So in the spirit of learning I'll keep the tone down. Many many options nowadays for the out of state first time hunter. Online, buddy system, asking around town, outfitters, farmers.....I think the list can go on and on. Regardless of the route you go......ask and call references....if they don't want to give you any then find someone else.
We chose the route of an outfitter that had roughly 10 properties spread across Texas. They offered day spot and stalk, day/night feeder hunts and 2 different night thermal scope hunts. We chose 2 nights of feeder hunting from blinds. All communication with the guide/outfitter was timely, squared away and professional with the exception of the first email sent from the office that contained the invoice and itinerary that was somewhat incorrect. When I questioned the owner he blamed it on the new young kid in the office. ( 1st warning sign) The price was 300$ a gun hunting a feeder that goes year round out of a blind with red lights mounted to the rifles and unlimited harvest number.
We were contacted via phone by our local guide and arranged to meet us at the hotel then off to the farm to double check the rifle and zero a day night scope. Our guide was a young 22 some odd year old man in tennis shoes. (2nd warning sign) I took two shots and my son took two in order to zero his scope which was a ATN 5-18 HD day /night vision scope with a near IR light on it. More on that scope later. While sighting in I noticed another guide and client in a UTV and it appeared they were spot and stalk hunting during the day. ( 3rd warning sign) So no real issues at this point, weather was nice, rifles were ready and we went into town to get something to eat.
We went back to the farm and were trucked out to a blind. Beautiful elevated, metal construction two person blind. Man it was nice. That was the first time I've ever hunted from a blind like that, just seen them on tv. I understand the appeal now as it was quite the nice social event with me and my son being able to be in close proximity. The guide double checked the feeder and poured some extra corn around. Hunt site was nice and screamed of animals. We had a 2 acre lake 80 yards away, multiple shooting lanes and what appeared to be a convergence of different types of cover, like a changeover area between farm fields, dense cover, big cotton woods, low scrub oak and plenty of grass forage. We saw deer, a bobcat, turkey, raccoons and cattle.........zero pigs. (4th warning sign, lots of animals, just not the ones we are paying to shoot at) We sit from 4pm till midnight and no shots taken. The guide picks us up and we are going to spot and stalk now. He used the thermal scope (hand held) to find the pigs then we would stalk them to about 100 yards and shoot. We drove in the truck checking fields for 3 hours and did one stalk only to get the pigs pushed by some spooky cattle. Night one complete.
Night two we split up in two different blinds and my son and I see nothing but racoons. We hunt from 4pm till midnight again, no shots taken, no hogs even heard. I text the guide and tell him to come on and get us and we can try spot and stalking again. His reply is he is looking for a dead pig now in a wheat field and will be there in a little (5th warning sign) He picks us up and I tell him we are done. We gave him 21 hours on three different feeders and didn't see or hear a pig. I inform him him that my feeder I just sat at didnt go off all evening like the others. I suspect it hasn't gone off in a while.
We left for home the next morning. I emailed the owner and said I would call him to settle the bill in the am during the drive home. I called in the am during the drive and he didn't pick up. I called again in the evening from the farm here in Colorado and he didn't pick up. I suspect his conscious got to him. We ended up paying just the deposit and no more which I thought was fair.
Sooooooo.......my son and I have the whole drive home to replay and learn from what happened.
1. Pigs were shot off the feeders and from most of the fields. Maybe better to go earlier in the year when just the rye/winter wheat is green. In the future request trail cam pictures with dates, ask about how the land is being hunted, how many hunters on it and get references and call them up.
2. The land we were hunting was being hunted day and night 24 hours a day. No surprise we didn't see any pigs. It was a lot of land also. I'm guessing easily 1 sq mile if not more. Good land that should hold the hogs, although I didnt glass much rooting.
3. Make sure when talking night thermal hunting you get an exact definition of what that means to that outfitter. This guy offered two different type of night thermal hunts. Hunt 1 they mounted a thermal /Ir scope on your rifle. Hunt 2 they used it as a hand held and you spot and stalked with the guide then illuminated them with red lights and shot.
My son purchased a new scope for the hunt. ATN 5-18x HD day night scope. I was pretty impressed with it for the money he spent. Great picture, plenty of adjustability to fine tune the night picture and great record and picture capture functions. Night I would estimate max shots on a coyote size target is 150 yards, daytime limited by shooter experience/proficiency. Pictures attached is the feeder at night at 80 yards and a turkey at 110 yards daytime. Of note the video in the viewfinder was a lot more clear then the attached pictures. Any questions feel free to send em. If you want to know the outfitter then PM me. All the best.
