This was a hunt that was booked on short notice with the CLIENT being unable to come to RSA due to illness. I think SAHUNT brings up a good point in that, under many circumstances, the deposit money would have already gone to various government fees, payments to subcontractors, food costs, etc. before the client even thought about backing out of the deal. This is particularly the case with DG hunts of course. The thing that got me about this case was that it was a relatively low end plains game hunt where there were very likely NO pre-paid trophy fees or costs in what I recall was a very short time between booking and theoretical arrival. As one guy pointed out on the original thread, it was quite likely that the only cost pre-hunt would probably be the PH filling the cruiser with petrol and buying food at the local grocer the day the client arrived. Given that, keeping a deposit because "A contract is a contract" seems slimy as all hell to me. What if the roles were reversed? Maybe I am a soft touch, but even if I had $5000 down on a Buff hunt, if the PH were killed or incapacitated unexpectedly two weeks before the hunt, I would feel like a real scumbag calling the widow and saying, "Hey, you owe me $5000 or a buff hunt". Sure, I MIGHT do a lighter version of that after several months, but not within short order of finding out about the death or illness. Frankly, I think the definition of morality is "Doing the right thing ESPECIALLY when it hurts".