What does "DIY" mean to you?

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I'm just curious what you consider to be "do it yourself"? Is it anything other than a guided hunt?

I ask because I read threads here and elsewhere where people talk about their "DIY" hunts and they have a team of guys on the mountain with them helping them out which doesn't bother me at all but I find it odd to refer to that as a DIY hunt. Its interesting when I see people talking about how a "DIY" hunt means more to them than a "guided" hunt ever could then you find out that they had everybody they knew helping them and in many instances they had more guys than a guy with a single guide would have had helping them.

I just look at the tools that are available and the ease at which information is obtained these days and it almost seems hypocritical when I see some people chastise those that use guides while touting the purity of DIY. Don't get me wrong, I admire the guys that put in the hours researching and scouting their areas and go hunt their tails off, with buddies or without. I am just curious why a lot of "DIY" guys talk about how a forked horn means more to them than a 180" buck would mean to a guided hunter when in a lot of instances they don't really go on DIY hunts.

To me a "Do it Yourself" hunt means that you were by yourself when you did it. I'm curious to hear your thoughts

Drummond
 

littlebuf

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to me it means exactly that. doing it your self. scouting your self, training your self and hunting over the counter tags. but not ever having hunted any other way this is just my definition, I see nothing wrong with guided hunts. so far they just have never appealed to me. id feel funny having some guy tell me where to go or follow him a round waiting for him to tell me to shoot. maybe with the right guide id be cool.
 

weaver

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If everyone with me is hunting i consider it DIY. If i go on a sheep hunt and have a dozen guys helping me find a ram i dont consider it DIY. Jmo
 
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Not paying for any info or access
Renting llamas, pack goats or horses I would consider still DIY. Paying for a drop camp or having someone else pack camp or animals out I wouldn't consider DIY.
If a guy gets lucky with some info from some locals or previous tag holders good for him and still 'DIY' to me.
These are just my opinions and really no rhyme or reason to them. Just what I envision DIY.

Either way I don't begrudge others for going guided or paying for services, whatever your budget and conscious allows as long as it's legal.

Mike
 

Ross

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A little of bit of each reply and a good topic for discussion.

You scout it and find it, you don't pay for a service/guide service to find the animal.
You then take care of it yourself, on your back, rented horses or llamas, but you get it out of the mountains.
You can have a special tag or draw, but you put forth the effort in harvesting and scouting your animal.
You can and do hunt with others, but the others are hunting as well, not scouting for you.

Just my personal opinion.........
 
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Would you guys consider drawing a OIL sheep tag and having 1-2 friends hunting with you DIY? Notice I said friends...
 
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To me, it's not paying for information for your hunt, and not walking around the mountain with someone else who you are paying to be there.

Personally, I don't care if people use the DIY tag and have 12 people with them. They must have some real good buddies to get people to go into sheep country and help them scout for free. And the term is so subjective trying to nail it down to a certain set of criteria is just April doldrums 140 days from elk season talk.
 

Matt Cashell

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To me a "Do it Yourself" hunt means that you were by yourself when you did it.

I disagree.

DIY means you did it without a guide walking along with you, pointing to a critter, telling you its legal, and telling you where to aim.

The "Y" means you and your hunting buddies.

I have no problem with guides or people that hire them, but it isn't something I would choose to do if I had the choice.

I would certainly hire a guide though if it was required by law to hunt the species in that area.
 

ckleeves

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Would you guys consider drawing a OIL sheep tag and having 1-2 friends hunting with you DIY? Notice I said friends...

I would for sure. Same goes for deer and elk hunts even if they are just OTC tags IMO. I would say I like DIWHB ( do it with hunting buddies) hunting but that doesn't sound very good?
 

Shrek

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To me it's a hunt that you plan and execute . I find hiring someone to guide me to an animal is just shooting. I'm not a purest so hiring a packer to pack out the meat or drop supplies doesn't bother me a bit. Paying for land access or being bird dogged into an area by someone giving knowledge freely I am comfortable with and appreciate. Hunting with friends when all are hunting is team diy but getting 3 friends to go spot for you is dangerously close to not diy. For me it is the mental strain of the actual hunt that counts. I want to do as much as is practical myself but there are age , time , access limitations that demand accommodation. For those who live in the west with huge areas of public land the not paying for access makes sense but if you come east to hunt you will have to get over your aversion to paying for access.
 

