My dad purchased this hunt for me at an auction without any background information. After several Google searches, I couldn't find anyone with anything negative to say about their experience. I now know why! Marty's (Buff) entire outfit is honest, hardworking and straight shooting (figuratively and literally). If you are interested in a trip that allows you to sit on the stand for as long as or as little as you want, go back to some very comfortable accommodations, lay on a leather sofa and watch TV and take a nap, you can do that at Big Oak. If you want to do a morning sit, go back to camp, have breakfast and ride around the ranch and "help" fill feeders while watching game and listening to stories from a man who is as comfortable with talking about world travels as he is about dealings with local hog trappers and hogdoggers with questionable levels of intelect, that can be done as well. I chose the latter and felt like I was on my home lease. I spent a total of 28 hours and was welcomed to stay another night but I was excited to get home and tell the story.
Oh by the way, I was able to take a great fallow doe on the third sit. It was both my first bow kill and first exotic. I was on a hunt for axis, fallow or sika doe. Although I saw animals every sit, the does were skiddish and reluctant to come to feed. This is where Big Oak differs from other exotic operations. Buff doesn't cheat his hunters out of the adrenaline rush that keeps bowhunting alive. His website says that it is not high volume and this is true in that there are a variety of animals to see but honing in on the specific species and sex you are hunting is challenging in that the ratios are kept such that you may have (as in my case) 3 whitetails uder a tree strand for 1-2 hours the first evening, 5 rams get ran off by three sika bucks under a box stand while 2 sika doe and 3 fallow doe stand a hundred yards away because their is a rumor a hunter is visiting and looking for exotic does in the morning, followed by a sit in a "carpet blind" (you'll have to see one on you own) with two young axis bucks taunt you as their female companion stands out of range, and suddenly be surprised by a fallow doe presenting broadside and slowly moving in to range.
Just go! I know this is a long write but I could go even longer.
Oh by the way, I was able to take a great fallow doe on the third sit. It was both my first bow kill and first exotic. I was on a hunt for axis, fallow or sika doe. Although I saw animals every sit, the does were skiddish and reluctant to come to feed. This is where Big Oak differs from other exotic operations. Buff doesn't cheat his hunters out of the adrenaline rush that keeps bowhunting alive. His website says that it is not high volume and this is true in that there are a variety of animals to see but honing in on the specific species and sex you are hunting is challenging in that the ratios are kept such that you may have (as in my case) 3 whitetails uder a tree strand for 1-2 hours the first evening, 5 rams get ran off by three sika bucks under a box stand while 2 sika doe and 3 fallow doe stand a hundred yards away because their is a rumor a hunter is visiting and looking for exotic does in the morning, followed by a sit in a "carpet blind" (you'll have to see one on you own) with two young axis bucks taunt you as their female companion stands out of range, and suddenly be surprised by a fallow doe presenting broadside and slowly moving in to range.
Just go! I know this is a long write but I could go even longer.
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