Worst hunt/hunter you have ever guided?

I’m not a guide but a few folks I’ve hunted with stood out.

I cut a creek bottom off for a fellow to box some Huns in. Was very clear to tell him to make sure he could see blue sky on a shot. The birds came out low directly between us. I realized he was going to shoot and got my arm up in front of my face just in time to take the shot. Thank goodness it was cold and I had a heavy coat on. A few pellets broke the skin but not to bad.

On another occasion while hunting ptarmigan a friend shot my son. A single pellet to the throat. His comment “I couldn’t see anyone so I took the shot”. It was an eight mile hike out and we couldn’t tell if the pellet was in his throat or not. All ended well but it was a bad day.

I can’t stand unsafe gun handling. Folks who put others safety at risk because they are so focused on an animal don’t get a second chance to hunt with me.

WAB said:

I’m not a guide but a few folks I’ve hunted with stood out.

I cut a creek bottom off for a fellow to box some Huns in. Was very clear to tell him to make sure he could see blue sky on a shot. The birds came out low directly between us. I realized he was going to shoot and got my arm up in front of my face just in time to take the shot. Thank goodness it was cold and I had a heavy coat on. A few pellets broke the skin but not to bad.

On another occasion while hunting ptarmigan a friend shot my son. A single pellet to the throat. His comment “I couldn’t see anyone so I took the shot”. It was an eight mile hike out and we couldn’t tell if the pellet was in his throat or not. All ended well but it was a bad day.

I can’t stand unsafe gun handling. Folks who put others safety at risk because they are so focused on an animal don’t get a second chance to hunt with me.

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I just got back from Namibia, and here, just like at every other PH before, I was told:
The greatest danger to him comes from the hunting guest who is handling his gun carelessly behind him.

375Fox said:

I’ve heard a lot of stories, but the bad stories have never been about a client’s skill or shooting ability. It’s always been about their attitude and how they treat the PH and staff. They’ve also frequently been about the client trying to get a better deal mid-hunt or trying to avoid payment.

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...and alcohol is frequently involved.

WAB said:

I’m not a guide but a few folks I’ve hunted with stood out.

I cut a creek bottom off for a fellow to box some Huns in. Was very clear to tell him to make sure he could see blue sky on a shot. The birds came out low directly between us. I realized he was going to shoot and got my arm up in front of my face just in time to take the shot. Thank goodness it was cold and I had a heavy coat on. A few pellets broke the skin but not to bad.

On another occasion while hunting ptarmigan a friend shot my son. A single pellet to the throat. His comment “I couldn’t see anyone so I took the shot”. It was an eight mile hike out and we couldn’t tell if the pellet was in his throat or not. All ended well but it was a bad day.

I can’t stand unsafe gun handling. Folks who put others safety at risk because they are so focused on an animal don’t get a second chance to hunt with me.

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Ex-friend you mean?

Years back, I was guiding archery elk hunters. One was an attorney from the East coast. Got him a really nice 5x5 that scored 305. This was back in the days of cameras and he had forgot extra film, so I gave him a roll from my pack. At the end of the hunt, not only didn't he leave a tip, but never paid me for the film. After that I decided it wasn't worth working 16 hrs. a day for about $3.00 per hour!

Obviously I have nothing current to report, but back in the seventies, while attending college in South Louisiana, I guided nearly every day of a then very long duck season with generous bag limits. In other words, I saw a lot of clients, or "sports" as we called them from all over the country.

I think it speaks well for our pastime that the vast majority of them were great people, excellent sportsmen, and represent memories that I enjoy to this day. The only really bad experiences were invariably gun safety related.

We used sink boxes as blinds and one cretin became frustrated with his shooting, which was indeed abysmal, and slammed his Remington Model 1100 (a miserable design for the marsh and one for which I became something of a field repair expert) butt first onto the plank that served as a seat. He was on my right, the gun between us, when the butt struck and caused the gun to fire. The blast took off my hat (a horrible canvas thing with a wide brim that exuded hunting guide ) launching it several feet into the pond. I suspect that contributed as much to my tinnitus as three decades as a field artilleryman.

Then there was the gent who I instructed not to fire until I returned to the blind, as I stepped out into the pond to rearrange some decoys ten minutes or so before shooting time. I stopped to watch a flight of teal come zooming in only to catch movement out of the corner of my eye as my nimrod swung through them. I made it to a pushup position in three feet of water and marsh muck as the first blast went overhead.

