Just to keep it short I won't go into crazy detail...
Neighbor bought a $3200 hunt for his sons birthday present at a charity fundraiser auction. Over the course of 5-6 weeks he calls and texts the outfitter with no response. Called the charity organizer who said "copy me on the text" so he did and within 5 minutes he gets a response. Outfitter is booked for November, but asks for dates in December and they finally agree on one.
The hunt he bought was a "2 days/2nights lodging plus a Trophy or Management Buck (Guides Choice) and an Axis Doe". They go out to the ranch this weekend and meet the guide and discuss the hunt. Guide agrees they are looking for a 130-140 class buck, so to the stand they go. They spooked up one buck while driving that would have maybe gone 130 but it was running so there was no shot. Deer blinds were all full of raccoon crap, didn't see a single buck over 2.5-3.5 and none that would break 100", then ended up shooting a yearling axis doe because they couldn't find any others. Basically the trip was a miserable birthday present so my neighbor talked to the guide and asked what they were going to do to get his kid a buck. He let the guide know he was not able to get ahold of the outfitter very easily and asked if he could reach out directly to him if that's ok. Guide said he would reach out to the outfitter and they would be in contact to figure it out.
When he got home today he got a message from the outfitter saying he was uninvited back and how dare he accuse him of being unprofessional (which he didn't say, all he said was they had communication issues), and then throws out "it was a charity auction and is costing me money, what did you really expect?"
This outfitter was recongized in front of thousands of people, featured on their website, and got a lot of publicity from this... plus I am not sure but is it a tax write off by donating?
So my question is what would you do? The outfitter is partners in a pretty well known outfitter company in New Braunfels, but ran this through his personal outfitter business. He also owns another business that is service oriented. Do you put the guy on blast on Facebook and hunting pages? Do you contact a lawyer? What would you do if you paid $3200 for a hunt and all you get is a yearling axis plus the outfitter treats you like absolute crap when you ask about coming back for the management/trophy buck?
Neighbor bought a $3200 hunt for his sons birthday present at a charity fundraiser auction. Over the course of 5-6 weeks he calls and texts the outfitter with no response. Called the charity organizer who said "copy me on the text" so he did and within 5 minutes he gets a response. Outfitter is booked for November, but asks for dates in December and they finally agree on one.
The hunt he bought was a "2 days/2nights lodging plus a Trophy or Management Buck (Guides Choice) and an Axis Doe". They go out to the ranch this weekend and meet the guide and discuss the hunt. Guide agrees they are looking for a 130-140 class buck, so to the stand they go. They spooked up one buck while driving that would have maybe gone 130 but it was running so there was no shot. Deer blinds were all full of raccoon crap, didn't see a single buck over 2.5-3.5 and none that would break 100", then ended up shooting a yearling axis doe because they couldn't find any others. Basically the trip was a miserable birthday present so my neighbor talked to the guide and asked what they were going to do to get his kid a buck. He let the guide know he was not able to get ahold of the outfitter very easily and asked if he could reach out directly to him if that's ok. Guide said he would reach out to the outfitter and they would be in contact to figure it out.
When he got home today he got a message from the outfitter saying he was uninvited back and how dare he accuse him of being unprofessional (which he didn't say, all he said was they had communication issues), and then throws out "it was a charity auction and is costing me money, what did you really expect?"
This outfitter was recongized in front of thousands of people, featured on their website, and got a lot of publicity from this... plus I am not sure but is it a tax write off by donating?
So my question is what would you do? The outfitter is partners in a pretty well known outfitter company in New Braunfels, but ran this through his personal outfitter business. He also owns another business that is service oriented. Do you put the guy on blast on Facebook and hunting pages? Do you contact a lawyer? What would you do if you paid $3200 for a hunt and all you get is a yearling axis plus the outfitter treats you like absolute crap when you ask about coming back for the management/trophy buck?
