When you plan an out of state dream hunt what do you take in consideration. Is it location, money, prospects, recomendations ect.

license cost and availability, odds of killing target animal, current recommendations.

Great answer. Odds of killing would be priority for me.

It does little good to hunt a unit that simply does not have a decent number of big elk if that is what you are after. Study that states kill reports by unit vs availability of licenses. Some units have great odds of killing a big elk but it takes 10 years to draw a tag. Some over the counter units have very low odds of killing a good bull. Do the research and call the Depts in the states you are looking at.

Harvest history, professionalism of the guide, accommodations, and most important is if the guide talks a bunch of crap or acts like a Dick stay away!!!! Lots of good places out there. Do your homework. What are you looking for? Deer or Elk, I can offer a few good suggestions. Turkey too....

Not necessarily fully guided could mean semi guided, or leased or state ground

What are you wanting to do? Do you have a trip in mind?

Nice guy on the phone to talk to but he is wanting to day lease property he says he has under management in Illinois based on my conversation with him. Sick of watching him beat around the bush. Lots of guys in that state trying to run a guide service under the radar with the regs put in place by his broke state government. He was very vague with me on the phone and it made me suspicious of his intent immediately.

My 2cents .

I've only hunted Colorado, but here has been my approach. Lots and lots of research, then more research, if you do a DIY dream hunt. Much easier for a guided trip.

Picking the area is of course the most critical. They have records on-line now in most cases I think. If you look back over time, at least when I was looking at them, there were definite trends. I am very analytical when it comes to numbers. Units would have very high success rates followed by very low success rates and it would cycle back and forth. I looked for units that had in the past high rates but were currently low for a few years. My thinking was that when an over the counter unit had a high rate, it got over-hunted the next couple of years followed by a few years of very dismal rates which results in very few people hunting there. Then the herd would rebound and the those that hunt it at the right time have low pressure on a larger herd with better chances for success.

I went for the adventure and excitement of doing it on my own. No guide, no staying in hotels, but living in a tent for 10 days or so, cooking my own meals, and truly enjoying myself. Going with the right people is also critical. We studied topo maps and every other map we could find. With a bow, I've killed 2 bulls (6x5, 5x5) and a cow on maybe 6 or 7 trips. The 5x5 had the biggest body that a local cowboy had seen in several years.

Getting in shape for the hunt, having the right equipment (not too much or too little), planned out meals and water/liquid needs, gps, emergency equipment, hunting equipment maintenance/repair and the list goes on and on, all need to be considered.

Bottom line: Whatever you decide, be as prepared as you possibly can be. You won't be able to pre-scout or run back home or to the outdoor store if you need something, so be the best boy scout you can be.

I had my suspicions.