Outfitted Hunt from Hell in Kansas! Please read

[bpfarm]

Well I spoke with Caleb and Tim today.  They confirmed with me that they had a terrible experience as well. So please don't try and act like my group was the only unsatisfied party. After much criticism you agreed to give them a free hunt next season.  Please don't disappoint.

[hickory creek]

Never said that!! (bpfarm). But I did say I always try to make things right with any hunters that had a bad hunt. And that is what I did for them. 3 of the 4 will receive a free hunt next season ,only 3 because one hunter did kill a bird. It was a slow 3 days when your groups were in camp and I was happy to offer them a free hunt to try to make it right. They CALLED ME after the 3rd morning and I DIDNT HESATATE  to make the offer. (So terrible they wanted to give it another try ?)

Carry on with your agenda !!!

[hunter22]

We were not offered anything and two of us never heard or saw a mature bird in three days. I was not even offered the deposit back I had paid upfront for my son who thankfully was not able to make the hunt. He would have been sick.

I understand that it is hunting when you are in the woods. I have killed way more than my share of gobblers and been on several outfitted hunts. Some have been real good and a couple like this one. When you go on a paid hunt you expect to kill something or at least have an opportunity to do so. But I could have gone on any public land hunt out there and heard or saw as many birds as I did in these three days for a lot less money.   

[hickory creek]

hunter22

Still not acknowledging the 12 hr hunt where you killed 2 birds in 2011.  LOL
Lets see, $100 a night for lodging, $30 a day for food , $40 a day for gas.  3 days= $510
You would of saved yourself $240 and still went home with nothing. And West Augusta wouldn't have killed his Tom !!! From what I'm hearing you wouldn't have come back even if I would have offered, because it sucked so bad !!! I did some looking around and outfitters that offer guaranteed hunts charge twice as much as me,($1400) offering one extra day and if you still don't kill then they will have you back for free... looks like that's the way you should go Ricky !!!!!

I'm done with this 

[hunter22]

I hate to get in a pissing contest but I think everyone needs to know what they are getting for their money. You are right in that I would never hunt your place again. But you sure did not know that when we left. But wait, you did not even bother to come by the morning we left to see us off. 

Do the math with this years' stats. 52 hunters and 37 kills calculate to an average of 0.7 birds/hunter. If a few of the 52 hunters filled two tags which you indicate they did then close to half the hunters went home with 0 birds. For an outfitted hunt that is terrible. 

I am finished with this. There are way too many quality outfitters out there for me to spend my money with. And I can assure you I have never been on a guaranteed hunt with any of them. But I have also never been on an outfitted hunt that I never heard or saw a mature gobbler in three days hunting. I went on an outfitted hunt this spring and managed to take three nice gobblers. I did not pay a lot more than what I paid you. It certainly was not a guaranteed hunt because the other guys in camp only killed one bird each. But every person said they would go back because of all the birds they heard and saw. This outfitter does not overhunt his properties and almost all his customers are repeat clients.     

[hickory creek]

We did have 3 doubles this season. Making it 34 hunters that killed. We also had 3 wounded birds that were not recovered 8 archery misses,and who knows what I wasn't told about. (Not including wounds and misses) That would make it 18 hunters that didn't take a bird. Half of 52 is 26 last I heard. If 18 is close to 26 that would be news to me. In the 15 years I've been in operation my hunters have killed close to 450 turkeys missed and wounded countless more so I think I know how to put hunters on birds!! Someone that has been here 3 days doesn't know squat about my land or bird numbers. Opportunity comes as soon as you step on my land with a gun, I can't control the birds and I can't control the way you hunt them. I also understand hunters expectations are high when they come to another state to hunt. We don't do this to collect money and drive in circles day after day. We like to see happy hunters, and dead critters. End of story !!!!

Ricky
Still no acknowledgment of your 2011 hunt. I'll post up the pictures of the toms you killed just to prove to everyone that you were even here.  
     

[hunter22]

Jeff is exactly right when he states the first year I hunted with him by myself I killed two birds within a 12 hour period. Jeff told me while I was there he had never killed a turkey and I asked him if he wanted me to call one in for him to shoot after I had killed my second bird and he said yes. The gobbler came to us on a string and Jeff shot over his head. 

The next year two buddies and I went back to Jeff's in early May. We had six tags between us and only one tag was filled. We hunted the same places each day. I hunted where I had killed the two the previous year. One of the other guys and I never heard or saw a mature gobbler in three days of hunting. The "guide" kept telling us about how many birds they had killed before we got there. $750 is a good price for an outfitted turkey hunt if you are around birds. When I left Jeff's place I went farther west and killed 4 gobblers on public land in two states.

