Originally posted by Lonewolf
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Actually, you DID surprise the ranch and, even so, they accommodated you. The deposit for a 5 day hunt for a single person is $375 so $1650 would be a deposit for 4.4 people not 6. Even if that deposit is correct, it still wouldn't cover 6 hunters on a 5 day hunt when the ranch requires a 50% deposit for a $150 per day hunt.
Being outside your blind when the corn route comes through, FOR ANY REASON, is ridiculous- the deer that come out will spot you getting back into the blind and avoid you like a plague. There's just no GOOD reason for sitting on a bucket along the corn route while it's being run, LOL!
You didn't have 4 sittings- you had three; and the reason I KNOW is that I came by your cabin before what SHOULD have been your 4th sitting, to try and help y'all with your setups, because Rusty was jammed up with ranch responsibilities. I even checked the cabins and there wasn't a stitch in them- y'all had cleared out completely well before the MIDWAY point of your hunt.
In the River Pasture West there isn't really any place to see any long distance. So, if you were in your blinds for 12 hours (on the SINGLE full day you hunted) you couldn't have "seen" any real long distance. Unless, of course, you were out of the blinds and walking around- which would explain a lot. I could have SWORN I saw y'all around the cabin around lunch time, though, on the only full day you spent at the ranch. I sure remember seeing that 150 class Iowa buck decoy y'all had.
Look, you're certainly entitled to your opinion and I have NO problem with someone who didn't have success at the ranch posting it. But when there are some SERIOUS mitigating factors that are omitted, and they explain A LOT about how/why the hunt went the way it did, I'm going to jump to the ranch's defense and fill in the blanks. Especially when it's posted with the vigor that you did and when it's going to give a disproportionately negative image about the ranch- particularly to others who may be interested in hunting there. If you have all the experience you claim and you have cheaper and better options, like you said you did, I have to wonder why you chose to spend more money at a ranch you don't know. Pete and Rusty would have liked nothing better than for every member of your party to shoot a good buck. Unfortunately, that's just not going to happen on such a popular day lease ranch- ESPECIALLY when you don't even finish your hunt! Even if we go with your claim that you hunted 4 sits, it's just not reasonable to expect great results from 2 days hunting a ranch you've never been to before- particularly a day lease. Had you completed your hunt you might have had more credence to gripe; but you didn't.
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