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Hunter Comments

I arrived on Thursday (23 Oct 08) around 2 p.m. and left Sunday @ noon. The reason that this trip was so cheap is because it was booked through a local archery shop. The cost was $400.00 a hunter, 20 hunters use 2 consecutive weeks, 12 hunters the first week, 8 hunters the second; the owner told me that he gave us a "discounted price to try to get more bow hunters to come to the PA-KO plantation".

On the Friday morning after it quit raining, we were taken out and told to scout and find a suitable tree to put our climbers on. The next day, Saturday, they forgot to arrange for someone to take use out. We had to call the Manager, who called the owner. He and his son took 2 of us to our stands. I arrived at my climber @ 6:10 a.m.

After talking to some of the other hunters, on Sunday I talked to the owner of the PA_KO Plantation (J.Paul Taylor), which was the day I left, to discuss some issues that arose during my stay. He told me that he was not really set up to handle bow hunters. The statement on his website about the "1000" acres set aside for "BOWHUNTERS ONLY" was and 8-9 years old statement and he needs to delete that off of the website. He rotates locations for bow hunters around the 5000 acres that is part of the plantation, so the bow hunter area this year might be a gun hunter area next year. He also stated that "gun hunters are how he makes his money". Every stand/location that I was put in/on had a shooting house less than 100 yards from it and someone had sat there the week before. Our guides, were NOT GUIDES, but people that work for him on the plantation, they are NOT BOW HUNTERS and the owner stated this fact to me. One member of the hunting party was taken out by the plantation manager, but when asked about wind direction and hunting/stand placement the manager stated "I don't know anything about that what do you guys think". When asked about the ladder stands the owner (J.Paul Taylor) stated that the stands are geared more towards the gun hunter. I asked him about a lock on climber that I sat in that had grown into the tree, J.Paul told me that the stands pays off year after year and as long it’s a live tree there was no reason to move it or do maintenance on the stand, 2 out of the 8 hunters were successful in taking an 8 & 9 point (one doe was never found). The food, room & lodge were OUTSTANDING. I would NOT recommend this outfitter to a bow hunter. I would recommend it to a gun hunter.

Was the outfitter notified of problems? - YES

Outfitter's Response

In my eleven years of guiding/outfitting I have come to realize that it is impossible to make every hunter successful. There are too many variables. A genuine effort towards helping a hunter achieve success is all you can do. Anything less is unacceptable at PA-KO Plantation. The facts of the hunt are these. Mr. Hill purchased a discounted hunt from an archery shop. This hunt was discounted to promote the bow hunting opportunities at PA-KO Plantation. (See other pa-ko reviews on Bowsite) All hunters were instructed to provide climbing stands with safety belts and transportation to and from their hunting areas. Mr. Hill failed to provide transportation resulting in him and his partner having to be taken to their stands by my son and myself. They arrived at their areas at 5:45 am cst. Daybreak is 6:15 am cst. 8 hunters in Mr. Hill’s party harvested 2 mature bucks and one doe. In addition there were 3 missed shots. Several of these hunters never killed a deer with a bow. I consider a 40% success rat on this hunt to well above average. Mr. Hill was the only hunter not to see any deer.I suspect this happened because of poor luck and poor skills. See no deer slam outfitter with bad/fictitious review.Funny how that happens. Mr. Hill and his group were each assigned approximately 100 ac to hunt Each area had greenfeilds nut trees And active buck sign. Since Mr.Hill hunted the second week of bow season the entire plantation was bow only. It is impossible for 20 bow hunters to over pressure 5000 ac in two weekends. Finally there is no such thing as a “lock on climber”.Mr Hill was to be using his stand not mine. It is apparent that Mr. Hill came to PA-KO Plantation with two objectives, to kill a deer and write a review. I’m truly sorry he was only partially successful.

J.Paul Taylor Pa-ko Plantation