But those two incidents represent a tiny minority of the sports I met over those four years.

The more common simple frustration was the pair of sports who couldn't shoot. With two of those in the blind and birds everywhere, they could go through the better part of a flat of shells, kill six birds, and have a "bad" hunt. The next day, under bluebird skies, with a couple of men who could shoot, and we would head beck with a limit after firing less than two boxes. They, of course, had a great hunt.

Like @wyosteve the math didn't work then either. We did all that day after day in the hopes of a princely twenty-dollar tip.

mark-hunter said:

Well, I am not outfitter so I can say few words.

"Starving for shot" type of client.
This guy came to hunt pheasant same day as me. They put him with me, with same guide.
We were walking side by side towards the car. Not expecting to have a bird flushed out.

A pheasant flushed in front of me, it was in my shooting zone, he flashed his shotgun in front of my nose and shot. (literally in front of my nose, muzzle in front of me).

Same guy next year, same area shot a roe deer with semi auto rifle. 4 times. that buck looked like after stepping on land mine. They were skinning his buck, he was goin home, me I just came in.

Next, I remember a group in a camp.
I describe that as "alcohol and incompetence".
Over night, they devastated a bar in camp, and with 4 of them, 4 bottles of whisky were annihilated, and several bottles of red wine.
read - all whisky and all wine gone. All the time they were loud and noisy in a camp, and unpleasant to others. How they hunted next day I dont know.

When the final bill came, last day, they were quiet. They had extreme percentage of game wounded and lost. They had to pay.

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That would be a fight right there. I take getting barrels in my face pretty seriously. Even when idiots are looking through em at gunstores and point em at me gets me pretty grumpy.
Ive seen alot of people accidentslly shot in my day. Every single one was a unloaded gun.

Most of the stories I heard from guided/outfitters/ pH invloved one of the following: Trying to "guide the guide", too high of expectations/being overly picky, or not paying their tab at the end of the hunt.

farmer_john said:

That would be a fight right there. I take getting barrels in my face pretty seriously. Even when idiots are looking through em at gunstores and point em at me gets me pretty grumpy.
Ive seen alot of people accidentslly shot in my day. Every single one was a unloaded gun.

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Reading your other other posts for years, i could imagine that.

I know of some cases when wounded amd lost animal has not been paid.
Its a debt of honor. But some people lack that.

I had a PH tell me of a client that brought his rifle into the lodge. He sat down on the couch with the rifle pointing straight up and pulled the trigger, sending a bullet through the roof and deafening everyone there.

Despite the strong reprimand, he did the same thing the following evening leaving another hole in the roof. The ranch manager asked the PH and client to leave before even having dinner. There was no argument from the client.

My wife and I saw where one of the bullets had hit a crossbeam that holds the thatched roof. Quite the reminder for firearm safety.

Completely agree! On my last hunt I wounded an animal and lost it for the first time. I was not being charged for that which I immediately called out and paid for the animal. It is a point of honor to me. You draw blood you pay simple as that

I've heard PHs talk of hunters from one particaular western European country that were lousy tippers if anything at all. Personally, was in a venue where two other European "hunters" spent most of their free time with a glass of wine in their hands. First night in camp, ten bottles between them. LIke some in the states, I figured the hunt was just an excuse to get away from their wives and not hear a lot of crap about their drinking. Even with the best equipment money can buy, they had more misses than hits.

Altitude sickness said:

The worst customer I had was a “Minister”

He called wanting a break on a 4 day hunt for deer because he was a poor child of God spreading the gospel. Or some similar line of BS.

I gave him a ridiculous deal. I think 60% off on a firearm deer hunt. The absolute worst hunt to give a break on because I was always full.

I had a room in a building for hunters to meet in the morning for coffee and doughnuts. It was decorated with mounts and other hunting mementos.

He was struggling and it was obvious he didn’t know what he was doing. He was the last hunter without a deer the others had left.


I asked him to meet me back in the meeting room midday, and I would take him out and help him. when I arrived several of my mounts and other items were gone from the room, including a Dall sheep and large whitetail mount.

The man of God was a thief.

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When I was younger I worked at a place where all of the people in charge were nuns. They were easily one of the worst groups of people I have ever spent time around. Hopefully, that was a one-off.