We chose the route of an outfitter that had roughly 10 properties spread across Texas. They offered day spot and stalk, day/night feeder hunts and 2 different night thermal scope hunts. We chose 2 nights of feeder hunting from blinds. All communication with the guide/outfitter was timely, squared away and professional with the exception of the first email sent from the office that contained the invoice and itinerary that was somewhat incorrect. When I questioned the owner he blamed it on the new young kid in the office. ( 1st warning sign) The price was 300$ a gun hunting a feeder that goes year round out of a blind with red lights mounted to the rifles and unlimited harvest number.
We were contacted via phone by our local guide and arranged to meet us at the hotel then off to the farm to double check the rifle and zero a day night scope. Our guide was a young 22 some odd year old man in tennis shoes. (2nd warning sign) I took two shots and my son took two in order to zero his scope which was a ATN 5-18 HD day /night vision scope with a near IR light on it. More on that scope later. While sighting in I noticed another guide and client in a UTV and it appeared they were spot and stalk hunting during the day. ( 3rd warning sign) So no real issues at this point, weather was nice, rifles were ready and we went into town to get something to eat.
We went back to the farm and were trucked out to a blind. Beautiful elevated, metal construction two person blind. Man it was nice. That was the first time I've ever hunted from a blind like that, just seen them on tv. I understand the appeal now as it was quite the nice social event with me and my son being able to be in close proximity. The guide double checked the feeder and poured some extra corn around. Hunt site was nice and screamed of animals. We had a 2 acre lake 80 yards away, multiple shooting lanes and what appeared to be a convergence of different types of cover, like a changeover area between farm fields, dense cover, big cotton woods, low scrub oak and plenty of grass forage. We saw deer, a bobcat, turkey, raccoons and cattle.........zero pigs. (4th warning sign, lots of animals, just not the ones we are paying to shoot at) We sit from 4pm till midnight and no shots taken. The guide picks us up and we are going to spot and stalk now. He used the thermal scope (hand held) to find the pigs then we would stalk them to about 100 yards and shoot. We drove in the truck checking fields for 3 hours and did one stalk only to get the pigs pushed by some spooky cattle. Night one complete.
Night two we split up in two different blinds and my son and I see nothing but racoons. We hunt from 4pm till midnight again, no shots taken, no hogs even heard. I text the guide and tell him to come on and get us and we can try spot and stalking again. His reply is he is looking for a dead pig now in a wheat field and will be there in a little (5th warning sign) He picks us up and I tell him we are done. We gave him 21 hours on three different feeders and didn't see or hear a pig. I inform him him that my feeder I just sat at didnt go off all evening like the others. I suspect it hasn't gone off in a while.
We left for home the next morning. I emailed the owner and said I would call him to settle the bill in the am during the drive home. I called in the am during the drive and he didn't pick up. I called again in the evening from the farm here in Colorado and he didn't pick up. I suspect his conscious got to him. We ended up paying just the deposit and no more which I thought was fair.
Sooooooo.......my son and I have the whole drive home to replay and learn from what happened.
1. Pigs were shot off the feeders and from most of the fields. Maybe better to go earlier in the year when just the rye/winter wheat is green. In the future request trail cam pictures with dates, ask about how the land is being hunted, how many hunters on it and get references and call them up.
2. The land we were hunting was being hunted day and night 24 hours a day. No surprise we didn't see any pigs. It was a lot of land also. I'm guessing easily 1 sq mile if not more. Good land that should hold the hogs, although I didnt glass much rooting.
3. Make sure when talking night thermal hunting you get an exact definition of what that means to that outfitter. This guy offered two different type of night thermal hunts. Hunt 1 they mounted a thermal /Ir scope on your rifle. Hunt 2 they used it as a hand held and you spot and stalked with the guide then illuminated them with red lights and shot.
My son purchased a new scope for the hunt. ATN 5-18x HD day night scope. I was pretty impressed with it for the money he spent. Great picture, plenty of adjustability to fine tune the night picture and great record and picture capture functions. Night I would estimate max shots on a coyote size target is 150 yards, daytime limited by shooter experience/proficiency. Pictures attached is the feeder at night at 80 yards and a turkey at 110 yards daytime. Of note the video in the viewfinder was a lot more clear then the attached pictures. Any questions feel free to send em. If you want to know the outfitter then PM me. All the best.
