Anyone Gearing Up for Snows?

[lanyard]

I still find it odd that guiding for fish/wildlife in so many cases doesn't require any licensing/training/registration.

[Gordon]

It was posted on a few different pages, snow goose migration, snow & blue geese followers... Seems like miscommunication more than anything and should probably have been handled privately. That being said, this is what happens when everybody and their drinking buddies decide because they own 800 sillosocks that they should be guides. A few of us are in talks with some officials here in SD to start looking at creating some regulation of the guiding industry in SD. There is a guy with a pasture spread half hour west of Sioux Falls, has had 4-6 clients in that spread the last 3 days and they've only decoyed one flock in 3 days. Barf.

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I know one of the guys that was listed in that complaint, and he doesn't fall into the "everybody and their drinking buddies" category. He guides throughout the migration. Not just in South Dakota.

He and his accomplice may have screwed these hunters over, but I don't know. I wasn't there. But to read that these guys are called "fraudulent" by a person that sits at a keyboard all day trolling the internert, and has no clue what actually happened, rubs me the wrong way.

COPY. PASTE. RABBLE. REPEAT.

[h2ofwlr]

Substantially edited per Admins new rule.

Here is a link to the shyster SD guides as an additional example I had posted up: http://refugeforums.com/refuge/threads/ ... s.1005879/

[Gordon]

They were told they had a full day hunt - it was a 1/2 day. Was told that lodging was included it was not. Fraudsters, shysters, cheats, scammers - if that indeed is what happened, take your pick of word to describe them. And why most G/O I just plain do not trust them.

.

Case and point. You don't know. Let the people that were upset do the reviews. Don't throw people under the bus just to relieve the itch to copy and paste.

HERES THE OTHER SIDE of the story, h2ofwlr. This is why you don't spread bad reviews that you have NO IDEA what the facts are.

These are screen shots from a guide that was mentioned, from group that went on the hunt. Justin is the kid complaining all over Facebook.

[h2ofwlr]

^^^^^ Why is this still, as it is against the new rules?

My rebuttal was removed to comply to the new rules here.

[Gordon]

FYI, Justin used the word "scammers", and "fraudulent" is synonym.

From that last message, so 1 of the 5 was OK with the hunt but 4 out of 5 are not? Hmmmm...

And with "screen shots" it's easy to omit key messages before or since 2-17 and also the phone or in person conversations if a full day or not and if lodging was included.
What I take out of this is that 5 guys paid $1000 for a 5 hr hunt. I'm not sure who to blame - the gullible hunters or the outfitter. Either way, everyone is not happy.

Now that being said, you indeed do have a point that there are always 2 sides of a story and I know that. To be frank, I've heard so many "bad" experiences the last few weeks that certainly some are ripping hunters off.

And I have seen how some "operate" with direct intentional interference towards freelance hunters (personal experience).

And why as a rule of thumb I steer clear of G/O,

Still with the facts... you are unable to admit you're wrong. Unreal. The guides told them what the deal was, and the kids were upset they didn't shoot 150 snow geese. Plain and simple. They were told that the hunt would end mid day if the outlook was grim, and they agreed to it. The guides cannot be blamed for doing what they said they would do.

You can disagree with me all you want, but I sure hope this will help you to hold your tongue before throwing hard working individuals under the bus without knowing the facts.

[h2ofwlr]

The FACT is there are 4 unhappy hunters and 1 of those that felt like he got royally hosed on the deal.
What part of that can YOU not understand?

And where does it say they expected they would shoot 150 geese? They have hunted for 6 years, so they know how some days are when hunting.
Talk about jumping to conclusions yourself!



The bottom line is anyone had better get a bunch of positive references before they book ANY hunt with any g/o, especially for spring Snows.

Go ask Bill who he used, as he seemed pretty happy.

[Gordon]

The FACT is there are 4 unhappy hunters and 1 of those that felt like he got royally hosed on the deal.
What part of that can YOU not understand?

And where does it say they expected they would shoot 150 geese? They have hunted for 6 years, so they know how some days are when hunting.
Talk about jumping to conclusions yourself!



The bottom line is anyone had better get a bunch of positive references before they book ANY hunt with any g/o, especially for spring Snows.

Go ask Bill who he used, as he seemed pretty happy.

You're missing the point.

The guides provided exactly what was agreed upon.

That's their obligation. They can only control so much.

If they got what was agreed upon... you can't change your story on Facebook to bash the guides, which the guy on facebook did.

Regardless, you (h2ofwlr) were not there for any part of the agreement, arrangements, or the hunt. So you copy and pasting one side of the story and coaching people away from these guides is completely ridiculous and slanderous.

Let the guides clear the air before you effect their short window to make a living doing what they love.

I would happily provide you with one of the guides phone number if you'd like the other half of the story...




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[Bill Gilbertson]

Fowler, your reputation just took a huge hit. Why would you cut and paste someone else's critical review unless you were personally involved? Do you take special pleasure in trying to ruin someone's business without personal knowledge of the facts. Let the directly affected people post and defend there own opinions.

I think one of the issues with snow goose hunting is the feast or famine nature of the hunts. We've all seen the videos of thousands of birds and huge kill piles, but this is not the norm. Outfitters could do a better job of setting expectations. People see photos like this and think it's going to be easy.

Getting these birds to land in your spread is an extremely unlikely proposition. You will likely be treated to awesome displays of snow and other waterfowl, but very few will be in range.

My experience prior to this year has been about 1 bird per hunter per day. We had 4 hunters this day.

Yet we always dream that eventually it will be our turn and we will have a big day.


Snow goose outfitting is a very labor intensive calling. While we were hunting, the outfitter had one or two others scouting or setting up other fields. I know some can take short cuts, but to do it right takes time. Anyone that wants to know who I use, can PM me or figure it out from my Facebook page. He is a straight up guy and I have been satisfied with the hunts he has hosted. We blanked on geese last December when the geese did not show until we were picking up decoys after shooting hours, but he offered me a free hunt for this coming fall. He has been a long time supporter of MN SCI contributing many hunts over the years. Also, I sure wish Phil was still around as he was in a class by himself as a goose guide.

I'll be looking for someone to go with me next year, so give me a shout out if you are interested in joining me.

[cstemig]

Well said Bill.