This article WOULD be funny if it were not so outrageous!
This illustrates why I have not hired a fishing or Hunting guide in over 30 years now!
The industry is fraught with liars, alcoholics, criminals, druggies, fly-by-nighters and scam artists!
I could tell stories about "guides" that would make your hair stand up! And maybe I will?

But for now heres the link:

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20070204/1063421.asp

Sheesh!

Be careful VERY,VERY careful who you book an outdoor venture with!

Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

The leg bone's connected to the, shoulder bone; the shoulder bone's connected to the, um, cranium?

I like the stove story, too. You can't make this stuff up!

No need to slam an entire industry based on a few bad apples. EVERY industry has a few noteworthy idiots. I have friends who are guides and many, many friends who have hired guides. There are a few bad stories and many good ones.

However, you're right: be very, very careful, call references (many of them).

quote:

The industry is fraught with liars, alcoholics, criminals, druggies, fly-by-nighters and scam artists!

Man for a minute there I thought you were talking about lawyers...no, doctors....no, plumbers.

As in any profession there are good and bad. I've been a licensed guide for almost 20 years and don't fit your description.

What should be noted in the story is the guy was telling people he was a guide, not actually a licensed guide. So don't call him a guide.

The most important message it should send is if you're going to hire a professional properly licensed guide don't be afraid to ask to see copies of his license, proof that he is licensed to guide in the area he works in, etc.

