Bowsite.com

Problems from the outset. I booked this hunt with two friends and my father. We initiated the booking in December of 2007 and January of 2008. The dates we needed were the weekend after thanksgiving. The problem was that the outfitter did not express the fact of the ranch being closed on Thanksgiving. Nor did he realize the dates that we requested were on that weekend. To his credit he did make arrangements for us to hunt after I informed him that some of us had already booked flights and it was those dates or return our money. One problem in the hunt was that my father has MS and is hit or miss on a weekly basis. Rusty was made aware of this in the early fall months ahead of the hunt. At the time he told me to let him know and if my father could not make it he would roll the deposit into my hunt or allow me to use it for other purposes. The week before the hunt my father ended up going into the hospital for tests and was not up to hunting. I called Rusty and informed him of this two days before our hunt. He stated that he could not give me that money back and would have allowed me to use it if he had more notice so he could fill the other spot. I have two problems with that. One, he had already told me he would as I had informed him of the possibility long in advance. Two, the ranch was supposed to be closed that weekend, who would he have gotten to fill in? So I ate the extra half a cost of hunting with him. After arrival we were greeted and Rusty explained what he counts as a point as his whitetail hunts are 8 or 9 points only and an extra fee of $1000 is assessed for anything over that count. Rusty explained that extra points off of a main point count, broken tines count and even a broken beam will be counted as a mirror of the opposite side. After we had booked, the website had been changed to read 8 or 9 point only. We were under the impression that if no deer meeting this criteria were seen a smaller buck could be taken. We were mistaken there also. Any buck under 8 shot points also had a fee assessed. $1000 in fact. The same fee for shooting a larger buck. No where on the website is that stated. All of these things set aside, we were convinced it would be a good hunt. So we headed off to the bunk house Rusty has on his website. But the guide was instructed to take us to the Crowell Guest House. Cozy, clean and two showers. But not the bunk house advertised and paid for. Not complete with a lake where catch and release fishing could be had. In fact Rusty had his family in town for the holidays. They stayed in the lodge that I had paid for. Also during the hunt, family members brought in an assortment of whitetail bucks. Some in the right categories we were imposed upon, some not. But hey, they are family. Onto the hunting. Rusty leases a large chunk of a working cattle ranch. The five stands that were made available to use were metal tower stands with metal siding. Not too bad. Feeders were all functional and full. Cattle were seen underneath almost every feeder every day. I personally witnessed cattle run smaller bucks out from under the feeders three times. When the trophy animals were not showing up, our guide decided to take us out for some hog hunts. The area he had located had some hog traps placed by someone else. We located the culprit. It turned out to be the ranch manager. When our guide informed Rusty he talked to the ranch manager about it as the land had indeed been leased for our hunting. In the end Rusty told our guide to stay out of the area. We did not get to hunt hog in the only area showing sign. It all ended up that each of us took a doe, one hunter saw an eight point that barely qualified and shot him, we were able to stalk up three hogs (due only to the vast capabilities of the guide, which he was later reprimanded for) and two of us got turkeys. All in all this was a very expensive hunt for me to take a small hog, a small doe and two turkeys. I will not be back. the guide Josh Sharp was top notch and I will hunt with him again as soon as I can.

Was the outfitter notified of problems? - NO