Ever "stiffed" a guide?

[troutluver]

I know a couple people who only made a partial deposit with a guide and then left the hunting area before paying the remaining balance. Or they've claimed they have no cash to pay the balance because of unemployment or slow work. I've seen this happen with elk, deer, and swan hunts. If you are a guide has his happened to you? What do you about it? What should I do about people I know who bailed on paying their guide?

 

[llamapacker]

Why is this any of your business? I've never heard of a guide who didn't get paid in advance. Why not ask if anybody plans to lie and steal from their guide? Seems like there is something going on here that you aren't saying....
Bill

 

[bowhunt]

Take them to court.

I have always been asked to pay when I show up, not after we hunt.

 

[Cornhusker]

Never heard of a guide or outfitter who didn't get paid before the hunt started. Everyone I've ever used also received the remaining balance before the hunt started. I've only had one bad guide ever an it was because of his physical condition I even tipped him 10% at the end.

 

[TOPGUN]

LAST EDITED ON Dec-18-12 AT 10:33AM (MST)[p]There is a difference between a guide and an outfitter. Which are you referring to? I've never heard of an outfitter that would take you out before being paid in full. Then you tip the guide working for him after the hunt with the amount varying in how he did his job to satisfy you, within reason of course. What is the whole story behind your question, as what you have posted is pretty ambiguous?

 

[Founder]

Unfortunately, getting stiffed on payment happens to many people in business. I've had a few guides stiff me.
This world is filled with people who want something for nothing, and who think someone else should pay their way.
Small claims court is an idea.

Brian Latturner
MonsterMuleys.com

 

[nickman]

If you actually KNOW someone who stiffed the guide they hired, then they must be bragging about it and they are chit birds! If you think they were wrong, say so.

If they were not happy, that is one thing and they could have skipped the tip, but to not pay the agreed price is just wrong. Try that with any other business and see what happens.

Yes, I have had that happen a very few times also, but in the same season, another hunter left his gun in my truck .......as a gift. I have received a lot of great stuff, above tips......stuff I could NEVER afford to buy on my own.

I can't let the last jerk affect my attitude toward the next hunter, so I have learned to accept the fact that there are dirtbags in every venue of life, and just go forward. It all works out.

I don't start the ball until expenses are met and then I am at least covered if some jerk fails to pay up.

Also, I do it as a hobby and it is not my main source of income, so I maybe don't get as stressed as some guys might. I help kids and most women...NEW women hunters... for free, so some guys think I don't care about the money and skip out on it.

One of the wealthiest hunters I ever had, skipped town at 3 am and NEVER paid his balance, even after he took a book animal.

"I could agree with you, but then we would both be
wrong......and stupid"

 

[TOPGUN]

LAST EDITED ON Dec-18-12 AT 10:53AM (MST)[p]I can't understand why you would take anybody out before receiving payment in full before your services are rendered. I have never seen any outfitter/guide service that doesn't want their money upfront in full before the hunt and then you tip acording to what happens on that hunt after it's completed. To do otherwise in this day and age seems to just be asking to get stiffed with the scumbags that are lurking out there in all walks of life.

 

[troutluver]

My question is what should I do about a couple guys I know who regularly sucker guides and outfitters into taking a 50% deposit and then skip town without paying the other half? Sometimes they split in the middle of the hunt only to return to fill their tags in the same area later in the hunt. I DON'T hunt with this group any longer!

If you are a guide or outfitter, how often does this happen to you?

 

[Wakin]

"This world is filled with people who want something for nothing, and who think someone else should pay their way."

I've heard of someone who has done similar things & Founder's statement above hits the nail on the head. Why these jack-wads feel entitled is beyond me, glad I don't have to look in the mirror everyday knowing I've taken advantage of anyone possible.

 

[jodog]

A Landowner/Rancher in Kansas told me about 2 guys that had hunted on him for the last 4 years. He thought he knew the guys and let them come back in 2011 to hunt big Kansas bucks but he had too much work to do to guide them and be with them all day and they were welcome to come hunt but they would be on their own that season. He knocked off some of the cost of the hunt and let them hunt and kill some big, big bucks. One of the guys is a very rich guy who is well known, the other guy is a rich friend of the other guy. They came out to Kansas hunted, stayed at the ranch killed 2 monster bucks and when the owner was out of town they left. Last I talked to him he said they left oweing him $4000 each and he hasn't been able to get in contact with either one of them... So much for trusting guys you thought you knew.

