Audad Sheep Hunt -Desert Safaris texas - Sketchy Situation

[Theringworm]

For anyone considering an aoudad hunt, I have two suggestions: Book it now because prices won't go down, and consider going with Mike McKinney at West Texas Hunt Organization (westtexashunt.com).

Mike runs a solid operation and employs quality guides like Casey Sanford, who I've hunted with 4 times. This is Casey with a stud ram he guided me to a few years back. Even at the current price, aoudad hunts are one of the best values in the hunting world.

I will second Mike McKinney at Weat Texas Hunt Org. I used him on my aoudad hunt. Zero complaints. He came highly highly recommended, and I wouldn’t recommend. anyone look else where. Probably one of the best outfitters for Aoudad IMO. Texas Hunting Forum.com can support those claims.

 

[voltage]

This sucks this all happened. Fortunately for others, they will see this review when they Google this guy. Good on you for that.

Question though… why didn’t you go on the hunt? I assume 4 grand was a sizable amount of the total balance. I agree the hunt doesn’t sound promising, but your 4 grand is on fire now. I have been on 4 guided hunts, and generally speaking, the communication was subpar every time. All but one was a quality experience once I was there, though.

 

[DSchliep]

That is horrible! I went on 3 guided elk hunts, 1 in Mt and 2 in N.M. The N.M. hunts were with the same outfitter- phenomenal communication, great guide that grew up there, beautiful lodge and accommodations. The Mt outfitter also communicated every step of the way and worked his ass of to get us on elk.

 

[SteveSacs]

This sucks this all happened. Fortunately for others, they will see this review when they Google this guy. Good on you for that.

Question though… why didn’t you go on the hunt? I assume 4 grand was a sizable amount of the total balance. I agree the hunt doesn’t sound promising, but your 4 grand is on fire now. I have been on 4 guided hunts, and generally speaking, the communication was subpar every time. All but one was a quality experience once I was there, though.

It wasnt just that the communication was terrible. i get it, hunting guides are in the field all the time and arent always accessible.

When a random person called me on behalf of the outfitter and told me the guys mother was in hospice and that he had been difficult to get a hold of as of late, I started getting anxious. “I’ll try and see whats going on and call you back” and not hearing from him ever again, wasnt all that inspiring.

That, along with the fact that he changed guides on me 3x , sent me a camping gear list which I spent over $1k on and apparently didn't need because he changed the plan … and most importantly wouldn't send me the directions of a ranch that had no address 5 days from when I was supposed to leave after 2-3 weeks of asking… i decided it was probably better to walk away and attempt to get my $$ back then deal with whatever other shit show was ahead of me.

 

[Loco4dux]

OP, thanks for the write up. They’re now added to the no fly list for future hunts. Some bad folks out there. Sorry this happened to ya.

 

[TXCO]

Thanks for sharing. Sorry for such a crappy situation


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SteveSacs]

Update to the story. I was telling a buddy of mine that I canceled my hunt and his good friend in Alberta had a client back out of a hunt due to a medical emergency and that there was a last minute spot for a Rifle bush hunt. I spoke to the guy, told him my story and he welcomed me to come on the trip. It was absolutely amazing. 75 mile quad ride into the woods.. 6 days of hunting. Made some incredible friends and shot my first Bull. Will drop the story in the Elk thread, but figured i'd share here!

 

[atmat]

Congrats OP. Way better than sweating your balls off in TX on a hunt with a drunk outfitter.

 

[Zbot]

First off……there’s pretty much no reason to go with anybody but Mike at WTHO. Great guy and easy to work with.

That being said, I’ve never seen an aoudad hunt requiring camping or horseback riding. Most are lodged with a steak dinner at night and SxS riding to hunting spots unless it’s at request to camp. Mike does have a DIY hunt you camp on though.

