Wide Rack Outfitters
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after much research we booked for the most part, many of ours first guided hunt. reading many reviews on here, and nothing but great comments, I reached out to mike connett. right from the beginning mike was great, I called him during November of 2016 so I know he was a busy guy, but he answered all questions and spoke on the phone to me no problem. right off the bat he was accommodating. he normally only takes 6 guys, we had a group of 8. he said his land could handle it,3 different camps between 750-1000 acres, but sleeping arrangements could be tricky, but he would work it out. we booked right there. I spoke with mike several times through out the year, regarding questions, payments, what was going on out there. etc. I will say this mike did not over load us with trail cam pics pre season, he sent us a few to keep us waiting, some guys were nervous about this but, I assured them the proof is in all his kill pics.
I chose wide rack because mike seemed great. his operation seemed legit. by the pictures and reviews he had good deer. but at the same time mike didn't impose a fine, if you shot a lesser buck. not that we went there to shoot smaller deer, but many of my group had never killed a large buck, so not having the pressure of worrying about a fine, was a plus to many of us. but don't let that fool you. mike has good bucks there, and has taken deer on his properties well into the 180class mike offers 3 camps, we hunted main camp, as it included meals and lodging. we arrived in town a few hours early and mike said head straight over, and was there waiting to welcome us. we were shown a very nice lodge/house for us to stay in. very clean and roomy. and mike accommodated our larger group by adding a couple futons, which was more the good for us. mike also has a "clean room" for all your hunting gear, to keep scent free. from there mike took us around the property in his 6 passenger machine, to get an idea what the land was like and show us few spots. that night, we had a great home cooked meal by mikes wife, which we had every night, and none of it disappointed. every meal was great and no one left hungry.
the hunt. each hunt mike takes you right to a trail, with very clear bright eye tacks,both in and out, to get you to and from treestands very easy. one thing I realized was hunting in ohio seems to be super weather dependant, more so then where I'm from in new York. the first day we woke up to crazy thunder and lighting storms, which lasted til a little while before light, as soon as the radar cleared, mike scurried to get us all out asap. most of us were in our stands settled just before shooting light, the rest of the day was cool and on and off showers, but limited deer movement. the same kind of conditions greeted us tueday, with heavy rains in the morning followed by a misty day and plummeting temperatures, but limited deer movment. by Wednesday the weather turns crispy cold and clear, with highs in the high 40s to low 50s and lows around 30, with the last day having a high of only 33. perfect for early November. the action began. aside from Monday, every hunter had good steady action. does, young bucks, and shooter bucks. over all there was approximately 8 or 9 shooters seen for the week, from 125 to one slammer that broke the 150" mark. and many other decent bucks. we only had one kill for the week, but that's not because mike didn't do his job. hunting rutting bucks with a bow is no easy task. not only trying to get them in range, and clear shots, and to stop behind does. we had many close calls. the hunter that killed, got excited and jumped the gun and shot a smaller deer about 105". not two minutes after the shot, there shoot a beast of an old high racked buck, and 11 or 12 point in the 150-160" standing in front of the hunter at 15 yards and all he could do was watch him as he posed for a perfect shot and walked out of his life. we have the pictures to prove this. I did not harvest a deer, but did have a chance at killing a nice 120" buck which I elected to pass. most hunters had a chance to atleast see a shooter, so we knew they were there. mike stayed on us, we hunted hard and he moved us accordingly to try and get us on deer. when the hunter did kill, mike tracked the deer with ease, and also has his own tracking dogs on site, for lesser shots. he got the deer out of the woods and drove it right to a near by processor for us.
at the end of the hunt, I asked my group, were they all happy. without a doubt everyone was, although we didn't all kill, you can not base the quality of the hunt soley on that. mike connett and his wife are great people and run a class act straight forward operation. he works hard to give you a chance, but at the end of the day this is wild fair chase bowhunting. every one in the group said they would for sure book again with mike, and we may very well do so next year, but we will be back! sorry for the long winded report, but I feel wide rack outfitters deserves it, it was a great week, thanks again mike!!
Mike, Elena and I really enjoyed having you and your group in camp! In spite of some less than perfect weather you all kept a positive attitude and hunted HARD! Just the kind of Archers we love to host! Thank you for the kind words! We look forward to your return to Wide Rack Outfitters! GBTA! Mike Connett??????
we had various condtions, and the first 2 days had wet weather over all, and that did limit some movment, but deer and shooters were still seen. the rest of the week was perfect crispy cold weather.
