Does anyone have anyone have any good stories at least partially based in fact about hunters be screwed by outfitters?

I hear them from time to time and was wondering if anyone experinced this first hand or may have had a friend that was screwed.

------------------
www.rifleshooter.com

I'll have to go back a ways, Bill...

I was living in Roanoke, Virginia, around 1975, and talked 5 friends in my archery club into going on a black bear/wild boar hunt in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Way up "in the sticks" at a place called Blue Boar Lodge near Lake Santeetlah.
Since "Wild Horse" owned a motor home, he volunteered to handle the transportation.

It was to be a 3-day hunt, staying in the lodge, with meals and a guide with dogs provided.

The first evening, we were told that the guide wanted to meet everybody in the game room downstairs. As we all gathered, we noticed that there was quite a group here. 22 hunters to be exact.
The quide sauntered into the room, all 5 feet and 103 pounds of him, with his hat cocked sideways, a piece of straw in his mouth, and began his talk:

"Let's go around the room, and everybody tell your name, where you're from, and what gun you're using."

Uh-oh.

When the attention finally got around to me, I said I was using a bow.

He said, "A what?"

"A bow."

"Oh. Well, I guess one of them would kill a boar..."

After the introductions were finished, it was the guide's turn to address the throng.

"The first thing I want you all to know is... around here, game is SCARCE."

Suddenly the room seemed to be unbearably stuffy, and I began to perspire, feeling 5 pairs of eyes converging on me. I dared not divert my gaze from the speaker.

While everybody in the room began to shuffle, mutter, and roll their eyes, he continued:

"Tomorrow morning we're going up on the mountain. There's a boar up there that I've got a grudge against - he hurt one of my dogs."

Good Lord. Half-pint is going to lead 22 hunters on a crusade after "A BOAR" somewhere on 8 billion acres. I can feel those eyes again...

The next morning found all of the hunters being dropped off along a dirt road, while the guide went off with the dogs to drive something our way. We didn't see the guide or hear the dogs until dinner that night back at the lodge.

The next morning we woke up to find that it had snowed 13 inches. The guide said he couldn't take the dogs out - it could hurt their feet. So most of our group stayed in the motor home and played cards, while one other guy and I went out on our own. I don't remember seeing any game that day, but walking through the mountains in a foot of fresh snow is something I'll never forget.

The next morning I was outvoted, and we headed home.

Bottom line: Not one of the 22 hunters, or even any of the dogs, saw as much as a single fresh track of a bear or boar.

Good news? 3 nights in a lodge, with meals and 1/2 of a guide cost $100.

I'll have to admit, if I had it to do over again, knowing what I know now, I'd do it.

(I just hope Namibia next year turns out a little better.)

Rick.

A buddy talked me and five others into a fishing trip on the Texas coast.

"This guy is great" He said.

I am sure he probably was, I wouldn't know since he never showed up to the boat to take us out.

I recal being very drunk about an hour later. Actually...Not too bad of a trip when I look back now!