I figure somewhere we ought to give advice on how to plan a trip, here are a few things I've learned from others and my own hunting & fishing trips. Feel free to add to this list.

(1) Elect or appoint a foreman, gotta have a boss, if it is done at the start it makes things easier. Don't elect the AH of the bunch elect the one most knowledgeable and most likey to be the best at diffusing quarrels. The boss should have a pretty good feel for everyone's pet peeve's, level of knowledge, etc. doesn't have to have the best knowledge of the layout of the land as that is a group effort for the most part.

(2) Plan a trip with people that you KNOW you get along with and can stand being around all day for the length of the trip. Nothing like the surprise of finding out the 2nd or 3rd day of a weeklong trip that someone is a real AH and the group ain't jiving well.

(3) If there are people that have not hunted together or are interested in going in the trip but you have not hunted with go on local hunts several times to get to know different things about them.. gun handling, safety, attitude towards mishaps, frustration, shoots at everything, claims everything, know it all, etc. remember you will be trying to enjoy time around them.

(4) Lay out all the plans for the handling of expenses at the start of the trip. I always fill my truck up when we start and every stop a new person fills it up, we keep tabs on who has paid what and at the end we settle up any differences somehow.. might be extra fish, meat etc. If it's my dad and I we split it evenly somehow before the end of the trip. Figure out who/how to go about cleaning up the vehicle that is traveled in after the trip. Come up with a chore list. I usually try and get the dog tending duty while others may have the duty of cleaning birds or getting trash out of the truck.

(5) Pick up after yourself in the vehicle and motel/hotel.

(6) While driving don't be a hero, let someone else drive before you run off the road and kill everyone. Try not to drive in a manner that scares the hell out of everyone or makes them sick in hilly/twisty roads.

I think ya did a great job there Bird and I agree w/ everything. I might add that if the trip takes you to an area significantly away from civilization, make sure at least someone has rudimentary first aid skills and everyone outta know how to do CPR. Your point about making sure you can get along w/ someone for more than 2 or 3 days is so so true. It's amazing how spending 2 to 3 days of close contact w/ someone other than someone you love or are doing the humana-humana with, their worst side WILL and I mean WILL come out. That goes for people you have worked with for years side by side and I guarantee you'll learn some new things about them. Makes for some verrrry interesting conversations..LOL

Dave I specifically put that in there after a trip last year.

Make sure everyone knows about how much $$$ is gonna be spent or how much pocket $$$ each plans on takin... if you eat out a lot go out to bars and such, make sure that is known, as some folks don't plan on that or the $$$ it cost for that kind of fun. If you go w/ $300 extra, and your pals go w/ $600 you'll see what I mean...

Also it is good for the whole gang to hit the grocery store together... TRY to build a menu BEFORE you go, then you don't have 5 guys just throwing stuff in the buggy haphazardly. And you'll have a ballpark figure of about how much each will owe for the menu...

Good tip Bob.

I think many people understimate those little extra expenses like the just 1 beer at the local gin mill...or let's eat out instead of cooking cause we're too tired type stuff. In my old age and after floating a number of tight fisted skallywags, I've become a bit less tolerant of those that don't share the $$ equally. My pals blow me a bunch of bull due to my planning and more planning. and having a truck loaded like there is no tomorrow. I generally do all the cooking so I set the menu according to everyone's likes and dislikes (which are few when yer hunting, cold, hungry, and tired). We all buck up up front and replenish the kitty needed.

Those are good tips for fishing and boating trips too. Had a pleasant surprise this summer when taking a friend out on our boat. When we stopped to fuel it up he insisted on paying. It wasn't so bad in the day when you could fill up a good sized gas tank for $5, but this was over $30 for the half tank it took to fill it up, so we appreciated his stepping up to the plate very much.

Very good tips..especially Bob's..the same kind of apply when planning motorcycle trips...nothing like riding with the independently wealthy when you have a 100 bucks in your pocket to spoil a trip..those stops at the gin mills and restaurants do add up! Or being content to throw a sleeping bag under a bridge when the others want a hotel...LOL

Or fishing trips.lmao.......Resturants add up for us big time......When getting a hotel, I always make sure and check for:
free internet- couldn't go with out it.....lol
free breakfast- saves 25-30 bucks for the fam....
free entertainment- indoor pool, arcade....
We also get a room with a kitchen sometimes too just depending or a cabin with a kitchen....and I always have a cooler with us...
Researching online at home before the trips........really help....I usually try to do that every trip and it seems to save money one way or another.....

Good Points there Miss Bam...I do the same thing...restaraunts can get very pricey..when we are on the bikes we usually have the free breakfast at the motel, split a pizza somewhere in a bar for lunch or snack out of the cooler, and then we have a good dinner..but it still gets very pricey! We usually look for one of the local touristy papers and snag coupons too! LOL

When we decide to do pizza.....we have it at dinner and go to a nice resturant at lunch....Alot of times the rest. are cheaper before 4pm but pizza is always the same price......think about it? lol......

You could always use one of those camp ovens that go on top your camp stove like I do and put your cardboard frozen pizza on there. You might have to do more than one to have some that will fit though. That way you could do them in your fishing camp Bam.

Isn't that what the air cleaner on the truck motor is for????
ROFL

That would be the exhaust manifold Gretchen. I understand some folks have make sheet metal ovens for on the exhaust pipes of motorcycles too.

yeah..but the pizza just fits on the cleaner cover when you take it off...LOL

It wouldn't get quite hot enough, plus when the cheese melts it clogs the carb.

Vitals can double or triple the price of a trip real easy, When the wife and I took off in September for 12 days we had a cooler with lunch meats and such for lunches and dinners. We ate out foor breakfast and abided by all the rules from my first post.. I was elected foreman, she was in charge of vitals, I was the main driver, she was the navigator, expenses all came from the same place, I cleaned the van when we got back she did the laundry.. worked out great. Didn't get cranky till we got to st. Louis on the way home.

The only bad thing about packing a grill and meat to cook lunches is that I like to kick back and relax for a true break for an hour or so and if you are cooking then someone has to tend to teh cooking and such.

A buddy and I have made "do-it-yourself" hunting trips to Wyoming and Nebraska. We both put an equal amount of cash into an envelope for "gas money". At the end of the trip we split the remaining $$ in 1/2...it was pretty painless.

Be prepared for anything. On our early September Wyoming mule deer hunt we had temps in the 70's and 80's all week and then, boom, 4 inches of snow fell on camp and temps dropped into the 20's. Luckily, we had packed warm clothes!

Finally, if you do a self-guided hunt on public ground, do your homework. Start out by researching hunter success rates and make some phone calls to wildlife biologists to scrub them for information...usually they are very helpful. Hunter success and WB phone #'s should be available on the state's DNR website. Make sure you get good maps of the area you have chosen to hunt that show boundaries of the hunting areas. In Wyoming we used BLM maps, US Forest Service maps, and USGS 1:24,000 topo maps.

rxcellent advice Joe - and make sure you have good working knowledge of the area you are in..for instance..when I'm in a new woods..I don't just wander aimlessly...as tempting as it might be...

My hunting is done in more open type lands but if you're gonna be in the woods take a GPS, and extra batteries.. 3 sets!