Here is what wing shooting guides say they appreciate

– Also published in Woods-N-Water News, January 2025

Your dream destination bird hunt took place.

The birds were flying, the guide was cool, the dogs were top notch. How can those pointing dogs freeze muscles, bone and sinew and halt so awe-inspiring quickly from such a scorching pace?

Even though this was your hunt, bought and paid for, part of you wanted to impress the professional guide – so he could relax and enjoy the outing as if he were out with a buddy.

You’d like to return. Is it safe to assume that the outfitter would happily welcome you back as a guest? It’s human nature to wonder if our guides had a good time hunting with us.

Bird Country Resorts, an online resource to help outfitters and clients connect, surveyed outfitters to find out what they consider a dream client and received 13 responses.

That survey asked six questions: what shotgun discipline they would recommend, if any, for their clients; what level of experience they prefer their clients to have; what demographic they prefer to host; what type of upland game bird they hunt; the one piece of equipment they’d prefer their clients to leave at home; and are their clients physically fit enough for their type of hunting?

Seven of the responding outfitters provide services for hunters pursuing farmland gamebirds such as pheasants and bobwhite quail, three for desert/mountain gamebirds, such as scaled quail and chukar, two for woodland gamebirds, such as ruffed grouse and woodcock, and one for hunters after prairie birds, such as sharp-tailed grouse, and Hungarian partridge.

Most of the outfitters said most of their clients are physically fit enough for their kind of hunting, with 8 yes responses vs 4 for no.

The question “Before joining me for a hunt, I’d recommend my clients practice with their shotguns” had these answer choices: “at a skeet range”; “at a trap range”; “at a sporting clays course”; “anywhere, just do some practicing already”; “with a professional instructor”; “their shooting is pretty good already.”

The majority of outfitters – seven – recommend you practice at a sporting clays course. The next highest recommendation was “anywhere, just do some practicing already,” with five responses. “At the trap range” came in third with two responses. “At the skeet range” and “with a professional instructor” were tied with one response apiece.

The choices about experience level the outfitter prefers their guest have were: “no experience”, “minimum experience”, “intermediate experience”, and “years and years of experience.”

The number one choice – with nine responses – was “intermediate experience.” “Years and years of experience” came in second with three responses, the only other choice to receive any “votes.”

For demographics, “family groups, including offspring” came out on top with seven choosing that option. Tied for second with two responses each were “combination of unrelated men and women” and “men.” One outfitter answered “women” as their preferred demographic to host. No outfitters selected “husbands with wives, no children.”

Eight outfitters filled in the blank about “the one piece of equipment I would tell all clients to leave at home is. . .” They replied: New boots, extra weight or young children,” untrained dogs, their pride, backpack, dumb Bob, and their ego.

When discussing dream clients, safety is a high priority for guides.

“Safety is the main thing,” said Albert C. Cravey, owner of Wildcat Creek Hunting Lodge in southeast Alabama. “We spend a lot of time on safety and go over aspects of what to expect in the field and to only shoot at birds 6 feet high, for example. I want to be sure they don’t shoot me or a dog.”

On that subject, Cary Jellison with G & J Outdoors, who guides chukar and quail hunters in Nevada and California, has his clients sign a statement agreeing to pay $10,000 if they shoot one of his prized birddogs.

While most of the outfitters responded in the Dream Client survey that physical fitness was not an issue with clients, Dennis Stachewicz, owner of Aspen Thicket Grouse Dogs in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula brings up another aspect of fatigue that can wear on upland bird hunters.

“Mental fatigue takes a toll,” said Stachewicz, who in addition to running a ruffed grouse guide service breeds and trains German short-haired pointers. “One day we can flush 10 or 11 birds an hour, another day we may hunt five hours and not put up any birds. It can be a challenge to keep people motivated mentally for when an opportunity presents itself.”

Stachewicz was one of the respondents who think clients would be best served by practicing at the sporting clays course. He didn’t cite because the targets are more realistic to game birds.

“Sporting clays is more fun than having pressure to shoot a high score at trap and skeet,” Stachewicz said. “The pressure can be intimidating. I recently saw someone just get demoralized and frustrated at the skeet range.”

Stroking clients’ egos comes with the job for bird hunting guides.

“Egos are a big thing we deal with,” said Cravey. “Our job is to be courteous to folks. Some demand that we feed their ego. It’s the reason we don’t mix groups. Some of the clients like to interact and hear about our property and operations and are more enjoyable to take out hunting. We’re in the south and I’ve noticed that the higher education people from around here just want me to be their bird boy and keep talk to just ‘nice shot. If they’re a millionaire or ride on the back of a garbage truck, we don’t care. We take care of ‘em just the same.”

In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Stachewicz deals with egos as well.

“Every year, I’ll get a couple of guys with their own dog who want to do things their way and don’t listen to me or my guides,” said Stachewicz. Invariably they don’t see birds.”

The clients he most likes to guide are not interested in body counts.

“I want them to have fun while embracing every aspect of the hunt,” said Stachwicz. “Not the guys that are just here for the killing. I’ve put 25 years in a body of work breeding my dogs, and when you hear them talk about how awesome the dog work was, I really love it. That means they had a good time.”

Being a respectable client can mean more than leaving a good impression with the guide and outfitter, it could mean the difference between being able to book a future hunt or not. Like many reputable outfitters that have been awhile, Stachewicz has no problem filling his available bookings.

“My hunts are booked out a year and a half in advance and repeat customers almost fill up my calendar every year, so I can be selective on those who takes available slots,” said Stachewicz.

In summary, a dream client for a bird hunting outfitter is physically fit for the type of hunting they do, will be able to handle a shotgun safely and experience at least a modicum of wing shooting success (or at least have a positive enough attitude not to need an ego stroking after missing.) It helps to follow the guide’s lead – you are paying for their expertise — and embrace the entire experience.

Of course, if you don’t want to follow that prescription for being an appreciated bird hunting client, you could still be a dream client at Wildcat Creek Hunting Lodge.

Cravey jokes with his employees as they are up early preparing to welcome guests in a way that reminds us why – in addition to providing guests with quality hunting experiences – any outfitter operates.

“I ask them wouldn’t it be great if the folks would just drive by and toss a bag of money out the window?”

Most of us would probably rather get our money’s worth, enjoy ourselves, and be warmly welcomed back to the outfitter of choice for more fun bird hunting adventures.