In the old days, people rode busses to go places.... and you'd see a sign at resteraunts advertising that "bus drivers' eat free"... in an effort to subtly coerce the drivers to stop there, so as to feed all the passengers... with a decent profit margin on meale, the eateries could afford to give away a freebie in exchange for 40-50 paid meals....

Question:
On a group hunt, how ethical is it for a fellow hunter-organizer to coerce his buddies into paying for thier hunts, while he gets his for free????.. on the basis that the outfitter is getting paid from the other 7 guys that are hunting???... or should he be a stand-up guy and pay his own way, and reduce the cost of the others???

Choices:
should the organizer hunt free, knowing that his buddies are paying full price???
should the organizer pay his (or her) fair share???

 

I'd guess that would be one way to cut Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy down on the number of Christmas Cards you send out each year.


Rich
DRSS

quote:

On a group hunt, how ethical is it for a fellow hunter-organizer to coerce his buddies into paying for their hunts, while he gets his for free????.. on the basis that the outfitter is getting paid from the other 7 guys that are hunting???... or should he be a stand-up guy and pay his own way, and reduce the cost of the others???

If that word is correctly used the other hunters should never speak his name again.

He should be "dead" to them all and all other ethical hunters

I'd be upset myself.

'come on guys... 142 looks and 17 votes....

We have a simple rule in the DRSS-
"Everybody pays!"
There are no "considerations", no "Freebies", unless it is free for all attending. No kickbacks or perks for the organizer of any event.

Interesting pole jimatcat. I believe that the organizer should pass on the savings to all involved in the hunt. However what I think may just cause a ruckus here. You never know what "organizer" may be lurking in the shadows formulating a tactical response to a so called calculated attack.

Depends....I did vote for share....but, if the organizer goes to a great deal of effort to put a hunt together, and the fact that his hunt will be free is shared with the guys he books to go, without objection from them, I see nothing wrong with it.

I voted to share. I think the hunters should feed & hydrate the hunt organizer free of charge, a full price hunt compensation is just too much, IMO.

knew a taxidermist that would set up hunts so he could go free - when his buddies found out there was no more taxidermy work and a near lynching

I have organized hunts and fishing trips for years for friends. I have one organized for next summer to Namibia. We all pay the same amount. I have done hunts where mine was free,, we had over 10 in the group,,, but, on these where we provided our own meals etc. I payed for all the food and cooked,I kept receipts and gave everyone a copy of the cost of the items on the hunts,, what everyone payed etc. It kept everything in the open and the guys knew the deal, I was up front about it, on others,,, where I got the free hunt,, I divided mine out among the group and gave them my hunt fee as a rebate,, thus,, I payed the same in the end. On many of the websites it actually will state if you organize a hunt and bring "x" people your reduction in fee is "X". Not to hard for your buddies to figure out something is up. I used to organize a fishing trip to Mexico every year,, mine was free to put it together,,,,we are talking about 20 plus fishermen. I made all the arrangements, guaranteed all the deposits and rooms,, and ate what others didn't pay. I can assure you I payed more than anyone in the end,, plus the headaches of getting everybody headed the right direction, I got all the complaints,, helpful suggestions etc. I was the last one to get a boat or guide, last one to get food etc,,, and they all knew the deal because I was upfront about it,,after about 4 years of that,, I turned it over to one of my friends that was always there and let him do it,,,, and gladly paid the fee and had a much better time. On a large group hunt or trip,,,there needs to be a go to guy to discuss issues in camp etc. On a smaller hunt,,, it is easy to deal with every man on his own.
My point being,, if you have a friend who is organizing a hunt,, and he lets you know he is getting a break on the price,,, don't chunk stones at him. Just like an outfitter here in the US,, he is getting a fee to handle your issues and questions, etc. With 20 fishermen in camp,, getting 20 deposits, 20 sets of accomodations, transportation,, answering everyones questions for months before,, it is hard to do your normal job.
It reminded me of going to church camp as a volunteer,,, some folks thing you are on vacation,, but it is a 24/7 job the entire time! What I was getting for free and what I was having to do.... Never again,, I will be glad to just pay my equal share and tend to my own business.

