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Hunter Comments

Weather was hot and dry as expected. Was told best time to hunt. 5 hunters in camp and no shots for the exotic package. no hogs to shoot. 4 day hunt, left after 3rd day. tired of sitting in a blind and watching does. Talked to jim about the poor conditions, lack of game, and the way we were being treated, his reply was "it is what it is". All I can say is hunter beware and ask alot of questions before booking your hunts. I learned the hard way.

Was the outfitter notified of problems? - YES

Outfitter's Response

WOW Harry..... Normally I would just turn the other cheek and not throw gas on the fire…..sooo instead of "Gas" I will throw some "FACTs" on that fire so no one else gets burned!!

I won't pretend that I'm writing this to change Harry’s reality of the hunt he had with me, because I’m not--this is solely done from a “damage control” stand point and I will not pretend to do so otherwise.

The very first conversation that Harry and I had was about how he was going to sue the last outfitter he was supposed to hunt with—the guy really did sound like a scum-bag, but it sure did set me back on my heels that he would share this much with me on the initial “handshake” conversation. I don’t know if this was his way of putting me on notice or what, but I did find this awkward at best!

Harry couldn’t wait to get out in the stand so I figured this guy showed up to Bowhunt Hard…On the first morning he saw 5 Axis Bucks of which 3 were shooters along with about 30 other Critters—he was ecstatic when I picked him up even though he voiced his displeasure when the “Biggest Axis He Had Ever Seen” didn’t stop when it passed through his shooting lane without allowing him to release the arrow he had drawn. The buck grazed behind the blind for a few minutes and then moved off—he told me that he considered trying to shoot out the back door or trying to put a sneak on him but didn’t because he didn’t want to spook the Brute.

That evening he saw a jet black Black-Buck along with some others that he thought were legal Black-Bucks—he chose not to shoot, I think he said that he was fixated on killing a Big Axis…They do have that effect on ya I know, so that was understandable.

The 2nd morning he was still a bit down about not arrowing the Big Axis Buck, and believe me he kept telling everyone, but he was basically still really excited as far as I could tell—he only saw Does and small Bucks so his enthusiasm seemed to me to be starting to fade…After that evening I walked in on him while he was voicing his displeasure about what he saw/didn’t see that day to the other Bowhunters—awkward!!!!

The 3rd morning I sensed that he was feeling a bit panicked about the hunt now for some reason—Guys I do my best with what tools the Good Lord has given me, I’m not a psychiatrist or even sensitive (my Wife’s words not mine). After the morning hunt I again walked in on him telling the others how displeased he was with me, but this time I had heard more than I think he had hoped for…He preceded to ask me to come outside so he could talk with me.

When we got out on the porch he made the statement that he thought “I wasn’t paying enough attention to him and 2 of the other guys so he was gonna leave a day and a half early”… I told him you mean to tell me that you drove over 2,000 miles and are unwilling to finish out your hunt even though you had got into some really Big Bucks—he said yes and that he was not going to hunt that evening and was just gonna leave because the Big Bucks weren’t coming into the blinds.

Ok, for those of you out there that have never had the pleasure of Guiding (and I’m serious about this)—most of us Outfitters take what we do very seriously and take it to heart when someone feels like they didn’t have a good hunt. I gotta tell ya that I was soo disgusted with Harry that I really wasn’t gonna keep trying to make him stay. He had riled up an 76 year old Gentleman ( that up to that point I feel was having a good time) by constantly bombarding him with so much negativism that frankly I felt he was like a malignant cancer in camp and I wasn’t gonna give him a 3rd or 4th pep talk, whatever that one would have been. Folk usually my passion for Bowhunting Hard is contagious, but not this time I guess—I’m used to Bowhunting very hard and I can’t understand it when someone just gives up like that!

I couldn’t wrap my mind around how a Guy was ready to kiss me on the mouth after the first day and then wanted to punch me in my same mouth the next day. I hope that I didn’t appear to be disrespecting Harry with my rebuttal, but Harry’s report is just outrageous and at best selective memory.

Respectfully, Jim Titchenell Bowhunter’s Paradise Ranch 830-563-7700