re: Honey Brake Opportunity

I’m just over to the east on your way to Franklin Parish.

You and I have seen the same things.

I guided there for a couple of years a few years back. Although I no longer do I’m still friends with several guides and see several other employees often. There is some misinformation in the thread but I’ll clear that up for you.

If it’s a free hunt definitely take it. As in most places you can have great days hunting or days that just flat out suck especially later in the season.
There are a couple of blinds that almost always produce but outside of those you can have some dog days.
A lot of the hunts are saved by teal and or ringnecks. Lots of days there will be very few choice big ducks.
So if you’re paying and think a $2,000.00 a day teal hunt is worth it then you should be happy. If you’re looking for quality big ducks you have about a 25% chance of being satisfied
Half of the people that hunt there are business guests that aren’t hunters happy to even see ducks or play hunt so reviews can be misleading

The lodge is nice but no nicer than any other lodge charging these prices. People raving about it just haven’t traveled much. It suffers more than most in this group of lodges in lack of places to relax outside of sitting in your room. If you’re with a group that rented the whole lodge it’s not as bad but if your with a smaller group there will be several like that there at the same time and the lodge offers very little space to separate from others especially if the weather is not ideal.
It was getting pretty run down but the new owner put some money in it which has helped but it still needs more.

The food has suffered in the opinion of almost everyone I’ve heard from since the new owner took over. For someone in the restaurant business that’s disappointing but then again his restaurants a pretty mid as their success if more based on location and a captive customer base. Very generic menu especially considering you’re in Louisiana a state known for food and you’re being served cookie cutter items from Sysco. You can definitely eat worse but it should be much much better especially for the daily rate you pay to be there.

Memberships - the new owner added 6 memberships. They are building a new lodge and 6 cabins for these members. The cost is a crazy $300,000.00 per year. It really makes you wonder how someone who has that kind of disposable income made their money and still could decide that a membership there is justifiable. Way too many restrictions for anyone with money and hunting sense to buy into. Do you know how many trips you can take to places just as nice or nicer for a fraction of that money?
Realtree is out as they are smart enough to realize you can’t justify that deal. So yes, Drew lost his truck and now the members and owners family and friends hunt the deer instead of mostly Realtree. There are nice deer there but it will suffer with the current format. Realtree was smart and not greedy so they’d let them grow. When members are paying what they are they will pressure them more especially when it’s a year with bad duck hunting. The gator hunting has already went from good to poor. They have a few good days of dove hunting but nothing special most of the season.

Anyone who can afford to pay that really should take an hour to do some research and they could do so much more with way less money spent. Most of these people aren’t really hunters though and I don’t see this being a sustainable model long term.

These memberships are also going to put increased pressure on the duck hunting there as it takes away their ability to rest as many ducks. This is the first year they will have more than one member so we will see how much that pisses off the people that rent the whole lodge and in the past had the whole farm to themselves. Some full time employees told me that they added new blinds across the north side to keep the members as far away as possible from the regular hunters there. I can tell you from experience that most days their hunting will be poor.

TLDR= like most places hunting is hit or miss. Most days you will kill mostly teal.
If you really want badass duck hunting go to Canada in most cases for cheaper. You’ll kill a tremendous amount of mallards and pintails as well as speckled belly and Canada geese as well as all the snows you want to shot. You can go to Mexico for the same or cheaper and kill way more ducks and the lodges are much more fun.
Missouri, Kansas and the Dakotas offer much better values too.
Honey Brake can be good but there are many other places that are a better value and just as nice or nicer

I hope you have a great hunt. For your next one do a little research and enjoy something different. Good luck!

Argentina is a better value as is Canada. I’m like you, this business model isn’t going to work long term. Waterfowl hunting in the lower 48 will never be consent enough to charge what these exclusive spots charge.

Maybe but anyone spending $300k for a hunting membership is a Re-Tard

You may have more recent info, but the Secretary of State still shows Michael having an ownership interest as well.

If you were to look up what he paid when he bought Honey Brake it would be shocking.

Indeed you did. My brain read that as “his” instead of “half”.

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The food has suffered in the opinion of almost everyone I’ve heard from since the new owner took over.

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I would wholeheartedly disagree with this statement. The dinner they cooked the other night was spectacular. They didn't serve SYSCO products in any of my meals. In fact, the protein (Delmonico chop with homemade blueberry glaze sauce) they served for dinner, and breakfast was a handmade pork sausage patty from the farm, and the vegetables were locally sourced were dynamite.

Most of the people who were at the Lodge when I was there were not from Louisiana but from NY, NJ, Dallas, etc. The place was booked up. The drought has brought in a ton of ducks over there saw thousands of wood ducks, teal, mallards, gadwalls, and pintails and they had just started flooding the fields. If the current drought conditions continue this year, then the duck hunting should be terrific.

As far as the $300k a year membership fee, you will have a number of people cut a check without hesitation across the country. I don't see a lot of folks from Louisiana jumping in but its like joining Oakmont to play golf for some people who join as members where they go maybe once or twice a year from across the US to play. I wouldn't pay $300k a year but there are a lot of people who won't hesitate to cut that check just to say they are a member of Honey Brake. Whether that is sustainable or not I don't know but it does give you a good base layer of income each year to start from.

And RealTree hasn't pulled out of Honey Brake as they told me that they have it exclusively leased up for deer through I think they said 2030 or something. They leased it up for their product R&D and for their TV shows the Honey Brake Experience and RealTree365. The other sponsors send them free equipment and/or cash each year which is why they are sitting on so much equipment.

