Unfortunately had a horrible experience with these guys this weekend. Had a great weekend planned for hunting sandhill crane, ducks and geese but it turned out to be a joke. Based on my experience, the advertised experience on their website is a complete false advertisement.
We were told to meet at their lodge at 4:45 am to head out and get set up for sandhill crane. We did our part and ended up sitting at the lodge until nearly 5:45 am before we actually headed out to the fields, which were at least a 30 minute drive away. Website says they set up "100-150 sandhill crane decoys" but our guide only had 12 decoys. He was from Missouri and didn't even know where the heck he was. Nice guy but.... We sat in a huge field with 12 decoys until almost noon. Saw hundreds of cranes and geese flying all around but only two flew over us by chance and we got one. Waste of time.
The afternoon duck hunt was far worse. Again the guide was a really nice guy but also not from around here and wasn't even a duck hunter. After a 1 hr boat ride we arrived at our spot. Our spot was sitting out in the open on a beach in west matagorda bay. No blind. Did I mention he didn't have a retriever? Did I also mention he didn't even have a single duck call? If he had 36 decoys I'd be impressed. Ducks were flying everywhere but for obvious reasons they wouldn't come near us. Again it was a joke. We were told to start picking up the decoys 45 minutes to an hour before sunset while he went and got the boat. Why? Because we had to be back to the boat ramp before dark. Why? Because he didn't feel comfortable navigating the waters in the dark. Great....
So all told, a group of 4 paid this "guide service" $2,000 today for 1 sandhill crane and 2 ducks. And the only reason we killed those was pure luck and definitely not thanks to this "guide service". We would've done better on our own.
We have decided to head home and not show up for the goose hunt we had scheduled for tomorrow morning. We are really disappointed and I just felt the need to put the word out about our experience.
God bless.
We were told to meet at their lodge at 4:45 am to head out and get set up for sandhill crane. We did our part and ended up sitting at the lodge until nearly 5:45 am before we actually headed out to the fields, which were at least a 30 minute drive away. Website says they set up "100-150 sandhill crane decoys" but our guide only had 12 decoys. He was from Missouri and didn't even know where the heck he was. Nice guy but.... We sat in a huge field with 12 decoys until almost noon. Saw hundreds of cranes and geese flying all around but only two flew over us by chance and we got one. Waste of time.
The afternoon duck hunt was far worse. Again the guide was a really nice guy but also not from around here and wasn't even a duck hunter. After a 1 hr boat ride we arrived at our spot. Our spot was sitting out in the open on a beach in west matagorda bay. No blind. Did I mention he didn't have a retriever? Did I also mention he didn't even have a single duck call? If he had 36 decoys I'd be impressed. Ducks were flying everywhere but for obvious reasons they wouldn't come near us. Again it was a joke. We were told to start picking up the decoys 45 minutes to an hour before sunset while he went and got the boat. Why? Because we had to be back to the boat ramp before dark. Why? Because he didn't feel comfortable navigating the waters in the dark. Great....
So all told, a group of 4 paid this "guide service" $2,000 today for 1 sandhill crane and 2 ducks. And the only reason we killed those was pure luck and definitely not thanks to this "guide service". We would've done better on our own.
We have decided to head home and not show up for the goose hunt we had scheduled for tomorrow morning. We are really disappointed and I just felt the need to put the word out about our experience.
God bless.
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