They were using funds to buy themselves expensive personal items. They all had pets, and they were purchasing custom amish made enclosures that cost $3,000 each. Buying new cars, buying expensive art, etc. At the same time, they were cutting pay, cutting hours, cutting benefits for all of the non-nun staff and telling us that they couldn't afford to pay us or cover benefits that were agreed upon during hiring but it would get better and we were doing the lords work, of course. On top of it, they were truly nasty in the soul. There was one that was incredibly nice, very sweet woman. All the rest of them were very mean to her and talked trash about her behind her back.

Red Leg said:

He was on my right, the gun between us, when the butt struck and caused the gun to fire. The blast took off my hat (a horrible canvas thing with a wide brim that exuded hunting guide ) launching it several feet into the pond. I suspect that contributed as much to my tinnitus as three decades as a field artilleryman.

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I hunted with two guides that had clients have negligent discharges right next to their heads. One was an older gentleman who was just kind of bumbley in general. I was in camp at the time it happened but not present when it occurred. It was similar to your situation. He had dropped the butt of the gun to the ground and it wasn't on safe or pointed in a safe direction, went off right towards the guide.

Another guide, the client NDed right next to the guides head and shot the brim of his hat and gave him minor burns from the muzzle blast.

Red Leg said:

I think it speaks well for our pastime that the vast majority of them were great people, excellent sportsmen, and represent memories that I enjoy to this day. The only really bad experiences were invariably gun safety related.

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It is pretty impressive there aren't more injuries or issues considering how many close calls we hear about. Also considering, if you have ever gone to a public range and seen how badly many people handle firearms.

mark-hunter said:

Reading your other other posts for years, i could imagine that.

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Lol more like over a year lol....

About 20 years ago, I had a guy show up wanting an axis deer. He was shooting a .300 Win Mag.(important detail!)
I was driving a Jeep Scrambler with no doors. I had a rifle rack between us for holding the rifle while driving. I recommended several times he put the rifle in the rack, which he ignored. He insisted on carrying the rifle with the butt in his crotch.
I could still hear back then and kept hearing an audible click where he kept momentarily moving the safety on and off. I asked him again to please leave the rifle on safe and place in the rack. He ignored again.
The frequency of the safety clicking back in forth was like a nervous tick and I was rapidly reaching my threshold of patience. Something was about to come to a head(literally)!!!
I hit a deep armadillo hole at the same instant he clicked the safety on! The rifle barrel was straight up and a round fired off. His crotch took a direct hit from the .300! As he rolled out the open door of the Jeep, I reached over and grabbed his rifle. He lay on the ground unable to talk for quite some time as he held on to what remained of his nuts. There was absolutely no reason for me to say a word.
About ten minutes later when the fire ants started chewing on him, he finally got up and struggled back into the Jeep. I never said a word the entire time but the rifle was in the rack for the rest of the hunt.

Hogpatrol said:

I've heard PHs talk of hunters from one particaular western European country that were lousy tippers if anything at all. Personally, was in a venue where two other European "hunters" spent most of their free time with a glass of wine in their hands. First night in camp, ten bottles between them. LIke some in the states, I figured the hunt was just an excuse to get away from their wives and not hear a lot of crap about their drinking. Even with the best equipment money can buy, they had more misses than hits.

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Tipping is not part of European hunting culture. Something like 50-100 euros at the endbof the hunt on European hunts. Shared a camp with Spanish and German hunters in Namibia neither tipped beyond that 50-100 euros at the end. 10-20% would be very uncomfortable for a European to consider. This is my opinion there will be outliers.

I don't guide hunters, but do guide fishermen.

I wouldn't post on this thread, if I were a hunting guide.




Since, I'm not, I'll tell about my worst fishing client:

1st - the dude wasn't expecting me to even be there because the owner of the "venue" didn't explain to him that he was required to have a guide.

2nd - because of his resentment, he didn't do anything I suggested, then refused to fish with me, and asked me to help his wife.

3rd - I helped his wife catch many more trout than he was able to by himself, so he was absolutely livid at lunch.

The owner of the "venue" ask me to leave after lunch, but at least I got paid.

In this case, I believe the owner had the most blame, and the dude may have learned how to fish for trout (which he didn't), but whatever...

This incident was mainly a lack of communication between two parties where I was not involved.

Anyway, the wife absolutely "smoked" her husband!

Sabre said:

That's fair. I feel like it's sort of like HIPAA and if they just left it without identifying information (names, etc) it could be a fun thread. But I can see the other side of it as well if a client recognizes themselves and becomes offended.

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Omerta