Outfitter Reviews

Any thoughts on a section of the forum for real outfitter reviews. Reviews from hunters with possible contact info. Not just if you killed a deer or not. A review from arrival to departure, the lodge and food. How hard did the guide work. Would you go Back ? Would you recommend ? It seems very hard to find honest reviews from hunters who have hunted with a particular outfitter. Thanks

Missouri Outfitter review

My father and I went to Xtreme Hunts Midwest for the opening of rifle. 11/11/17. It was a 5 day hunt. $2500 each. There was roughly 22 hunters for this 5 day hunt. They had 2 lodges. A main lodge, that had several bedrooms, a large common area with a TV and places to sit (Couches and recliners). The kitchen and a large table for eating. The second lodge was about 150 yards behind the main lodge. I never went in it, but some of the guys staying there described it as similar to main lodge with no kitchen. So the main lodge was two stories, with 4 bedrooms upstairs, one down stairs. Each room had 2-3 beds in it. No restroom upstairs. One restroom down stairs. The restroom was about 8x10, It had 2 stalls, 2 sinks and 2 showers. It was a little tight and sometimes you had to wait to use the bathroom or shower. However the staff did work hard to keep the restroom clean. Overall the lodge was comfortable and met basic meets. It by no means was 5 star, but was not advertised to be. The food in the evening was excellent. The young lady who cooked did a great job, the food was delicious and there was plenty of it. For breakfast and lunch it was more help yourself. They had lots of snack items and there was bread meat and cheese if you wanted to make yourself a sandwich. In the evening if you provided your own alcohol you could have a few drinks. No one got out of hand with that. Onto the hunting. As said above there was roughly 22 hunters for the first 5 days. There was one guide. To say the least he was stretched a little thin. What he did was more directing then guiding. All hunters arrived on Friday and the guide then took each hunter to the stand they would be on the next day. From there you drove yourself back and forth to the stand. When the guide showed me my spot, I thought, "Wow, these sure are some pretty woods, but it sure is thick" Being that it was rifle season I had visions of being somewhere that I could shoot 100-200 yards in several directions. I could see about 40 yards in two little holes, otherwise a deer would have needed to be inside 25 yards. The stand was a millennium ladder stand so I was at least comfortable. My dad was in the same area as me probably half mile away. His spot was very similar however he said a deer would have needed to be inside of 25 yards to have a shot. He also noted several scent wicks hanging on branches around the stand. Probably left behind from a bow hunter who was sitting there just days before he did. The first two days we did not see a deer, not even a little doe. On day 3 we sat those same spots in the morning, saw nothing. Then moved to new spots that afternoon. The spot my dad went to he said was pretty. It was set up over a little food plot with thick woods all around. When I got to my spot, that's when I started to see red. Sidebar- All stands were marked very well, you could walk right to them in the dark or light. They had reflective tape every 20 yards all the way to the stands. Back to my spot. When I arrived to the stand I was just shocked. It was one of those 2 man ladder stands that you get at walmart for 100 bucks. The kind with the expanded metal for a seat. There was no cushion, the shooting rail was bent down about 45 degrees and the least they could have done was wrap a piece of camo burlap around it. Anyways I get up in it. Same story, I have one little shooting lane about 30 yards long and where's the wind ? Right at my back. At this point I sent the "guide" a text, expressed some of my frustration and asked if had any other spots. He advised me to come out and we'd go somewhere else. Come to find out the spots we sat in on day 3 where spots two other guys had been on day 1 and day 2 and also saw nothing. So, after a 45 minute drive we got to a farm. The stand was a like a small shipping container on a trailer with windows cut into it. I finally saw some deer. They were does, about 700 yards away. We gave it another day. No big changes. My dad saw one doe at his second spot. We ended up leaving on the 5th day. Now overall there was 6 or 7 bucks killed. 2-3 were very borderline on the 130 limit. The rest were decent bucks, nothing crazy huge. They did kill a few true monsters in bow season. The guide really did seem like a nice guy it just seemed he was tasked with a difficult job. I'm not sure they had but about 22-24 stands total. So for half the group not seeing deer they were just moved to stands a guy just had been and that guy wasn't seeing anything. I got the feeling the outfitter was more set up for bowhunters. Most the guys I talked with said they felt like they were in bow stands. And there was a few guys that were repeat clients and it really seemed they were getting preferred treatment. I don't fault the guide to much for that. I think its human nature to take care of people that you have developed a relationship with. But don't me on the backburner because its my first time. I didn't show up thinking, I paid my money,now where is my deer? I've been on enough of these deals to know that unless you are hunting in a pen. Hunting is hunting, and I would never hunt in a pen. I did expect to see some deer though. Also with that many hunters no thought could have been given to wind and stuff like that. Overall. I wouldn't go back and I don't think I'd recommend them to anyone looking to try Missouri.

The $2,500 midwest hunts definitely seem to be a "get what you pay for" deal. I'm sorry that happened to you

I went on one myself....lots of stuff was disappointing, but was luckier on the harvest aspect and came home with a wallhanger, so am able to overlook the rest of it, yet would not go back there or recommend anyone else to either.

Very good outfitter

"Expeditions by Ron" out of Corpus Christi, TX is an excellent outfitter who puts on hunts all over the world. Each hunter has his own guide, most all hunting camps are very good, the food is excellent and there is plenty of it. Translators are provided on all hunts outside of English speaking countries. The guides are experienced and know the hunting areas extremely well. Give him a try.

Blue dark outfitters, in woodland north carolina does a great job .