Bullcamp82834

I almost spent 5K on a hunt once. (Alaska)
Instead of that I ponied up another grand and bought a Harley Sportster off a friend.
I've been having fun with that thing for several years now.
Good choice in my opinion.

Muley Hunter

Yeah, i'd rather spend money on my Jeep.

Kytus

I can't imagine spending that amount of money and being asked not to shoot. I'd have told em to shove it.

I wouldn't pay 5k for that hunt. I like the challenge of DIY hunting, and don't spend more than it costs for for tags, food and gas.

Bullcamp82834

Those antlers sure are expensive for some people.
The way I was raised was to hunt a big buck or bull for a while but if it didn't look like it was going to happen just fill the freezer with does or a cow elk. No big deal and no expense but tags, gas, and cartridges.
No trophy this season did not equal an unsuccessful season.

Muley Hunter

I wish we could do that here. We'll have either a bull/buck, or cow/doe tag.

You know what I did like back so many years. If you didn't fill your tag in muzzy season you could use the tag in rifle season. We could hunt the whole state with the ML tag too. Sure wish it was still that way.

Deer meadows victim

I did a hunt with deer meadows thus past October. The owner Scott did a good job of selling the hunt and that's about it. He claimed to have 300,000 plus acres to archery hunt on. That was a lie. His top guide said that most of that property is what they call the Mormon ground and is off limits to archery hunters and available only to certain clients. This is where they shot hook on a heartland bow hunter show. He threw 4 of us onto a tract of ground the first morning where we saw sone good deer. That night we were told we could not hunt there anymore because the lease ran out that day. That makes no sense since we were only the third group of hunters. The next day we were put on a piece of ground that Scott said was unhunted that year. Well as we drove in we see a dead antelope in the middle of the ranch road, my guide let it slip that they were hunting antelope in that ranch and one if the hunters must have shot it. This is what Scott calls virgin ground. This tract of ground was way too small to hunt 4 hunters and by the end of the day all the good deer were blown off of the ranch. I was able to stalk a buck that was in the 180's or so and was not allowed to shoot it because Scott said he wanted it to breed and it was only a three year old. I didn't give them any problems over it and moved on. Two other hunters also had to pass this deer. We'll I just saw on Deer meadows Facebook page that this deer was shot with a gun by a " repeat client". If you look at the pics from year to year you will see that the same guys every year kill big deer and the celebrity hunters. Not many others kill good mature deer and aside from a few select repeat clients that pay more for special treatment deer meadows gets little repeat business. Scott lied about his acreage, accommodations, and everything in-between. He really misrepresented his operation. There is too much bad to write in a thread. His home cooked meals were hot dogs and ground venison in different variations. His field lunches were bite size sinkers and twice bars and cans of Pepsi and mountain dew. His "lodge" was a run down trailer were 4 men with all their hunting gear slept in one room. They do have good deer but he saves the good ones for certain hunters. Even his guides out of frustration finally started to admit these things. If you hunt with this outfitter you will be sorry you wasted your money time and hunting season. I don't mean to be vengeful but I don't want what happened to us to happen to more honest hunters. It would be possible to have a good hunt here if the owner was honest and cared about providing a good experience for all of his hunters but instead he caters to a few big spenders and relies on the tv shows to fool people and sell hunts. I fell for that trick and so did my friends. He told us he was going to give us some money back because of not having enough ground to hunt but after we drove back to Pa he won't return calls and sent an email to my friend that said "no refunds!!!!!". The people that are locals and know of Scott and his operation don't have much good to say about him either. For more info feel free to call 724-557-1200.

Muley Hunter

I don't understand why you guys leave without your refunds? If he told me I was getting a refund. My hand would be out, and I wouldn't leave without it.

Deer meadows victim

We trusted him. He said he wanted to make it right. He sold himself well. To be clear non if us wanted to oh there and just buy a deer. We expected to hunt hard and possibly go home empty handed. It was an archery spot and stick hunt for free range wild mule deer. It's no gimme hunt especially with deer meadows unless you are one of the hunters in the first groups that pay more and have the deer "reserved ". Even these guys who I'm sure are good hunters themselves definitely have to hunt for these deer. I never met those guys an I'm not bashing them. They are obviously good hunters. Another thing I didn't care for was they way Scott used tubs of distilled corn to bait deer onto his leases and off of neighboring ranches. He gad tubs out trying to pull bucks off of Ted Turners ranch and every other fence line he could. I found myself way to close to the tubs a couple times to be legal and had to suggest we move back. I really didn't care for that. I won't hunt over bait even where it's legal. I don't knock a guy who does so legally bit it's not what I enjoy. The trip was disappointing in every way imaginable. Aside from having some fun with the guides it was a disaster. I just hope that I save some other hunters from this experience.

Muley Hunter

I wouldn't have trusted anybody that I saw breaking the law with the baiting. That would have shown me right off he was an honest person.

I'd never pay for a hunt, but if I was the type that did. I sure wouldn't be cheated at it. I don't know. Maybe it goes hand in hand. If you're the type who pays for a hunt. You're not the type who can do things for yourself, and can be taken advantage of easily.

Sorry to rag on you, but take control of this. Don't let this jerk take advantage of you.

Topgun 3006

The way hunting is going nowadays there are a lot of more than "shady" characters getting involved just to make a buck however they can. If I was even thinking of going on an outfitted or guided hunt I would be asking the owner of that operation the names and phone numbers of "EVERY" person that hunted there over the last two or three years, not just ones of his choosing. If they won't do that, right away you should figure that it's not an honest operation. I'd bet that not one of the people on this thread that are bitching about getting taken to the cleaners did that and I will shed no tears for any of them if/when that's the case. Why would anyone pay that kind of money to a "STRANGER" for "ANYTHING" nowadays without doing plenty of research to eliminate any possibility of being swindled the way this world is?!!! For them to get screwed the way some of them are stating and then take the crooks "word" that he will refund their money, etc. and leave the premises without at least the satisfaction of being remunerated boggles my mind. There sure must still be a lot of trusting, naive people in this world, including some of the hunters on this thread that are bitching about beng taken!