Alasken: You are close to being right about one thing - the only profession ON EARTH lower than guides and outfitters IS lawyers!
Make NO mistake what so ever Alasken, I feel the guide and outfitter profession is repleat with scam artists, scum sucking slime, unprofessional people, alcoholics, drug addicts, fly by nighters, cheats and cheapskates!
That being said it sure makes it hard on you and the 50% of guides and outfitters who TRY to be professional and honest!
I simply have such manifest disdain and have had so many bad experiences and bad observations of so MANY guides and outfitters - I simply won't use them again, unless mandated by law!
Just ONE for instance for your consideration if I may: I have a close friend from Wise River, Montana who's SOLE JOB is to ride herd on the fishing guides for a major outfitter on the Kenai River!
By ride herd I mean this fellow is hired to come up to Alaska and camp with the 18 - 20 guides the outfitter employs to take people Salmon and Trout fishing during that season - whilst there, his sole job is to TRY to curb their Marijuana and Cocaine use! And to try to keep their drunkeness to a minimum and out of sight of the clients.
He also has to bail them out of various jails in towns they travel to on the guides days off! My friend is also tasked with getting these drunken sots (drunkards) out of bed in the mornings and in cases where the guides are still TOO DRUNK or drugged to safely operate their craft he fills in or makes up excuses to the clients! My friend tells me stories about his worries regarding the safety of the firms clients that simply gives me chills when I remember them!
In addition to the "horror" stories my friend relays to me regarding this fleet of otherwise "un-employable" "fishing GUIDES" he has become privy to these so called "GUIDES" arrest records and on occassion disguised identities, and he shares his concerns with me!
My friend is also privy to the stunning amounts of dollars these "GUIDES" bring in for the outfitter! My friend also deals with the NUMEROUS unsatisfied customers of the service.
The stories he tells me regarding the customers complaints, alone, precludes me from EVER even considering chartering a guided boat on the Kenai River!
Now mind you I have recently travelled to and fished off both Afognak and Kodiak Islands (in different years!) for giant Salmon and Halibut! I paid for "FUEL" and bunking but not for "guiding"!
I am not a cheap skate. I love going off on distant adventures Hunting and fishing but hiring a "guide" is THE LAST thing I consider doing!
I would be VERY happy if another dollar of my money NEVER, I repeat NEVER goes to a guide or outfitter!
There are just to many scum suckers and scoundrels in their midsts for me to hand any of my hard earned dollars over to one of them!
More examples, of recent - I feel the need to vent a little!
I have a close friend who owns a lovely cattle ranch in eastern Wyoming. My friend used to rent a cabin on his ranch to Mule Deer Hunters. His brother lives next to him on the adjacent ranch. My friend has been trying to find an HONEST outfitter in the eastern Wyoming region he lives in to take clients on his land and Hunt. Thus my friend "avoids" liability situations etc.
Can't do it though! Every "outfitter" he has tried is either an alcoholic of local repute or a scammer!
My friend is away for lengthy stretches of time during the relatively short Wyoming Deer season (15 days in his area). Anyway he has tried SEVERAL different outfitters over the last decade - to lease them his Hunting rights for their clients! His terms are simple - only shoot up to 10 Deer TOTAL off his relatively small ranch and pay him $750.00 per Deer harvested! The "outfitters" always agree and always promise no "CHEATING"! EVERY ONE OF THEM has been caught CHEATING and not just one or two Deer OVER quota - he has verified as many as 25 Mule Deer in a season being killt by these "outfitters" off his land!
My friends brother is the main "scout" that verifies these UNIVERSALLY CHEATING "outfitters", and that they are in fact cheating by killing to many Deer! My friend has gone out on his ranch (on weekends and when he is back in town) and counted the gut piles himself - THEN these CHEATS have the AUDACITY to come to my friend at the close of season to turn in the key and pay up and they ALWAYS report only 5 or 6 kills!
My friend even filed suit against one of these "outfitters" in civil court for defrauding him!
The "outfitter" "settled" just prior to trial by the way!
It is rampant in the "OUTFITTING" business to cut corners and cheat the clients - I would say at LEAST 50% of guides and outfitters are scamming - one way or another.
One more real life "guiding" story for your consideration there Alasken!
Many years ago I happened to be testifying in court one evening and was wearing my suit and nice shoes. It was night court in the city of Seattle. Night court often went on til midnight or later. I happened to have been talked into going along with a close friend of mine on a winter Steelhead fishing trip on the Skagit River north of Seattle, and it was going to be starting early the next morning! I left right from court and travelled to the restaurant where we were to meet the "guides" the next morning. My friend was coming from another direction and we were to all meet there at 0500. I was in the restaurant in my suit at 0400 hours and was drinking cocoa when the "guides" started showing up! A large table near my seat at the counter filled up with "hung over" "guides"! Not only did my observations confirm they were drunkards and hung over - they actually bragged about it to each other - how much they drank the night before, how they managed to get home and etc etc etc!
At least these alcoholics were on time it seemed.
I heard EACH and EVERY one of them brag how they had scammed various clients in various ways and if this was not bad enough they began bragging how they would manipulate the fishing in order to allow the clients the opportunity to catch ONLY ONE Steelhead! The limit is two Steelhead per fisherman, by the way!
Each "guide" had his own rationale (and some were bizarre!) as to why they only genuinely tried to catch HALF the fish the clients were PAYING to try and catch!
Yeah, real PROFESSIONAL, drunkard, scammers - the LOT of them!
Well I know a little about winter Steelhead fishing (as I was a licensed and insured Steelhead Guide for many years myself!) and I had a plan!
I slipped out to my car and changed into my rain gear and fishing togs and waited for my friend to show. He did and we went in and MET our drunken sot of a guide! He did not even recognize me as the person sitting next to him as he bragged up his unprofessionalism to his ilk!
Off we go on the Skagit River, my friend none the wiser regarding my "intel" on the guide!
Sure enough we each caught a Steelhead in the morning fishing and IMMEDIATELY the guide goes into "avoid" good "runs" mode!
I didn't say a word!
At one o'clockish in the afternoon the "guide" anchored up mid river and began his barbecue and got out his beer stash! As he was tending his barbie and beer I tied on MY secret lure (Pirate colored Hot-Shot with RATTLE!) and let it out behind the boat!
It was not five minutes into my "dangling" I had on a DANDY 16 pound Steelhead!
The look on that scum sucking, slimeball, guides face WAS WORTH every cent I had paid him!
Decorum prevents me from quoting exactly what that turd of a "guide" said but it went something like - "how in the FUCK did you do that"?
You need more examples Alasken I have PLENTY!
You again have chosen a hard row to hoe with so many shitbirds, ner do wells and cheats as your comrades!
Best of luck to you!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy