Outfitter and Hunting Guide School for Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah
All you need to make a great living doing what you love in three amazing weeks.
Do you want a shortcut to not only getting the education you need to become an outfitting or hunting guide, but also to get placed in a guide job that’s perfect for you?
Wild Man Adventures Guide School will show you the ropes. Then we help place all qualified candidates with outfitting companies and hunting guides that fit your unique strengths, abilities, and personal preferences.
Born horseman who likes deep wilderness excursions? Prefer four-wheelers to get to camp? Doesn’t matter, we have the connections to guiding and outfitting companies who need people just like you.
Get ready for a rewarding career in guiding.
When: June-July 2020 with dates to be determined by snowpack and student needs
Where: Near Alpine, Wyoming about 40 miles from Jackson Hole
School Length: 3 weeks
Class Size: Capped at 8 guides
Age Requirements: 18 to get your guide license, 16 to guide yourself
Expert Guests: Wyoming Game & Fish, Wyoming Board of Outfitters, Outfitters Private Investigation Team, Hunter Safety Instructors, Horse Farriers, and Certified CPR/First Aid Instructor
Investment: $3,200, all meals, lodging, and supplies included
All qualified students will be placed with regional hunting outfitters that suit their needs best upon obtaining a license and completing the curriculum.
Outfitting and Hunting Guide Licenses for Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah
Each state has unique requirements for their guides. Our unique location in Thayne, Wyoming is sited minutes from Idaho or less than 90 minutes to Utah.
That means we’re well-versed in all it takes to qualify as an outfitter or hunting guide in each of the three states to get guide licenses and be job-ready.
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Three-Week Hunting Guide School Curriculum
There’s more to guiding than knowing gun safety or how to ride a horse. We cover it all to make you into someone we want to hire. In fact, Wild Man Adventures will be hiring the top two students from each class for the fall season ourselves.
Hunter Ethic and Attitudes
Learn from Game & Fish officials how to treat other people on the mountain, including the ethics behind wounded animals.
Laws and Regulations
No one likes having their trophy confiscated. Learn directly from Game & FIsh what you need to do to be safe and legal.
Horsemanship
Taught by the Wild Man himself, Carter Downing, horsemanship will teach you everything from catching your horse to saddling and what to do with them at camp.
Packing Skills
How to load your packs, weigh them, tie them on to pack mules and horses without causing stress or discomfort that could wound your animals.
Transporting Livestock
All you need to know about taking your horses and mules to and from your entry to the wilderness and knowing all the documentation you’ll need.
Shoeing Skills
Don’t get stranded in the wilderness. All guides and outfitters must be well-versed in shoeing in case your horse throws a shoe in the middle of nowhere.
Use of Cross-Cut Saw, Chainsaw, and Ax
Outfitting trails are notoriously remote and unkempt. Get used to whipping out the chainsaw, axe, or cross-cut saw so you can get to camp or back home with your guests.
General Weapon Knowledge
You need to be a firearms expert to guide people with sometimes less than perfect knowledge of guns. You’ll learn how to clean, fix, handle, take care of field malfunctions, and generally care for the equipment without safety issues.
Guiding Skills
There’s more to guiding than you might think. You need to know how to treat a client, judge animals, plan each day and more to have smooth hunting or pack trips.
Game Care
Get comfortable with that bone saw. This portion of the coursework helps make sure you can quarter an animal, transport it, keep it clean, dress it, and more so your clients get the best meat possible.
Setting Up Camps
Setting up camp is more than finding a nice place to sleep. You’ll need to know how to find water and springs without setting up too close and figure out why we lay things out the way we do in camp.
First Aid and CPR Course
Literally a life-saver. Hopefully you never have to use it, but regulations require you to be ready in an emergency to get your guide license. Taught by a certified professional.
Basic Survival Skills
What do you always need to keep with you to ensure you have warmth, shelter, and the basics to survive even when you get stuck in the wilderness unexpectedly?
Orienteering and Map Reading
You’ll do the primary map-reading for your party, so this course gets you comfortable with paper maps and compasses as well as GPS and satellite systems.
Trophy Judging Skills
Most of your takes won’t be easy to judge. You’ll be looking through a spotting scope from across a valley, and you need to get good at judging size of antlers, the age of animals, sex, and more from a distance.
Hunting Guide Regulations
We’ll prepare you for your guide test and exams for Wyoming, Idaho and/or Utah so you’ll know what’s required of a guide in the field and van get your hunting guide license.
Outfitter Regulations
Figure out what it takes to be an outfitter in Wyoming, Idaho, or Utah. You’ll learn what reports you need to make, the costs, and the bylaws specific to your trade.
Wilderness & Backcountry Manners
This coursework covers hunter ethics and attitudes that will keep the backcountry open to our use forever. How to handle firepits, latrines, and packing out trash. Also how to remain respectful of other hunters and outfitters on the mountain.
Federal and State Land Use Policies
Federal and state lands in Wyoming, Idaho and Utah all vary, so you need to know how you’re allowed to use the land you’re on according to your permits.
Permits and Permissions for Client
No one wants paperwork to stand in the way of their hunting trip, but it happens all the time. Learn how to ensure your clients get permits in time, have licenses, and sign their waivers before they’re in the field. Upfront responsibility here saves a lot of headaches later.
Staff and Facilities for Hunting
Get ready for your group size. You’ll learn how many guides it takes for a given client load and what you need to bring along from horses to cooks, tents, showers, etc.
Cooking for Camp
In case your cook gets hurt or you other problems arise, you need to be able to step up and take care of clients by doing more than boiling water. You’ll learn dutch oven cooking for a group and more.
Bear Safety and Identification
Know your way around hanging bear bags, bear boxes, and even your kills so your food remains your own. Learn the difference between blacks and grizzlies and learn when you have the right to defend yourself or clients from a bear.
General Fishing Knowledge
Get a brief overview of fishing as a guide or outfitter for food or pleasure. You’ll learn everything from cleaning a fish to fishing regulations for Wyoming, Idaho, Utah to how to take care of a client if their rod breaks or they need a fly or lure tied on.
Equipment Maintenance
Don’t let your equipment break down or malfunction in the field. Learn to oil saddles in the offseason for safety and longevity and keep tents and stoves in running order.
Basic OHV Safety
Off-highway vehicles like side by sides and four-wheelers have their own safety concerns, including what terrain you can or should tackle in them.
Clientele Supervision and Safety
Don’t drop your client in a hole they can’t get out of. Taking care of a client daily and knowing their physical ability is key to keeping them alive. And that’s your No. 1 duty as an outfitter.
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