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Hunter Comments

If you are looking for a quality place to hunt that knows what they are doing, DO NOT CHOOSE THE QUAIL SHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To give you a short version, the Quail Shed was so disorganized and had so many issues that out of the week hunt that we booked we only stayed two days. To give credit to Don, the owner of the Quail Shed, we were given a partial refund and offered a discounted hunt in the future, however the place was so bad that we would never consider going back, not even for a free hunt. It's not about whether we harvested a deer or not (which we did not) it's about providing a good experience for the hunters that choose your outfitter and it's about being HONEST, which the Quail Shed is not. There are no guarantees in deer hunting, but there should be guarantees in the service that you receive. I could write you a book on the reasons not to choose the Quail Shed, however I refuse to receive anymore nasty emails from the Quail Shed's booking agent CLIFFORD NEAMES. If anyone is interested in knowing more of what happened, please do not hestitate to contact me and I will share our nightmare story with you, as well as the emails sent to me by CLIFFORD as well as my emails to the Quail Shed. We have nothing to gain from this, we just don't want anyone else to lose out on money or get a bad taste for hunting through an outfitter because of the Quail Shed. To my knowledge Clifford Neames also books hunts for other agencies as well, HUNTERS BEWARE if you see the name CLIFFORD NEAMES attached to any hunt you are looking to book!!!!!!!

******The two young guides were nice...Steve and another...I do not recall his name. They were nice and trying to do what they could. Don and Cliff Shame on you! Honesty wins everytime.

Was the outfitter notified of problems? - YES

Outfitter's Response

Gees, where to start? I booked an access only hunt for this woman and her husband, which was to be their very first hunt with an outfitter. I told the husband to please feel free to call me at any time to discuss the hunt, prior to their arrival, and also after they got to the Quail Shed and I would be glad to share any information I had about the property they would be hunting on. The husband called several times, asking different questions, including asking me if I knew where they would be hunting. I made a phone call to Don's guy in charge, and then told the husband which property we thought they would hunt. But, due to unanticipated changes it turned out that was incorrect. There was also some bad communication while Don, the owner, was in the hospital.

When the time came for their hunt, I was away from my office, out of state, but I called the Quail Shed to confirm their arrival. I was told they were not there yet. The hurricane had just hit NY, and I was concerned that they might be held up, but it turned out that I was just wrong about their arrival date. Once their hunt began, I never heard another word from them, so I figured they were happy.

A few days later, I called to see how things were going, and was told that they had gone home. Apparently, after some problems on their hunt they decided to end it early. Don had tried several options to make it up to them, including a refund and the offer to finish the hunt for free. They had hunted three days out of the five scheduled, which if you broke it up into individual days would have been $600 per day for the two of them. The husband decided how much he thought was a fair amount, which was $2300, or $500 more than Don would have actually owed them if they had paid on a daily rate, and Don gave them that amount in a cash refund. After they refused to stay and finish the hunt, Don offered a free hunt in 2013 as well, but that was turned down too. At that point, Don figured that he had done more than he should have, but at least it was settled!

After they got home, I got a call from the husband asking me to contact Don again, and ask him to consider a total refund, which I did. But, there was a problem. It seemed that Melissa had it in her mind that somehow the Quail Shed is a crooked organization, out to dupe people. She started calling folks liars, and implied that I am an uneducated man, incapable of comprehending what she wrote in the email that she sent to me, but which she thought was being sent to Don. And, when I asked her to reconsider, she told me that she wasn't mad at me at first, but now I was "on the list"! Confusing isn't it!

So, should we listen to the other thirty, or so, people who hunted at the Quail Shed this season apparently without feeling cheated? How about the man who hunted the property they left, and shot a nice buck the very next day? I think that speaks volumes about this. Or, should we just chalk this up to "You can't please everyone, all of the time"? I assure you that Don trys very hard to make sure people hunting at the Quail Shed have a great time. Does that always happen? Obviously not!

Actually, I consider this to be a strange, but vindictive, attack on myself personally, and not really an Outfitter Report, which is a little hard to understand, since I was just trying to help these folks go on a nice hunt. So, as silly as this may sound to some who might read all of this, I also have all of the emails concerning this hunt, and will gladly share them with anyone who has any doubts about dealing with me, or booking a hunt at the Quail Shed. I believe that this woman has the intent of "ruining" me, but the facts are not that hard to discern. She seems, in my opinion, to be unable to handle the truth, and mad cause she didn't get her way! And, I confess.... Once I saw how this was going to go, I may have tweaked her just a tad! Sorry Melissa, you're on a list now too.... OUTFITTERS BEWARE!

I will stand on my reputation of many years with many happy clients, and also vouch for the integrity of the Quail Shed. I also invite you to read all of the previous Outfitter Reports. Of course they have made a few mistakes along the way, but Don is an honest man, and runs a legitimate operation.

I do need to add that I am not speaking for Don, as I am only his booking agent at this point, and no longer directly in charge of the deer hunts at the Quail Shed. If he decides that he wants to respond this, I have no doubt that his report of the facts will support what I have written here. I know that he is extremely dismayed that this couple was not happy on their hunt, and even more that after asking for an receiving what they wanted they decided later to launch this attack. I would also like to add that I dealt with the husband exclusively when the hunt was booked, but the wife has apparently been in charge of this hatchet job. He seemed like such a nice guy!

Happy Hunting, Clifford Neames