I was not an English major, excuse my writing:
This is a very long story, I'm sure there will be a lot of feedback, I think?
Quick back story. I graduated with a wildlife biology degree from Southwest Texas State University in 2005, I got introduced to the owner (of said ranch) from a friend of mine that is about to buy this ranch. I built the high fence and recommended what he should do goring forward. Come 20 years later, I have been managing the ranch, running hunts, all my clients, word of mouth. This is not a commercial place by all means, but a great place to go (averages $50,000 on hunts a year). I work 2 full time jobs, married with 2 kids, so this is a 3rd job during the hunting season. I got into a heated argument with the owner's wife recently about pricing. I typically run 5-7 weekends of hunts a year during the whitetail season, a few dove hunts, a few exotic hunts in the summer and some turkey hunts. I usually sub out the Turkey/deer hunts to Lone Oak Adventures, which is a good friend of mine since I was a kid. Our prices are with guide fees and lodging included, so my price for a 190 inch deer is $9000, I let Lone Oak Adventures come in and shoot a 195 inch deer, I charged them $8500, gave them a $500 discount. She proceeded to call me out on this discount, not just once, but 5 times. I don't make a dime off of any hunts, just what I make in tips. My other guides get paid $150/day plus tips. My kids get to shoot some management deer, which is around 130 inch deer for my work that I do out there. This past year we grossed around $86,000 in hunts, which is pretty good for a small place like ours. All the owner said for the past 20 years, just make enough money to pay for protein, which I have been doing. So the Wife proceeded to act like I have been taking advantage of the place and acted like everytime I give a hunter a discount, Im taking money from them and or possibly pocketing money, which is not true. I only run a few weekends of hunts and when I have someone that already paid full price on their target animal, I give them a little discount on another animal, which they would probably never shoot, but a good salesman would do this, looking out for the best interest of the ranch. She proceeded to tell me that I have no authority to give discounts and they are broke, so any discount that I give will break them.
, Then told me that my kids get to shoot whatever they want for free, I bring my friends down for free, etc., I have never let any of my friends hunt for free, they have always paid for the weekend and most of them are just shooting does and taking the meat with them which is a huge help and blessing. I am in charge of all the cameras, looking at every picture everyday to make sure we shoot the right animal and make sure they are always of age to harvest. I book every hunt, talk to every client, half the time I ended up cooking for the hunters on top of cleaning all their animals, most weekends by myself. They have always let me come and go as I please, take the kids fishing, shoot some does, cull bucks, etc., that was the trade off. She always wants me to do a spreadsheet every year of who kills what, price for the animal, when they took a ****, lol, basically everthing. I do all the work from signing waivers, sighting guns, all the MLD paperwork, sending in harvest numbers to the state biologist, all the cleaning, most of the cooking.
So when is it enough to stand up to her, knowing I could potentially lose a place I have been going to for 20 years now, where my kids have shot phenomenal animals, fishing, dove hunting, turkey hunting, etc.
The one discount wasn't the only instance, I do it for some of my repeating clients, but nothing that I thought would break the bank.
She told me that if I keep this up, it will be the cause of her divorce.
This is a very long story, I'm sure there will be a lot of feedback, I think?
Quick back story. I graduated with a wildlife biology degree from Southwest Texas State University in 2005, I got introduced to the owner (of said ranch) from a friend of mine that is about to buy this ranch. I built the high fence and recommended what he should do goring forward. Come 20 years later, I have been managing the ranch, running hunts, all my clients, word of mouth. This is not a commercial place by all means, but a great place to go (averages $50,000 on hunts a year). I work 2 full time jobs, married with 2 kids, so this is a 3rd job during the hunting season. I got into a heated argument with the owner's wife recently about pricing. I typically run 5-7 weekends of hunts a year during the whitetail season, a few dove hunts, a few exotic hunts in the summer and some turkey hunts. I usually sub out the Turkey/deer hunts to Lone Oak Adventures, which is a good friend of mine since I was a kid. Our prices are with guide fees and lodging included, so my price for a 190 inch deer is $9000, I let Lone Oak Adventures come in and shoot a 195 inch deer, I charged them $8500, gave them a $500 discount. She proceeded to call me out on this discount, not just once, but 5 times. I don't make a dime off of any hunts, just what I make in tips. My other guides get paid $150/day plus tips. My kids get to shoot some management deer, which is around 130 inch deer for my work that I do out there. This past year we grossed around $86,000 in hunts, which is pretty good for a small place like ours. All the owner said for the past 20 years, just make enough money to pay for protein, which I have been doing. So the Wife proceeded to act like I have been taking advantage of the place and acted like everytime I give a hunter a discount, Im taking money from them and or possibly pocketing money, which is not true. I only run a few weekends of hunts and when I have someone that already paid full price on their target animal, I give them a little discount on another animal, which they would probably never shoot, but a good salesman would do this, looking out for the best interest of the ranch. She proceeded to tell me that I have no authority to give discounts and they are broke, so any discount that I give will break them.
, Then told me that my kids get to shoot whatever they want for free, I bring my friends down for free, etc., I have never let any of my friends hunt for free, they have always paid for the weekend and most of them are just shooting does and taking the meat with them which is a huge help and blessing. I am in charge of all the cameras, looking at every picture everyday to make sure we shoot the right animal and make sure they are always of age to harvest. I book every hunt, talk to every client, half the time I ended up cooking for the hunters on top of cleaning all their animals, most weekends by myself. They have always let me come and go as I please, take the kids fishing, shoot some does, cull bucks, etc., that was the trade off. She always wants me to do a spreadsheet every year of who kills what, price for the animal, when they took a ****, lol, basically everthing. I do all the work from signing waivers, sighting guns, all the MLD paperwork, sending in harvest numbers to the state biologist, all the cleaning, most of the cooking.So when is it enough to stand up to her, knowing I could potentially lose a place I have been going to for 20 years now, where my kids have shot phenomenal animals, fishing, dove hunting, turkey hunting, etc.
The one discount wasn't the only instance, I do it for some of my repeating clients, but nothing that I thought would break the bank.
She told me that if I keep this up, it will be the cause of her divorce.
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