite simple, hunting consultants can only help you find and create the best hunt possible depending on how much information and transparency you provide us as clients. As hunting consultants, there are a lot of factors that go into a successful hunt. We work with clients from all walks of life with different hunting backgrounds, expectations, and desires when it comes to booking their next adventure. Certain hunts have certain demands on the hunter that if not taken seriously or not taken into consideration can pose great risk to the hunter or cause their experience to not live up to their expectations. A great example of this that arises quite often is physical fitness. Now, we have hunts available for almost every species imaginable that can be customized and catered to anyone young, old, fit, unfit, you name it. This being said, the reality is that some hunts are quite physically demanding, even for the most physically fit individuals, and for clients they must understand that when they book hunts in the mountains or in the most remote ends of the Earth, they must do their part to prepare themselves for this trip or notify us in advance that they might not be able to perform the tasks required for the trip, from which we will find other available options. This ultimately alludes to a greater point, which is to be completely transparent with your hunting consultant about all details in regard to the capability of a hunt. Furthermore, don’t be afraid to ask questions, and honestly, feel free to ask too many questions as your hunting consultant rather have you ask too many questions instead of none at all. The next key to success when it comes to working with hunting consultants is don’t be afraid to voice your financial parameters and hunt expectations up front. As consultants we want to find the best hunt for you and don’t want to waste your time recommending and finding options that you don’t want to pursue. By providing us with parameters whether that’s how much you want to spend or what accommodations you want helps us narrow down our search for the best hunts available. Now, if you don’t necessarily know what you want, that is okay! We are always more than happy to help you figure out the best hunt or trip for you, but if you have some rough parameters that we can work with off the bat that is always a good way to prevent wasted time on your end and the consultant’s end. Finally, the last and honestly one of the best pieces of advice I wish I knew prior to becoming a hunting consultant is knowing that the more time the better when it comes to booking a hunt. Now, I understand that some hunters really like targeting discount hunts and cancellation hunts for the better pricing and lower rates, but when it comes to booking your dream hunt it really does pay to plan your hunt, at minimum, six months to a year in advance. I say this because the earlier you start to plan a hunt the more options you have when it comes to operations and hunt options. Some of the best hunting operations in the world are booked 2, 3, even 4 years in advance and if you are looking to do that once in a lifetime hunt for a dream game animal, don’t subject yourself to booking last minute options if you can. I always recommend providing your hunting consultant more time as that allows them to find more options for you that will then result in a higher likelihood of you finding the perfect hunt.

Final Thoughts

If you have made it to the end of this article, I commend you. This is a long list of details and information that I believe is valuable insights to the world of hunting consultants and the greater hunting industry that few take the time to explain to this level of detail with this level of honesty. I could provide you with a litany of reasons to use a hunting consultant and why they are so valuable to use for your trip, but the fact of the matter is, the best reason to use consultant services is that hunting consultants are hunters too. We get it, we feel the same rush of adrenaline when pulling the bow back on a trophy elk as you do. We share the same passion for harvesting that trophy ram or walking up on a Boone & Crockett mule deer that you do. We are hunters that strive to share the same success and enjoyment that we have been fortunate enough to experience with each of our clients. All of Shoshone’s hunting consultants were once outfitters or guides and view each one of our clients as though they are hunting with us. We want to deliver the same level experiences that we expect out of our own hunts and that passion transcends through the hours we put in and the nights we spend calling and connecting with outfitters to make your dream a reality. This passion for the outdoors and the joy that these adventures can provide an individual is why we do the work that we do. It is for this reason paired with the assurance that you will be embarking on a high-quality hunt at a great price that utilizing hunting consultant services is a choice you won’t regret making.

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