berryb, I’ve been told the same thing, regarding how much outfitters make. ie; not much per hunter. This came from a person I know well, that is not an outfitter but works in the hunting industry and while he’s not employeed by any outfitters, he spends hundreds of hours interacting with a lot of different owners of outfitting businesses.
One day we were on a trip together and he was telling me about an outfitter that amongst other hunts, sold over 150 cow elk tags per year. I was impressed. I said, wow, that’s a lot of money at $1,600 a pop. He laughed. “Not really”, he said
I said, “well, I know he doesn’t pocket the entire amount, how much does he net, off a cow elk tag “.
He broke down the costs, there were far more expenses than I expected, especially the fees paid by the outfitter to the government besides the typical business operating expenses and fixed costs. I wish I could accurately recall what that break down was, but it left very little, $150-$200 per hunter, barring any unforeseen, unexpected costs as I recall.
That’s not a lot per hunter. A lot of folks get a chunk of those high cost elk tags, not just the outfitter.
I know how much I want to get paid, per day, and so does the guy doing body shop repairs, the guy that repairs my fridge, the guy that fixes my teeth, the guy that rents me his aluminum boat, the guy who remodels my house, the guy who sells me a Big Mac, and on and on. The reality is, everything is expensive, outfitter fees are no exception.
My son took his wife skiing this weekend. Lift pass we’re $180 each. Golf green fees in Baniff, Alberta are up $299.00. Both locations are top of the line resorts, I grant you that but apparently Deseret’s hunts are of similar high end quality.
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You can ski for less and you can golf for less but you dang sure can’t ski or golf cheap, no matter where you go.
berryB, your apparently in the outfitting business, would you be interested in breaking down the costs to someone like you, that is selling Utah elk hunts.m? Might be a surprisingly revealing reality.