Bowsite.com

Hunter Comments

I will describe my “hunt” at Dos Plumas Hunting Ranch, if you don’t want to read the novel, here are the highlights: Between 6 guys hunting all day we saw between 20 and 30 pigs in a day and a half. One group of 20 that was running and a total of 5 that weren’t in that 1 running group. We were left alone for the entire first day. Brice said “I have to drive to San Antonio to pick up a load of rams and it’s just me here so you’re on your own.” The feeders are turned off in the morning. Brice said they don’t want to waste corn so he just throws out a couple cups of corn under the feeder when he drops you off. Had to take the guides 4 wheeler and recover a harvested hog. 4 of us spent an hour and a half doing Brice’s job instead of hunting. Had to drive our own truck through the ranch to drop off everyone for the evening hunt. Two guys in our group were expected to sleep in the same room as a married couple, even though there were two vacant rooms, Brice said he didn’t want to have to clean another room. Even though their website says “Also included in your hunt is lodging in our new lodge now available. Our lodge has two private rooms for those who like to travel with their spouses or young children, and a common sleeping area, two baths and a fully stocked kitchen. “ One guy slept in his truck and the other on the couch in the main room. We were in one of the original rooms and our “beds” were box springs. I realized on the last day that they had taken the mattresses off of the box springs to use them in the new rooms, so old rooms have just the box springs and the new rooms have just a mattress. The pillows were disgusting and stained. They advertise a “nightly campfire” that didn’t happen. There was a fire pit there but no firewood. There was also no charcoal for the grill and no propane grill available. I understand cutting costs but maybe they should tell people upfront to bring things like charcoal or paper towels. Might bring your own TP as well as Brice had to walk to his house our second day there to get us 1 roll. The last day of our hunt we had to leave a hog without even looking for it because Brice would not answer his phone or his door.

Now the Novel: Here is the experience I had at Dos Plumas Hunting Ranch. 6 of us headed down to hunt hogs on their ranch. We arrived Friday night and met Brice. He had us wait around while he cleaned the lodge and we sat around talking with a guy out of the group that was finishing up their hunt. He told us this place is a joke, and that they’d seen like 4 hogs in 2 days, he said when they showed up the group before them told them they had the same experience. After they left Brice assured us that those groups were lazy and old, they had a couple of younger guys walking around trying to scare up hogs for the old guys to shoot and that they had missed their shots. A married couple showed up that would be hunting the same days with us so Brice took us all in the lodge and went over the rules, and had us all sign paperwork. He told us he’d pick us up at 6 in the morning to drop us at our stands. He told us to pick our beds in the two rooms, and that two people from my group would have to sleep in the same room as the married couple. He said they do have the new rooms now but he doesn’t want us in there because that’s just more for him to clean when we leave. He then told us that he had to run to San Antonio the next day to pick us some rams so we would be on our own after he left. He said sorry but I’m the only guy working here and there is nothing I can do, the keys will be in the 4 wheeler if you kill something and you all can walk back after your morning hunt. We should have just left but we’d already driven 7 hours from Wichita KS for this “hunt.” The next morning Brice takes us to our stands and gets out and throws a cup or two of corn under each feeder. He said the hogs weren’t coming to the feeders in the morning so he’d turned them off to save save corn. After he dropped us all off he left for the day. I should also mention we have yet to see this place in the day light and he didn’t have any maps for us the night before when we asked for them. He said another group had left with them but it’ll be easy to find your way back. So I sit all morning and see zero hogs. Our plan was to hunt for 2 hours in the morning and then spot and stalk our way back to the lodge after that. When I got back to the lodge I heard one of our guys had shot a hog and we went and got the 4 wheeler and went and found him and the hog. We field dressed it to make it lighter and the 4 of us to carried it up the hill 100 yards to the 4 wheeler. By the time we got it back and unloaded we’d spent at least an hour and a half. That was time we could have spent hunting if we had the guide we’d paid for. One of the guys in our group used his truck to take us out for the evening hunt. The feeders did go off at 5:30 like Brice said they would but zero hogs came into the 8 feeders that being hunted that night. My feeder kicked out a lot of corn but the other guys complained that their feeder went off for maybe a second and barely dribbled any corn. Brice hung around the lodge that night. This pissed off a couple of the guys and they stayed outside away from him. I asked Brice how many hogs were on the ranch and he told me that “by my figures, there are 698.” He said that of course he couldn’t account for any that had died or that someone shot and left, but he kept track of the ones released and subtracted the ones the hunters had harvested and that number is 698. He said it’s just thick out there, you gotta go real slow. He said he’d pick us up in the morning at 6 again. So 6 am comes and Brice shows up in his sweatpants to take us to our stands. It was the same routine of throwing cups of corn under the feeders to save money. We spot and stalk back to the lodge after two hours and find that one of our guys has shot a hog but can’t find it. We call Brice and no answer, knock on his door and no answer. Finally at 10:30 we pack up and leave, driving past Brice’s truck as we go. Brice sent a text message that afternoon thanking us for coming. So there’s a dead hog out there somewhere he still doesn’t know of and made no attempt to find. Maybe that is what happened to the 660 pigs that do not exist on the ranch? We drove the 7 hours home with our $2,050 hog and could do nothing but laugh at what a joke this operation is. I should also mention the reason we went on this trip is because one of my buddies had gone a couple years ago and had a great time and saw a ton of hogs. This was at their old ranch which is a whitetail operation now. The new Dos Plumas is on a different property. If you read old reviews realize that they were on a different property.

Was the outfitter notified of problems? - NO

Outfitter's Response

I do not feel this review is entirely truthful. However, I do wish to respond. I'm not going to call a man a lier, but I do hope that others reading this review realize that just because someone writes something on a review does not mean its entirely true. Members of the group had smart remarks about the rules of the ranch and argued with me about them during the orientation. I stopped responding to the comments and figured they were just tired from the drive. What I should of done was asked them to leave then, but I gave them another chance. The second time I should have asked them to leave was the next day when I found several of them drinking in the field, which is a direct violation of the rules that we have had in place since we started the ranch. Rules that they all signed the day before. Weapons and acohol do not mix and we will not waver on that rule for anyone. As that rule is in place to keep everyone safe. Normally when people have a slow hunt, which they did, I will let them come back for a do over hunt. I want everyone to have a great experience at Dos Plumas Ranch. However, this group is not welcome back to the ranch because they chose not to respect the ranch or the rules. I am though sorry for some of the circumstances that did not allow you to have an enjoyable hunt. As far as some of the comments stating I disrespected other hunters, that is ridiculous.