Also, assuming the deposit was 50%…..8K plus for a camping Aoudad hunt it bonkers!!!!!!!! For a little more you can get into a mountain goat hunt in Canada or a Tur in Asia if you really want a horseback adventure of a lifetime. I remember a time you couldn’t give Aoudad away, they’d shot them and let them lay by the dozens. They are the equivalent of hogs for some ranchers in west Texas.


Congrats on the bull!!!!!!!

 

[twdjr]

Sorry to hear what you went through with this low life outfitter. Sharing your experience will help others to steer clear of this outfit.

 

[Sheepeater]

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Bwana1]

Report this to the Texas Outfitters Assoc. (Assume your hunt was in Texas).

 

[COelk89]

That is a bummer to hear your story. I have always heard decent things about Desert Safaris. No matter what happened whether he lost a ranch or family is ill, the outfitter needs to be willing to hold up their end of the bargain.

Glad to see the promotion for Mike at West Texas Hunt Org from some posters. I have never hunted with him but have followed a lot of forum posts from happy hunters over the years with him and auodad is pretty much their specialty. They were doing it way before it got popular on social media and a hunt cost about $2500! I have a hunt booked with him this January for mule deer and am pretty stoked.

 

[S-3 ranch]

View attachment 783941View attachment 783942First off……there’s pretty much no reason to go with anybody but Mike at WTHO. Great guy and easy to work with.

That being said, I’ve never seen an aoudad hunt requiring camping or horseback riding. Most are lodged with a steak dinner at night and SxS riding to hunting spots unless it’s at request to camp. Mike does have a DIY hunt you camp on though.

Also, assuming the deposit was 50%…..8K plus for a camping Aoudad hunt it bonkers!!!!!!!! For a little more you can get into a mountain goat hunt in Canada or a Tur in Asia if you really want a horseback adventure of a lifetime. I remember a time you couldn’t give Aoudad away, they’d shot them and let them lay by the dozens. They are the equivalent of hogs for some ranchers in west Texas.


Congrats on the bull!!!!!!!

I’m just amazed after seeing this thread
Never seen a camping aoudad hunt in 35 years of being out here
I can understand the confusion on location, because some guys have many different ranches they can hunt and some are very far apart
I don’t know the guide, but do know cielo , spourl , wto are good folks
Desert Mesa is a great company also

 

[bigsky2]

I think a lot of people base their experience strictly off of whether they killed an aoudad or not. I booked a semi-guided hunt through an outfitter down there. I talked to some of his references and they all had good things to say. Since we were unguided and it was a fairly short hunt, I wanted to e-scout the place we would be hunting beforehand so we wouldn't waste any time when we were down there. He wouldn't give me the name of the landowner so I didn't get to do that. Then when we got down there, his guides that showed us around would say things like, "once you get over that ridge you can basically go wherever you want." They even admitted to crossing the Rio Grande and hunting in Mexico. His clients did have good success rates, but I got the impression that they do a ton of trespassing to get their clients on aoudad. I bet their guided clients don't really even pay attention to where they are at. I asked the references for waypoints and none of them had any. Then after the hunt the outfitter never followed up with me to ask about our experience.

 

[Matt W.]

Timely thread, been researching a Audad hunt for the last month or so. Have had some interesting conversations and none of them made me feel warm and fuzzy.... Appreciate the info, and it looks like I have one more place to call and check out.

 

[Bwana1]

Report this to the Outfitter Association. He probably is a member of one, and they need to hear your story. Good luck.

 

[SCHUNTER73]

Mike at WTHO is your guy. Or High West.

 

[bluemaroon]

Think it was mentioned above, but if an outfitter says you'll need camping gear for a West Texas audad hunt, this should be a major red flag. Growing up in Texas, I've never heard of a ranch regardless of size that didn't have some kind of hunting shack or ranch house (even though it might be fairly old and rickety but still standing).

 

[bluemaroon]

That being said, still very sorry to the OP for the terrible experience and embarrassing that a potential visitor to Texas was treated so badly. Hope you get the chance to find a better outfitter in the future to show you a great hunt down here with proper Texas hospitality.