Recourse for a Outfitted Hunt that was not what was advertised?

[SDHNTR]

Could have been, they did book us on a full moon which seemed f'ed up too.

Wait, so now the full moon is the outfitter‘s fault also? You surely understand lunar calendars are available years in advance.

 

[COelk89]

What dates and what area? That sounds more plausible. Also, what was the weather like?

We had a good storm and cold temps starting the first day of the hunt that should have had the deer on fire.

 

[COelk89]

Wait, so now the full moon is the outfitter‘s fault also? You surely understand lunar calendars are available years in advance.

I did not set the dates so yes that would be on them.

 

[SDHNTR]

OK, this is starting to make more sense. So this was a mule deer hunt out in West Texas?

 

[idig4au]

If it were me, I would lay down and let this pass.

 

[COelk89]

Where did this expectation come from? We're you told specifically this would be the case or were you simply told that they have a bunch of deer on the property?

The latter, 300k acre ranch they only take 4 bucks per year I was told and the ranchers likes to see a lot of deer. I made assumptions based on my past experience in the area and having my own small lease nearby where we have both WT and Mule deer. Seeing that # is reasonable.

 

[SDHNTR]

I did not set the dates so yes that would be on them.

Absolutely not. If you don’t like to dates, that’s on you.

 

[COelk89]

If it were me, I would lay down and let this pass.

Lol you're not me I'm a spread the pain kinda guy

 

[COelk89]

Absolutely not. If you don’t like to dates, that’s on you.

Maybe so, they set the dates to target peak rut and I trusted them as the experts.

 

[COelk89]

So seems like the general consensus here is that as a paying customer with expectations set by the outfitter I hired, that I should have told him when we hunted and he did nothing wrong by not informing us of the situation changing since I booked and allowing us an opportunity to change our plans.

 

[SDHNTR]

expectations set by the outfitter

This is the source of all your problems. This is where you went wrong.

 

[307]

Lol you're not me I'm a spread the pain kinda guy

You may pay dearly for this. Caution is advised.

At this point, if you name the outfitter or anybody can link this series of posts with your name and the outfitter, I'm guessing it'd be easy pickings for an attorney to make you very sorry for what you've posted.

 

[bozeman]

@307 That's BS.......you can express any opinion you want, as it is just that, my opinion. I do agree that the OP is out of luck and 'share the pain' is a crappy way to go thru life. Must be a VERY miserable person.

 

[COelk89]

You may pay dearly for this. Caution is advised.

At this point, if you name the outfitter or anybody can link this series of posts with your name and the outfitter, I'm guessing it'd be easy pickings for an attorney to make you very sorry for what you've posted.

Yeah thats BS. I'm not defaming anyone. You can provide a review on an outfitter, and I have not named any names or properties to this point.

 

[KurtR]

The moon thing who cares shot my biggest mule during the rut during the full moon. I would say paying attention to what is happening with deer numbers is on you. Its hunting so if you wanted all those variables guaranteed should have hunted a high fence.

If the food was good and rooms clean thats the stuff they can control I would say you got what you paid for

 

[steelheadmike]

So seems like the general consensus here is that as a paying customer with expectations set by the outfitter I hired, that I should have told him when we hunted and he did nothing wrong by not informing us of the situation changing since I booked and allowing us an opportunity to change our plans.

You said in a post above that you formed your own assumptions. You can't fault the outfitter for that unless he explicitly guaranteed a certain number of deer.

As far as conditions/deer numbers, you said you have a lease nearby. Were you completely unaware that things had changed? Having a moon during your hunt is on you if you were going to be that worried about it.

I get that your steamed, but refusing to take any responsibility seems a bit childish.

 

[idelkslayer]

I usually don't comment on these types of threads but I am getting a strong "You're the asshole" vibe. Your anger is palpable even through the computer screen. You are not thinking rationally or clearly right now. It is always the wrong response to want to make someone else suffer, and taking that attitude reflects poorly on the accuracy of your side of the story.

It seems like you made assumptions and built up expectations that the outfitter never explicitly guaranteed but that you felt were implied. You even tried to position yourself as the better person with your "To me, a person's word still matters and I take people at their word." Did the outfitter ever explicitly say you could expect to see 40 deer per day and multiple bucks up to 170 inches? If not, then you created that expectation yourself.

A buddy of mine went on an outfitted hunt in Canada 2 years ago. The outfitter sent numerous photos of big bucks they were seeing and photos of past success. The week my friend hunted was warm and he never saw a decent buck. Of the 3 hunters in camp only one buck was killed and it was small for the area. They could have a bad attitude about it but instead they recognized that is a part of hunting. They booked again for the same week and went this past year, all 3 killed excellent bucks. Contrast that with your experience.

You should have communicated your expectations to the outfitter and been in contact for the last 2 years leading up to the hunt to get the latest information on how the conditions and deer herd were performing. You can always back out if the conditions change too much for your liking.

 

[TaperPin]

So seems like the general consensus here is that as a paying customer with expectations set by the outfitter I hired, that I should have told him when we hunted and he did nothing wrong by not informing us of the situation changing since I booked and allowing us an opportunity to change our plans.

I think the consensus is you were not equipped to make an outfitter selection that met your expectations. Blindly trusting anyone is not going to get you far - words are cheap.

I do have the world’s best rifle I’d like to sell you - kills every deer it’s pointed at. Expensive up front, but dirt cheap in the long haul. My pickup is also for sale - pretty expensive for what you get, but it’s much better than any others built that year. My funny looking mutt has been known to bite and he’s not that bright, but I’d take $2k for him. Sod? Do you need sod? We can rip up my old sod for the right price - expert installation - the best installers.

 

[COelk89]

@307 That's BS.......you can express any opinion you want, as it is just that, my opinion. I do agree that the OP is out of luck and 'share the pain' is a crappy way to go thru life. Must be a VERY miserable person.

Like I said, never had an experience like this never did an outfitted hunt before. I would not feel this way if I did not think there was some intentional deception, but I believe that was the case. Why should the people who inflated the realities of the hunt that I paid for not also deal with the consequences? The dude could have turned me away when I called him for the hunt and it was obvious I would have high expectations.

 

[rclouse79]

As much as I love to hunt, being an outfitter sounds like it would suck. I am sure there are bad ones out there, which might be the case here. No matter how good an outfitter is they are bound to book a Karen eventually.