Unfortunately, I am one of the hunters who lost over $9k on a hunt this fall with GSS. I have not had any luck reaching GSS or their consultant. While I am extremely upset about my loss, I did do my homework and visited with GSS representatives, including their president Rich and his father Dick, numerous times at SCI prior to booking this first hunt with them. I feel like I did, as always, my homework and am not sure how any hunter could have predicted this. You go to SCI and talk with outfitters and booking agents and you have to have confidence that you are working with reputable people. But like in all aspects of life, that is not always the case. I don't think readers on this forum should group all booking agents into the same category as GSS. I have used agents many times for hunts all over the world and think most are very honorable and try to hook you up with the best outfitters. Clearly with GSS, the owners had other issues in their lives that led to this unfortunate situation for many of us. I am not defending them and plan to pursue all options to try to collect my $9k+, but realize the likelihood of getting something from nothing is slim. I hope this doesn't give our hunting community, booking agents and outfitters a black eye. Please don't judge all by one bad apple. As for my outfitter, I have been working with him directly to try to make my hunt still happen. Yes, many of us have lost big money with GSS, but many of the outfitters have, as well. My outfitter had already purchased my flights between two countries and has not asked me for a dime of that money. He is out $2k on that alone, plus he is not getting the number of hunters he is accustomed to having in camp so he is losing even more. He only received a very small, less than $1k, of my deposit from GSS and has offered me an extreme discount on my hunt. I am still considering whether to invest additional money on this hunt since I have already spent $9k+, but have complete respect for my outfitter for trying to work with me. To the discussion on the outfitter's responsibility, I am in the camp of not holding the outfitter responsible since they too have lost on their dealings with GSS. Again, if you had met any of the GSS team previously, I'll bet most would agree that it would have been difficult to predict this outcome. They seemed on the up and up as you would expect any agent or outfitter attending SCI would be. I am not trying to debate their reputation with anyone on here, just pointing out that they should not influence your opinion of other agents or outfitters. I agree that we all need to be more diligent in our efforts to select an agent or outfitter, but am not sure how anyone could have seen this coming. Maybe I am just trying to make myself feel better about my loss. Oh well, happy hunting to all. I, for one, will not let this stop me from hitting the hills this fall or anytime in the future. The future of hunting may not be the same as it once was in all countries, but I plan to continue to do my part to promote hunting and support all participants involved in this wonderful opportunity that we all love, including booking agents. They are an integral part of the hunting community and without them, many outfitters would not exist. Thanks to all on this discussion for your views and sorry for anyone else who has lost with GSS. I wish you well on your future adventures.
