Touchy Subject?

[375Fox]

I know all of you want to shoot me but I told an outfitter I hunted with recently his cost was too low based on the experience. I just always want to be fair with my outfitters and have been so fortunate to always being felt fairly by them

I’ve been on hunts where I felt the outfitter was too generous as well. I tried to make it up with an extra generous tip. I had an unsuccessful brown bear hunt in SE Alaska. Outfitter and 2nd guide did everything in their power to get me a bear but spring just came early and was too green. There was nothing they could do. He offered me a $5000 deer hunt and no charge for extra deer instead of the regular $7000 and $1000 for each additional deer after first. I had a great hunt and took 3 bucks a few years later and he honored price. I paid him for the extra two deer and tipped his guide very well. When I asked about a black bear hunt. He offered it at $5000 again. Generosity generally gets repaid. I find the opposite true as well.

 

[Newboomer]

I had billing issues, or nearly so, on both of my RSA hunts. Both were booked via US-based agents. On the first hunt, when it came time to settle up there was a considerable cost for VAT. I told him that wasn’t in the contract. He said he was sure it was on the web-site (irrelevant, but I knew it wasn’t). He checked and he ate that cost. Second hunt, the cost was more than I expected so the outfitter called the agent to confirm the package deal we’d made. Outfitter came back and said “you’re right. I’m sorry.” Then there was a cost difference on a warthog - they were cheap so I shot three. I showed him the price sheet he put in each room. He changed the bill in my favor and changed the price sheets in each room. I’d happily hunt with either of these outfits again.

I've booked only one hunt through an agent. It was for elk in CO and a damned disaster from the getgo. I specified 6 x 6 and was ensured of that. When I got to the camp there was no cook, she had quit so we had to eat out at the outfitter's expense for dinner. We cooked our own breakfasts and packed our lunches.

Upon talking with my guide I was informed that there were no 6 x 6 elk in that area, only spikes, raghorns and 5 x 5s (if i was lucky). We hunted dawn to dark and never even saw a fresh track. Of course the outfitter came by the day we were to go home, all full of apologies and urging us to come back. He'd cut us a helluva deal.

I was so pissed I drove 15 hours nonstop to get home. After that I booked all my hunts directly with the outfitter. No middleman, no commission, no misinformation. Works much better.

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Having just read this thread it appears that most agree that honoring a set price list that has been previously agreed to is the norm.
What is completely reasonable is to negotiate anything that is not specifically agreed to prior to the hunt or harvesting of said trophy. Ultimately it's up to the hunter to decide if it's worth it or not.

HH

 

[Tanks]

The only time I have negotiated pricing during the hunts were when I was offered additional buffalo or elephant as an add-on.

 

[Doubleplay]

If you didn't get your wife's observer fees sorted out before you inked the $40K contract, yeah I would say you really shouldn't expect to get that included after the fact. When you signed, did you expect she would be able to tag along for nothing? I've never seen a posted safari outfitter's price list that did not specify observer rates separately from trophy fees and PH's daily rate.

Please read my post about observer fees before you are responding.
Did I say after signing???

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

I can only think of once incident where there was a disageement on price after the fact, it was over pre baiting for leopard. Even there was a language barrier involved everything clearly spelled out in the contract. He went home with his elephant, hippo, leopard & 5 hyena.

We are just finishing our last elephant hunt in addition to his ele he took croc, hippo, 2 hyena he had booked for 1, but we gave a big discount on second hyena.

His total cost was couple hundred less than quoted. If he would have asked for a discount on our “all inclusive hunts” that particular hunt probably not have taken place and it would both of us would have lost.

His elephant should weigh thirty lbs. a side. Nicely matched.

About 2/3 of our costs go directly to the government.

There are those of those on the forum that warn members to do their home work on those at the high & the low end outfitters. I recommend that ever outfitter and there hunting area, both are impotant.

We welcome anyone to check our refernces.

Lon

 

[migrabill]

I have only been once and my outfitter handled pricing in an absolute exemplary way. My "package" included 2 animals and everything else was priced "a la carte". I saw the list and agreed to it. I ended up getting a total of 10 animals. My Kudu which I was SUPER happy to get fell short of SCI Bronze, so he, on his own without an ask from my side, decided to knock $400 off the price. I ended up taking 2 zebras instead of one, He knocked $650 off one of the zebras. Another animal there was a bit of a mix-up at shot time (nobody's fault really - just an honest mistake) and he was not happy with the result - he threw that one in for free. Without me asking I saved about 4 grand. He gained a client (and friend) for life.

