Bowsite.com

Hunter Comments

Where to begin.. First, I want to say Jeff seems like a good guy who is a very smart business man. He was there the first night for 15 min to collect everyone's money and never saw him the rest of the week, no biggie. We got to the south camp and suddenly realized there were more guys in camp than the 6 man limit, 8 guys including myself and seven of which were in two bedrooms and two bath cabin. Everyone thankfully got along great and there were no issues but don't state a 6 man limit per camp when clearly that was not the case. Make sure you think about taking care of yourself the first night for dinner as my group of 4 had NO idea there would be no food the first night and this was never told to us by the outfitter. No drinks either for the first two days until we had to ask the guides to pick some up for camp. Again, if we had been told these things prior to the hunt it would not have even been thought about but when things aren't what your website clearly states then that's a problem. Was NOT a very professionally run operation at all and the hunting was way to slow for the amazing conditions we had while there. Very cold conditions with light snow was the weather for the week with light to moderate winds. Absolutely great deer hunting weather but movement was not very good. Guys were sitting all day seeing anywhere from 1 deer to 12 deer all day. Stand locations seemed WAY over hunted as there were very noticeable paths to each stand location from previous hunters. I believe these farms are extremely over hunted with a local guy running around on a 4 wheeler at night to check all the trail cams on YOUR hunting ground. I did shoot a 140 in buck on the second morning which was cool, but the overall experience for the group was not the greatest and for sure was not a trip of a lifetime. Guys that were in camp with us had previously been there for two years and told us they would not be returning as the hunting had gone downhill and wasn't the same. They went home with zero deer out of three guys. The guide Jordan was ok but cussed like a sailor and if you like that kinda thing then you will get along just fine. This was my first outfitted trip and won't be my last but unfortunately will not be coming back to hunt with hickory Creek. I'm sure Jeff will try to disagree with what I have said but I have only stated the absolute truth about our experience to help hunters in the future who want to spend 3000.00 and go with Hickory Creek. I'm a big believer in tell me the truth upfront and everything will be fine, but time and time again we had to find out the hard way. Anyone with questions please feel free to email me. There were other things that weren't right with the outfit, but I don't have the time to go on and on. Peace

Was the outfitter notified of problems? - NO

Outfitter's Response

Darin.

You are correct in stating that there were 8 hunters in camp.There was one group of 3 that came together, in one bedroom (400 sq ft) with there own bath. Your group of 4 in one bedroom (400 sq ft) with your own bath and one hunter that came by himself, in his own bedroom and bath.The single hunter shot the second morning and left. Your correct in stating that i stopped by to collect everyone's balance. But when i did i told everyone in camp that the meals didn't start till the first hunting day.That's why the other group brought food to grill on their own for witch your group indulged .Some folks go up town and get pizza or whatever. I also spent time telling everyone that we had some big bucks on the farm and had trail cam pic's to prove it ( ranch manager collects the sd cards at night so we don't disturb the hunting area). . Also added that there would be a $800 fine for bucks killed below the 135" minimum.Correct me if I'm wrong but EVERY HUNTER in camp ether got a buck or had a shot that missed or wounded a deer. You, your brother and dad all killed and your friend missed. Pretty good for a over hunted property!!Also that property is a cattle ranch that is grazed in the summer so we use some of the cattle trails to get to our stands because they are clear of debris. That might be the worn down trails of witch you speak?. As you stated i was not made aware of any issues you or your group had during your hunt so i had no chance to address any problems you encountered during your stay.I'm truly sorry your experience at Hickory Creek Outfitters fell short of your exceptions, we try hard to make everyone's hunt as good as we can with the things we can control.You booked your hunt a year in advance and we had good communication before your arrival and i wish i could have spent more time getting to know you and your dad, but unfortunately I'm always spread so thin. I also have to say I'm sorry for Jordan's language, if i had a dollar for every time he cussed i could afford to feed everyone on the arrival day too. LOL Good luck on you next outfitted hunt.