Beastmode

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If I built the 12 foot high fence and put the corn in the game feeder all by myself does it count as DIY? I mean I did all the work by myself right? :D
 

littlebuf

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I would certainly hire a guide though if it was required by law to hunt the species in that area.


like the Yukon. again in the right scenario I think it can still be gratifying. one day ill hunt the Yukon, and that will probably be my first guided experience. still I wont be looking for any hand holding, just a guy to go a long and help glass. interesting topic
 

mtnwrunner

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DIY??? DO IT YOURSELF. Seems pretty simple to ME. Now throw in about a gazillion other opinions and that's what you'll get.

Randy
 

Manosteel

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I have nothing against guided hunts; I have family in the North that make a living guiding people. However there is a big difference between a guided hunt and a DIY hunt. A typical guided hunt involves little research past selecting the area you want to hunt and finding a reputable guide. The guide does 80% of the hunting for you, which is scouting, finding and setting up camp, ensuring a good water source, determine how to hunt (spot n stalk or call etc), finding the animals while actually hunting, and taking care of the animals after the kill. There are exceptions but mostly the “Hunter” follows, listens to his guide on how to stalk and relies on them to make the critical decisions on the final stalk, and shoots when told.

DIY hunts, involves doing it your self be it with friends you are hunting with or solo. You and/or your hunting partner find an area to hunt, scouting yourself, training yourself, find a camping spot yourself, prepare the camp yourself, find water source yourself, find the animals yourself, determine how to hunt yourself (spot n stalk or call etc) decide how actual stalk or harvest the animal at the critical time and you take care of what you harvest yourself.

Above all in a guided hunt you have the option to blame the guide on the outcome of the hunt, in a DIY hunt there is no one to blame but YOURSELF!

It doesn’t matter if you hunt solo or in a group, as long as you are all hunting the above applies IMO
 

Manosteel

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And i want to hunt Alaska sometime in the next couple of years and I will have to hire a guide to do it and I am fine doing that, mainly becuase I have to according to the regs but also becuase scouting trips would be tad bit expensive :)
 

2rocky

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First there is a difference between doing it "Solo" and Yourself.... Many a DIY homeowner had someone teach them on their project, and help them fix their screwups. DIY means you are responsible for your success and your failures. Again the home builder analogy : Hiring an Architect and Engineer, doesn't make the house you built any less of an accomplishment. Now a good and humble person will acknowledge the people who helped him or her along the way.

I don't see the point in being hung up on a label, unless you have something to prove. And if you have something to prove....then maybe hunting isn't the way you need to prove it.
 

Ethan S.

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If I was going to get technical about this I would say DIY means that you did everything yourself, received no information or any help from anyone. I would be surprised to find someone that has done a hunt that meets those requirements. I think most of the time we all get some sort of help along the way from others.

I think DIY in the hunting world was originally for hunts where a paid guide was not used, and that is how I consider a hunt to be DIY or not. I do think it is a term that is way over-used though.
 

Slim Jim

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First there is a difference between doing it "Solo" and Yourself.... Many a DIY homeowner had someone teach them on their project, and help them fix their screwups. DIY means you are responsible for your success and your failures. Again the home builder analogy : Hiring an Architect and Engineer, doesn't make the house you built any less of an accomplishment. Now a good and humble person will acknowledge the people who helped him or her along the way.

I don't see the point in being hung up on a label, unless you have something to prove. And if you have something to prove....then maybe hunting isn't the way you need to prove it.

Great analogy and agreed!
 

TRIPLE

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This is a "grey area" topic. Personally, if the the tag holder (OTC or draw unit) isn't forking out dough for services, and is in a position he/she can LEAD their friend(s) to increase his/her hunting goals (whether trophy size or purely harvest) then they are DIY. The importance, to me, is that the tag holder is using their resources to still be in control of their hunt....not just shirt tailing.
 

Shrek

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If I built the 12 foot high fence and put the corn in the game feeder all by myself does it count as DIY? I mean I did all the work by myself right? :D

The 12' fence isn't really hunting in my book unless the fenced in area is five or more times the home range area of the type of animal you are hunting. Even then it's quasi hunting. As for a feeder , if you are hunting in the deep south the yes it is and so are the food plots and mineral supplements. Down here much of the challenge is competing with your neighbors to hold deer and get them to maximum size. I can tell you that in 30+ years of hunting this way I have never shot a quality deer at a feeder or in the plot. I have shot them in the areas as they checked for does . I have shot them standing in some corn but they were there for does and not food. If you were to fly over Georgia , Alabama , South Carolina and Florida where I hunt you would see thousands of food plots and feeders and realize that it is just part of the environment and the absence of feeders and food plots is just an area of low food availability and corresponding low animal density.
 
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