 

[bashaw]

I had a concrete bid from my usual concrete man & a guy that a friend recommended the friend of friend came in $20000 cheaper, I called my guy asking what was going on he said it can’t be done for that price. Month or 2 later the concrete work was starting to happen & the guy comes to my door I was sick with the flu, he says he screwed up on my bid he forgot to add the rebar in. I told him I would’ve used my regular guy but your price was much better. I just told him sorry next time you better recheck your bid never paid him a dime more than the bid. He honored tge deal & did a good job on concrete but he could’ve really made a mess.
Moral: a deal is a deal

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

Never haggled after the trigger was pulled because I feel it’s extremely disrespectful to both the outfitter and the animal I believe a deal is a deal and like @rookhawk said I’ve hunted more than once with an outfitter where there was no contract just an agreement. In RSA, I’ve passed on an animal after hearing a price and been offered a reduced price before. I’ve also shot several cull animals thinking the trophy fee was X based on their cull list and upon settling the final bill was told “you saved us ammo/ and time plus helped get workers meat to feed the farm workers, we’re not going to charge you for those culls”. In that case I’ve added money to everyone’s tips.


I’ve had 2 instances where the price at the end was higher
1) A bushbuck was $200 more than the printed price list. The price list was from a year or two before and because of Covid the outfitter didn’t make new ones. It was the only animal impacted (I took 9 others beyond the initial hunt) and it wasn’t on his farm or a neighbors. He also told me before showing me the bill and I think he also knocked a few dollars off an animal my dad shot to try and help out. Given Covid and him telling me up front (but after I shot) I didn’t argue.

2) With another RSA Outfitter “things changed” several times and not just pricing. Below are the pricing “changes”
a) Quota suddenly closed on bull blue wildebeest and I could only shoot a cow for my package animal on the farm they’d sent me to hunt that day for a wildebeest. Asked if I could pay the difference to upgrade to a golden and was told no. Asked if I could cull a couple cows or other animals to add to the pricing of a bull and told no. At this point Wildebeest was the only animal left from the package and after hearing that (since i was told we were going to this place for the blue) I told my PH I was done hunting. During lunch I passed on what was easily a 32”+ waterbuck (PH knew I was open to a giant waterbuck) right after the PH called the outfitter and suddenly we could hunt a couple of really old bulls on that farm.
b) The price for 2 of the 5 animals (5 days on 1 farm multiple hours away each way) increased by $100-150 ea on the final bill. We weren’t in his hunting area, we were several hours away on a “friends” place looking for something with certain habitat requirements. He explained his quota was closed where he normally hunted (printed price) and he’d had to call in a favor to get me the ability to hunt this species (despite knowing it was #1 target for almost 2 years) and used the line prices were subject to change for instances like this where he had to pay a higher trophy fee to the land owner
c) taxidermy/prep prices increased/differed from what was printed. My prices on 2 of the animals were higher but also different than my hunting companions by $50 here or there (they were charged printed prices)
All told my final bill was about $500ish higher than what it should’ve been based on the printed price lists and I decided it was penny wise and pound foolish to try arguing so I just paid it.

All told, I believe a deal is a deal and through my travels and follow-on safaris gained some experience and am now a little more critical in who I hunt with after those 2 experiences.

 

[PlumberEd]

It is extremely poor manors to haggle after the price is agreed to or the contract is signed. We owned a plumbing business for years and it always upset us when someone would ask for a discount or haggle after the job was completed. Some people are just ignorant and I think it has nothing to do with their economic status.
We hunted for our first time in Africa with Bosveld Jacobs Safari in RSA this year. They showed us the price list and explained their services to us. We never signed a contract, just had a verbal agreement. After a great hunt we paid the prices on their price list, no drama at all. Just the way we like to do business.

 

[HookMeUpII]

I was given a discount on a blue wildebeest but BEFORE, NOT AFTER, shooting the animal. I would say in my case, it was more than fair to the low side. The prices, upon getting to RSA, were lower than the website.

I just happened to be talking to the owner about my list. I explained that I was more than happy with what I had taken but my wife was pushing me to take the final animal I wanted, which was a blue. Owner said he was giving me a special price, given the animals I had already taken, and that my wife wanted me to do it. Which I found very nice. It was low enough where I couldn't say no. And no, it wasn't a cull either. He further reiterated that if anyone questions me on the price come settling time, to have them come see him. I'll be damned if it wasn't the exact stated price come settling time.

Haggling after is just not good business whether it's the client or outfitter. You can't "unkill" an animal.