Bowsite.com

Hunter Comments

In order to give an accurate review I am going to break this down into multiple areas that most hunters are looking for in a hunt: 1.)THE HUNT: In my hunt I seen 21 deer while siting for 40+ hours. 14 were bucks and 6 were does, of the 14 bucks 12-were 1.5 year olds/2-were 2.5 (110 class deer)/1 was a 3.5 year old (130+ class). I went with 2 other guys and they saw a combined 24 deer, of these 12 were bucks- 8 were 1.5 years olds/3 were 2.5 year olds (110-115 class)/ 2 were 3.5 year olds (125+ class). There was no kills and of the 3 shooters none were within range/able to shoot. 2.)THE LAND: They have some great land. The oak ridges can be hard to hunt with plenty of places for these bucks to hide. Our guide made the comment several times that its nearly impossible to pattern these mature bucks because of the land. I did not see much for crop fields (corn/soy beans/etc..). I did hunt over a food plot that was just dirt, mostly was due to kentucky's lack of rain this summer/fall. 3.)THE GUIDE: Harry was great. He was very positive and seemed to be very helpful. I only see Mike (the owner) for a very short time-with limited conversation. 4.)FOOD: the food was good, I think that in this type of hunt you coudn't ask for much more. I was full when I left the table. 5.)LODGE: once again this was good. It was good enough to sleep and spend some of time when I wasn't in the my tree. 6.)PROBLEMS WITH THE HUNT: I felt that while planning this hunt and discussing things with Mike, I was not told the complete truth. I ask him how many people would be in camp for my week-he stated 6 and left out the fact that there would be 19 people dispersed over 3 camps. I asked him how many people he takes in per year-he stated 33-35 hunters-our guide told us they take in over 70 hunters per year. some other problems that was obvious to everyone at our camp was that his property is WAY over hunted, these farms are being hunted week after week. The stands are placed in order for you to see deer or at least some deer but are not positioned correctly and with absolutely no shooting holes to speak of therefor making any kind of shot nearly impossible. 7.) SUCCESS: Out of 19 hunters that hunted with TROPHY HUNTS UNLIMITED during my week ONLY 2 were successful-this is a 10% success rate (the 2 bucks killed were only rough 125", our guide told us this). Only 4 hunters had an opportunity at shooter bucks(1 of these hunters said that the buck he shot at probably was only 120")-thats only a 21% opportunity rate. Remember they have a minimal size of 130". 8)RECOMMEDATION: I would probably not recommend this outfitter although I did like the land and I thought our personal guide (Harry) was good. The properties are just extreemly over hunted, they have very weak numbers in shooter bucks-(mostly due to the pressure). I see these guys slowly going out of business unless they start to manage their properties better. There was also 2 guys from our camp that left early due to the poor hunting and we heard that 2-3 other guys from a different camp also left early--I guess I don't blame them!

Was the outfitter notified of problems? - NO

Outfitter's Response

In order to agree/disagree w/ Randy's confusing review let me take the time to break down his in-accurate account(s) of the weeks events.

Agreed- Randy, his father, and uncle observed 46 whitetails in 5 days 26 of which were bucks. Agreed- Randy, his father, and uncle saw numerous 11/2-2/1/2 yr. old bucks because we have a 130 minimum and manage our properties correctly. Agreed- Randy, his father, and uncle all saw shooter 130+ bucks. Disagree- "there were no kills and of the 3 shooters none were w/in range"? Randy between the 3 of you, 5 shooters were observed, and your uncle missed one! Remember your father, uncle, and I finding his clean arrow at 1000 p.m., apparently not? Agreed- our housing and food in very good, thank you. Agreed- our fall food plots are a bust due to the lack of rain, however all 3 of you were hunting hard wood ridges that contained a mass crop of white oaks that you yourself observed the deer eating. Agreed- the farm you were hunting is 4000 continuous acres and whitetails in the "rut" are very hard to pattern.

Your problems w the hunt are baffling? "Mike did not tell you the truth"? - you had 6 hunters in your camp - thats what he told you? Trophy Hunts Unlimited does accommodate 30-35 bow hunters a year, we have 6000 acres? As for over hunted, your group had their own farm and it had not been hunted in over three weeks prior to your arrival? Stand locations - you were with me when i placed them for you, no complaints then?

Bottom line, I , Harry, guide, co-owner spent 5 mornings, days, evenings w/ this group. @ the end of each hunt/day the entire days events were discussed. Not once did Randy, his father, or uncle mention any of these issues in Randy's review? I have attempted to contact Randy and his father w/ no response.

Because we do things the right way at Trophy Hunts Unlimited we are offering Randy, his father, and uncle a 3 day hunt, FREE OF CHARGE if they wish to come back- Randy give us a call.

As for the 2 gentleman that left early from Randy's camp. They had another hunt scheduled they had to get to.