The main deal,, you better be upfront on the fees with your friend if you want them as friends.

I forgot to add,,, that is why I recommend using an outfitter as well,,, let someone else be in charge and answer the questions, etc.. most are professional about it and keeps you from being the bad guy if there are issues,,use a professional

quote:

Originally posted by drwes:
We all pay the same amount.

Not to hard for your buddies to figure out something is up.

The main deal,, you better be upfront on the fees with your friend if you want them as friends.

This sounds strangely familiar & I believe some hunt organizers flat out lie about this kind of stuff. I personally will not hunt with an outfitter who participates in this way, it's just bad business in my book.

I figured this would be a hot topic. Perhaps the title is throwing some would be interested parties off? Or perhaps some folks are tempted to post but don't wish to expose themselves for what they really are.......?

This is the reason I don't go on chartered fishing trips. Full boats or overfilledboats on weekends. Take my chances on a cattle boat on weed days.

I like to do the organizing, simply because I want to know that everything is going to get done, and any hiccups are my fault. I also think that the preperation, organizing and planning a hunting trip are half the fun. No way I want someone to do it for me. I also like when things go right, and nobody notices. there's no way I would expect my friends to pay my way, even if I worked harder at setting it up than they did. All that means is I had more fun than they did, but I don't tell them that.

If all agree I see nothing wrong with an organizer getting a reduced fee for their efforts
but all must agree.

I can see charging total strangers a fee, but I cannot see charging my personal friends that mean enough to me that I go hunting with them.


...And I'd be an idiot if I thought going on a hunt with total strangers would be a smart thing to do.

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:
We have a simple rule in the DRSS-
"Everybody pays!"
There are no "considerations", no "Freebies", unless it is free for all attending. No kickbacks or perks for the organizer of any event.

same with STC -- I've been oferred, EVERY TIME, I set up a group hunt, that i can hunt for free if XXXXXXX .. and I reply .. "tell you what, let's reduce the cost of the package that much, and everyone pays"

So, it seems to be common place that the guy arranging the hunt does hunt for free, but not with me .. I only hunt with friends, and I don't screw my friends over .. i might screw WITH them a bit, but never on something as pedestrian as screwing them on a hunt.

quote:

So, it seems to be common place that the guy arranging the hunt does hunt for free, but not with me .. I only hunt with friends, and I don't screw my friends over .. i might screw WITH them a bit, but never on something as pedestrian as screwing them on a hunt.

Ditto!

Life is too short to screw anyone over, much less your firends!

My cousin used to take his clients out deep-sea fishing. That runs about $85 per person, ten to a dozen people. He and his company would pick up the tab for the trip, and he'd get his seat free.

(So it's like a 10% discount on a "full-boat.")

I did have a further thought on this topic-

Suppose I did arrange a group hunt for a bunch of my friends and myself, say up to the Dakotas for some bird hunting, and if I was driving a busfull of them and we're cruising down the interstate and I see a sign advertising that the bus driver eats for free you'll damn well believe that is where I'm pulling in for lunch, and no amount of bitching and moaning from the backseats would change that. If they wanted me to drive to the steakhouse instead I'd be open to it if they took up a collection for the driver even if it wasn't discussed beforehand.

I guess open blackmail is more compatible with my strands of pirate DNA than hiding my expenses in the crowd and pretending.

How about this real life situation Mark. A friend of mine was driving an empty bus back from I forgot where. Saw a sign and stopped to eat free. The establishment tried to tell him because he was not bringing x amount of other customers he could not eat free.

The title of this thread is misleading. It is really not about busdrivers. Sorry for the misunderstanding.