The owner was conveniently out of town but this is a synopsis of the trip and what I sent him in text
I hate long posts and this is one of them. Sorry for rambling and sorry if it is whiny....this has been a hard pill to swallow
Extremely disappointed.
First 2 days were with a guide that has never been on the land. Never saw an elk. Never heard and elk. I enjoyed the guide but we were at a steep disadvantage.
Days 1 and 2
Mornings consisted of walking and trying to bump/spook elk out of cover to maybe possibly get a shot.
Evenings were sitting in stand overlooking meadows that had zero sign of recent activity....according to the guides.
In the evenings, all three of us hunters sat by ourselves....no guide.
The only elk that was shot by one of the other two hunters from a public road(this is the exact story from the hunter and his guide) when the herd almost ran over the truck. The elk.....according to them was on private land they had permission to hunt. These were the only elk seen by that hunter. He was even allowed to continue hunting after wounding that bull. even though the contract stated that would conclude the hunt. Where those elk were seen, no one ever hunted that area again.
I can’t shake the feeling that Scott Huggins hunters were given priority over my hunt. Admittedly, i have no direct evidence of this but I trust my instincts. My guide would tell me the plan and then the main guide would change plans. I got the guide with no experience on the property. Day 4 evening the other guide took his two hunters to the top of the mountain.....and I was stuck hunting one of the same meadows with no activity.
Day 3 with Antonio, finally saw 2 cow elk because we walked into them on the way back to the truck after walking several miles. He really tried to talk me into shooting a cow but this is/was my once in a lifetime hunt. My wife and I are both in public education so $5,000+ is big money to us. At the time, I didn’t understand he knew this might be the only elk we would see.
Day 4....no elk. More of the same....walk and try to spook. Then sat on a meadow I had already sat on . Told Antonio I was thinking of throwing in the towel and his reply was, “I don’t blame you”
When I booked I was told we would spot and stalk in the mornings but what we actually did was try to walk...bump...and gun. I am confident to 500yds and can stretch it further but the only elk I saw was running at 30yds and one standing still at 40yds. Both were cows.
One of the other hunters here never saw an elk except for driving in the dark and they saw 3 bulls on other property.
I understand you are on a deer hunt in Kansas and then Ohio. Imagine if your guide had never been on the land you are hunting. Then the plan for your hunt was to walk around trying to spook deer to then get a shot as they run away in thick cover. Then imagine if in 4 days you had only accidentally bumped into 2 does and there were 2 other hunters there that one saw 0 deer and the other only saw a buck because they almost ran over it on a public road.
There were some red flags that I ignored in the excitement of booking a hunt. I asked multiple times for pics of kills this year and never got any. I asked multiple times if y’all were seeing some good elk before my hunt and never got an answer. I told myself that this hunt was discounted because of Covid 19 but now I think there are more reasons for the discount.
So according to the the owner the elk haven’t moved down because there was no snow but then in the same breath he says they were there last week. I asked how he conducts hunts in Sept and October if he is reliant on elk moving down....I got no reply.
Before I booked the hunt, I asked what would happen in the case of a bad hunt....exactly like the above....he said Monday the past he has rebooked at a discount. I wouldn’t even take him up on this offer at a great discount.
Lessons learned.....
Get in writing who you will be hunting with
Get in writing what will happen if no shot is presented....if possible pay for the hunt and then agree on a kill fee
I wouldn’t mind paying more for some kind of opportunity guarantee.
Ask exactly how much acreage there is to hunt and find out if there is access to elk no matter the weather
Be persistent about recent kills and what scouting is being done
A discount hunt may just be too good to be true. There was definitely a reason I could afford this hunt.
Definitely wait until you can afford a legitimate outfitter.
Last edited by 5Redman8; 11/07/20.