 

[brdhuntr]

I don't know of any outfitters that don't DEMAND the rest of the payment before the hunt begins! What i see the most is that some hunters stiff the cook!

 

[YukonDall]

HAD AN OUTFITTER IN BC LIE TO ME TO GET MY BUSINESS, THEN NOT BE ABLE TO DELIVER A DECENT HUNT. DID I SAY DECENT......I MEANT PISS POOR HUNT. I GOT $$$$$ BACK.............YD.

 

[TOPGUN]

YD---Just like there are scumbag hunters, there are also scumbag guides and outfitters. I think a lot of guys that have never done a guided hunt don't put enough effort/time into looking at who they go with because they think everyone that hunts is a perfect fella and nobody would do them wrong. It just doesn't work that way. If an operation has good equipment and stock, a good staff, a good area to hunt, and they try their best to get you on animals is all you can ask for. They can't change the weather, the time of the rut, etc. Those two guys that jodog mentioned need to be hunted down and made to pay up or prosecued for theft of services rendered if they took big bucks off that guys prperty and didn't pay becuase that was basically trespassing on their part. That's a shame when they used the trust the guy thought he had in them from previous years to screw him over.

 

[muleyhunter1]

LAST EDITED ON Dec-18-12 AT 04:46PM (MST)[p]I've never stiffed a guide but I have had a guide stiff me.. His last name rhymes with Farrara...

 

[slamdunk]

As a guide working for a very reputible western states outfitter, i have never been "stiffed" by a hunter in 18 years of doing this. There may have been a time or two when i felt a tip may have been a bit less than i thought it should be, but on the flip side i have been shocked more times by tips that were significantly larger than expected......just never "stiffed".

 

[troutluver]

It sounds like we need someone to create a website for guides/outfitters to connect. But also build in a feedback system so guides can rat out skumbag hunters and hunters can vent about poor guiding services. Something like a reviews website that provides candid feedback both ways...like EBay.

Does something like this already exist?

 

[mntnguide]

Any outfitter I have ever worked for are fully licensed with the state and feds..saying that they also have their businesses put together so that cant happen. I have never seen a decent outfitter not have a client/outfitter agreement that is signed well BEFORE the hunt begins. The agreement always states that the balance is due upon arrival for the hunt. Some of our long-time return hunters pay after we get out of the hills, but then again some of those guys have been hunting with my outfit for up to 20 years. We dont have to worry about them. But never should an outfitter trust new clients without an agreement and having the balance paid in full before the hunt.....That being said, as for your problem with your friends, I believe you should entirely give the outfitter full names, numbers and allow him to try and receive the money that he is rightful to. Nobody deserves the right to screw someone over in the matter than you have stated..Unless the person was not a licensed guide/outfitter then they can get away with it cause it was illegal in the first place

 

[troutluver]

Totally agree with you mntnguide. If I knew who the guides were I'd make some phone calls.

 

[2_Point]

LAST EDITED ON Dec-18-12 AT 07:06PM (MST)[p]Sounds like one of Tristate's friends. Liars, cheats, murderers, poachers. Sorry, just had to remember the other thread.

 

[huntinguy]

What about "stiffing" a female guide?

 

[BIGFOOT46]

This is exactly why it is best to not do business with democrats.

 

[troutluver]

I'd feel like a dumb butt if I had stiffed a guide, outfitter, or hunting club. Especially after being called out on MM! This website is a hoot. I couldn't live without it.

 

[nickman]

Well......In my case, as with MANY others I know, I work on a daily basis.

Some hunts don't take just one day and in several cases, the hunter wants to look at more animals. Maybe the archery guys blow 3 or 4 stalks and need more time/targets.

Same goes for fishing trips, maybe it was so good, they want to stay an extra day......or so bad they want to try again.

My contract accounts for ANY change in original plans, but I seldom demand payment at the end of each day, or payment for 5 days, when 2 might be all it takes.

"I could agree with you, but then we would both be
wrong......and stupid"