I have to say I saw something on the second hunt at Jeff's I have never seen before. Jeff was not with us and did not see it happen but one of my hunting partner's was in the vehicle and also witnessed it. We were going back to camp one night after the evening hunt and rounded a curve and several deer were standing in the middle of the road. I fully expected us to slow down but instead the truck was accelerated. We ran right through the deer, killing one. The driver's comment was that they normally get out of the way when you speed up. Needless to say I was speechless.

I said earlier I was done with this thread and I am this time regardless of what else Jeff asks.   

[busta biggun]

 

[hickory creek]

Blah Blah Blah  First I've heard of that and what does that have to do with what we are talking about ?? I was actually looking forward to hunter22 coming back the second year because we had a lot of fun when he was in camp and I could see that he was a good turkey hunter. And I was just as disappointed as he was that it didn't work out for there group. But a good turkey hunter should know that a outfitter has no control of how the birds act. Overhunting is not always the case. But its always the go to excuse when there is no kills. Like I told (bpfarm) and I'll tell (hunter22) the same thing we killed em before you came and we killed them after you left. That's just the way it goes. If everyone killed there limit it would be OVERHUNTING.
 

[dirtnap]

Preach it hickory creek. 

I don't have a dog in the fight, but if I paid somebody to hunt and it wasn't going good, I would get ahold of them real quick like while I was there. 

[El Pavo Grande]

I also have no dog in this fight, but this is an interesting discussion.  I have never paid for an outfitted hunt, nor do I plan to.  I do wonder if often the "hunting" aspect gets lost in the anticipation of a guarantee to kill, even though the hunt is not guaranteed.  I have traveled a lot turkey hunting and I can attest to the fact that no matter how great a place is, there is always the possibility that turkeys don't gobble, or turkeys don't hang out in fields, or turkeys move off properties, etc.  It's a gamble, no matter where you hunt and when on 2 to 3 day hunts, it can be frustrating.  But, that's hunting.

Had I spent that much money and my expectations were sky high, I would call the owner while on the hunt to voice my concerns and displeasure.  There is no doubt some horror stories out there and not all outfitters are legit.  But, often they may not realize the problem or offer a quick remedy if there is no communication.

Not taking sides...just my opinion.

[hickory creek]

I also have no dog in this fight, but this is an interesting discussion.  I have never paid for an outfitted hunt, nor do I plan to.  I do wonder if often the "hunting" aspect gets lost in the anticipation of a guarantee to kill, even though the hunt is not guaranteed.  I have traveled a lot turkey hunting and I can attest to the fact that no matter how great a place is, there is always the possibility that turkeys don't gobble, or turkeys don't hang out in fields, or turkeys move off properties, etc.  It's a gamble, no matter where you hunt and when on 2 to 3 day hunts, it can be frustrating.  But, that's hunting.

Had I spent that much money and my expectations were sky high, I would call the owner while on the hunt to voice my concerns and displeasure.  There is no doubt some horror stories out there and not all outfitters are legit.  But, often they may not realize the problem or offer a quick remedy if there is no communication.

Not taking sides...just my opinion.

[busta biggun]

I agree with El Pavo's comments. I understand that paying to be put in a position to kill turkeys does not mean guaranteed kills. That being said, I think that hickory creek would have been better off not saying anything on this issue. It seems like before he chimed in there were other hunters saying enough good things about his service that made me think that this experience was an anomaly. We are all smart enough to determine for ourselves what is reasonable to expect from a hunting guide service. it sounds like he had a situation where the birds were totally shut down, (not his fault) but he also had bad guides that didn't serve the proper food and didn't know the land. bpfarm should have gotten ahold of the owner and given him an opportunity to make amends before posting about an "Outfitted Hunt from Hell". So if he just posted this without any notice to hickory creek, he was wrong. But once hickory creek found out, he could have reached out to bpfarm and tried to fix things. Instead it came down to a petty back and forth between these guys and hickory creek ended up getting nasty and trying to defend a negative situation. He kept bringing up a great trip three years ago that is irrelevant to this trip as a defense. I understand why he was so defensive. His business and credibility was being brought into question. But taking the high road would have been better in my opinion. Understand that bpfarm had a really bad trip and try to fix the situation, even if he didn't handle it the way he should have. Regardless, at the end of all of this back and forth, I would be happy to plan a trip with hickory creek. Sounds like he has a really good program and this was the exception rather than the rule. We all make mistakes and it would make me happy to see these guys do a virtual handshake and agree to move on.

[bpfarm]

Extending my "virtual hand" for a shake. Truly wish you the best with future endeavors.

[hickory creek]

Same here (bpfarm) I truly wish it would have turned out better for you and the others. Like I said we do this because we love hunting just like everyone else. It gives us a chance to enjoy everyone's success. The goose "guides" will not be back, It's hard to find people to represent me the way I try to represent myself. Always a learning experience even after all this time.

Good luck on your quest for Thunder Chickens