It definitely wasn't run down but I could see them adding some additional amenities for those days when its cold/rainy outside. Adding a large covered first-class fishing pier and lounging area on Larto would be a huge addition. I also think they should add an airstrip you can fly in/out on your plane instead of driving to Alexandria's airport would be great addition there.

I'll definitely be back again this year as everything I experienced was first class. I didn't see a lodge that was running on a shoestring budget that's for sure.

All of the ducks combined together. They were pretty thick in the areas that had water.

I’m not trying to bash Honey Brake but the man asked for information and I’m giving him honest information. I’ve been around before they had a lodge. I’m going to tell him the good and bad and that’s from my years of experience there and from what I’ve personally heard from clients and current employees.

I don’t know how you can disagree with what I heard first hand from employees and clients who have been there for multiple years based off of one dinner and breakfast you’ve had.
The new owner degrading the menu is the reason why they have had 3 chefs quit in one year. 2 quit that had cooked there before for multiple years and the next chef after them quit as well. They had to bring a chef in from his place in Alabama because they haven’t been able to hire another. I can promise you the Sysco truck is there weekly during the season and for the few times a year they have something going on there outside of season. They served those same chops there during last season and they came off the truck. I don’t know what farm they are talking about any kind of food coming from but it’s not Honey Brake’s.
You’re getting something you could get at any decent restaurant for less than $50 including desert. Basic restaurant food there now.
Not the level it should be when paying that kind of money to hunt.

I was just riding the farm with Jared a couple days ago. There are a few group of teal scattered the mostly resident wood ducks that roost along the bayou and very few gadwall and pintail there now. Did see 2 pair of resident mottled ducks. If you saw a mallard you were lucky. They don’t kill 10 off the whole farm a day during regular season most days although last year they killed a few more than they have for the last several years. They aren’t even seeing any mallards to speak of in great seasonal mallard locations north of us yet. none of this is cause for concern as it’s just what’s typical this time of year. The last really bad season at HB was 3 years ago and it was because of a drought. Late season was good but more than half of the season sucked. They couldn’t even hunt the Corley blind that is the best blind on the property until January for lack of water and that was with spending over 500k pumping water. I can promise you that Jared is hoping for plenty of rain and not drought conditions.

I didn’t say the lodge was operating on a shoestring budget. In fact I said that it was running down but the new owner put some much needed money into it. There are still some things that need to be addressed but I’m sure they will get to it. They changed out a lot of the decking that was all rotted last year and did a lot of cleaning and freshening up.
I was there a couple weeks ago and you can still see where water was running down the wall behind the small bar in the corner of the lodge as the paint is all rippled up. The new owner does seem to be addressing a lot of the cosmetic stuff though so I’m sure they will get it soon.
There is no afternoon hunting there and additional activities are very limited plus come with an extra charge.
Almost all new hires were from Alabama and had zero to very limited experience. They have a season under their belt now so that will help and they seem like nice enough people. They did manage to run out of propane last year while some of my friends were there so cold showers for everyone but I’m sure that won’t happen again.

People aren’t lined up anywhere in the nation to pay $300k annually for a membership at HB. Most that have that kind of disposable income and like to duck hunt would much rather join an actual duck club where they have equity in it instead of just throwing away that amount a year with none. Just doesn’t make business sense. HB is a nice place for a duck hunting lodge but not that level nice.
The real money is in upland hunting. The season is almost twice as long and there is guaranteed action. These lodges are can be several levels above HB in regards to facilities, food and service. You can find them all over the US. Lots of advantages for family and friends in an upland hunting lodge environment.

I don’t know where you got your Realtree information from but you are completely wrong. When the new owner decided to add the 6 membership spots that pushed Realtree out. They offered Realtree a chance to pay an annual membership but they declined because as most rational people would they concluded that it just doesn’t make business sense. By the way they only had one member last year. Again HB is a nice place but for anyone who travels any amount to hunt there are a lot of nice places.
Realtree hasn’t sponsored nor has HB filmed the Honey Brake Experience show in over at least 4 seasons. They would still film their hunts there for Realtree 365 but that ended before last season. That’s just the facts. You can even look on their website and see that Realtree isn’t listed.
For the most part the money for equipment like Rangers left when Realtree stopped sponsoring and filming the HB experience show. The rangers were on their last leg when the new owner came in. He bought new ones and sold them after season. I think that’s his plan for each year
They almost exclusively just get some discounts now like every other nice lodge. Avery probably gives the most and that’s in the way of decoys.
Most of the equipment on the farm is older and ragged. The new owner did buy 2 new tractors and pontoon boats.

They definitely need to do some lake front development. The fishing isn’t really any good right at the lodge and especially not during duck season but just for a space to spread out from others and relax and enjoy the lake. There can be some long days after the hunt there. If you want to fish while you’re there call your own guide. HB doesn’t have any special guides. They just use the local guides and mark it up. Call a local and have them pick you up at the boat house.

Other options in Louisiana include
Grosse Savanne which has duck hunting which is just as good, gator hunting and incredible fishing in their thousands of acres of private marsh where you’ll catch speckled trout, redfish and flounder. They also have 2 freshwater lakes one of which is 500 acres that they built with incredible bass fishing. You can do an incredible cast and blast there. I’ve been multiple times over the last 20 years and it’s always a good time.

Dave’s Bayou which is only about 30 minutes north of HB. I haven’t personally been here yet but I’ve heard lots of good things from people that know from hunters to company sponsors

TLDR= HB is a nice duck hunting lodge and you should have a good time. Next time you want to book a duck hunt do a little more research. You can find way better hunting and just as nice or nicer lodge. Put Canada, Mexico and Argentina on your list. A whole other level of duck hunting.